The Background

It may be hard to post fresh and relevant posts on Galatians in the next few days.  After all, we have been going through the book on Sunday mornings.  I am not sure that there is much use in rehashing here what we have studied on Sunday mornings. 

That being said, Galatians 2 is a chapter that is probably hard for many of us to understand.  Maybe a quick summary is in order.  Paul writes his epistle to the Galatian church because false teachers have entered that church.  They are teaching the Galatians that faith in Jesus is not enough for justification or sanctification.  They tell the Galatians that one has to obey all of the Old Testament Law if one wants to be right with God.  It seems that the Galatians recognize that this is not the teaching that they learned from Paul.  They object that is not the Gospel as they heard it.  The false teachers counter by saying that Paul got it wrong.  He received the Gospel from the leaders in Jerusalem and he mangled their message.  The false teachers say that they have the right message and with the authority of the Apostles in Jerusalem they have come to straighten the Galatians out.

In chapters one and two, Paul tells the Galatians that he did not receive his Gospel from any man but instead from Jesus Himself (1:12).  Thus, there could not have been any twisting of the Apostle's message.  To demonstrate his point, Paul rehearses the relevant history between himself and the Apostles in Jerusalem.  Paul shows that on several occasions it was he that straightened out the Apostles,especially Peter.  The Apostles did not correct him.  And for the most part, Paul says, the Apostles and he were on the same page.  They had the very same Gospel to teach.

For more insight into the events that Paul is talking about, read Acts 15.  There one reads about the Jerusalem council where Paul and the Apostles debated how much "Old Testament religion" should be expected of New Testament Christians.  It provides much of the relevant Biblical background for our reading today.