The reason why it's so important is because it's so commonly believed to be one of those books that do away with the Torah. In fact, if you were to ask a nominal Christian, "What do you think about Torah observance," they would probably say, "Well, what do you think about Galatians?"
In other words, the book of Galatians is one of the big books that they like to point to, to justify breaking the commandments and the Torah. So, certainly, the book of Galatians deserves a good honest look, unbiased. Look at it for what it says and see what you come up with.
Of course, you need to look at other scriptures, as well, and interpret those scriptures based on what you see in Galatians and have a balanced view of what Yahweh is trying to communicate to us.
If you look throughout the rest of scripture, even the New Testament, there are numerous scriptures indicating to us that the Torah of Yahweh, the law, is not something that has been abolished. It's something that Yahweh wants us to keep.
In spite of that, many understand Paul's letter to the Galatians to indicate otherwise, so we're going to look at that today.
The reality about the book of Galatians is that there is not a single verse anywhere in the book of Galatians telling us that the law of Yahweh has been abolished. Rather, much to the contrary, the book of Galatians actually proves that while we are not saved by our observance of the Torah, true believers in Yahushua are going to make a sincere effort to walk in its precepts.
In fact, this study, which is going to be on the website in the next few weeks, is going to be entitled, "Galatians Proves That We Should Observe the Torah." That's going to be the title of the study, because that's what it does.
Now, if you presently do not hold that belief, I would invite you to take a moment and look at the book of Galatians with a totally open, unbiased heart. You don't need to be afraid in any way that this study, in any way, going to minimize the work of Yahushua the Messiah at all. Rather, it actually shows forth even more the greatness of His power.
Yahushua's greatness and His power is not limited by just cleansing us from sin and cleansing us from the times we transgress the law, which is one and the same. But Yahushua the Messiah also gives us the power to walk in those commandments mentioned in the Torah.
His greatness is not limited simply by cleansing and by giving us righteousness. He also gives us the power to walk in it.
In this study, we're going to go through each of the verses in Galatians 2, all the way through chapter 5 in the coming weeks, which are going to contain the key verses that speak of Yahweh's Torah, His law, and its place in our life.
It is the words in these chapters that are most frequently understood as abolishing the law, and so we're going to examine them to see if Paul is really making this claim that the law is now abolished and need not be heeded.
We'll also examine some of the verses in the other chapters. I want to bring up a point here. I didn't share this with you last night, but I want to bring up the point that when I say keep the Torah, when I say that we should keep Yahweh's commandments, what does that mean exactly?
Does that mean that we are perfect, that we never fail? Does that mean we go out and offer sacrifices on a daily basis or during the feast days or something? Is that what it means? Does it mean that if somebody is out there breaking the Sabbath Day, that it's our duty to go and stone them? Is that what it means?
A lot of people get confused, because they don't understand the Torah. They haven't really read it much, and so they don't understand. What does that mean?
In Hebrew, the word "keep" is the word shamar, and what that means is to hedge about, to guard, to attend to, to cherish, to exercise great care over. What it's expressing in its usage is the need to express careful attention to Yahweh's commandments, to take care of them, to guard them.
If we exercise great care over them, then we're going to keep them. We're going to obey them. Just like you would keep a garden, so we keep His commandments.
Maybe one time you weren't paying attention or something, and you made a mistake, and some insects got into your garden. You're still the garden keeper. It's still your duty to keep that garden. Maybe you failed in it in doing a good job, but it's still your duty to keep them.
Psalms 119:5 - Oh, that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes!
Psalms 119:6 - Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your commandments.
But then later on, he says, "I remember your name, O Yahweh, and I keep your law."
They're not contradictory, because we receive cleansing and forgiveness. Also, we need to understand the difference between priestly law, civil law. The commandments dealing with sacrifices are primarily for the priest. Almost every one of them are for the priests. We're not priests.
The ones which we are not able to keep, speaking of taking a sacrifice to the temple and so on, we believe Yahushua's blood is sufficient to cover us in those areas.
The other commands dealing with stoning, those were commandments, case law for judges. What's the righteous judgment when this criminal offense is done? It was never intended to be done by a common man where you see somebody breaking the Sabbath and start throwing rocks at them. It was never that way.
You went to the judge, and the judge made a determination; otherwise, you have anarchy. Of course, we can't do that today. It doesn't mean we can't keep the Torah. It doesn't mean that we're Torah breakers. Even Daniel, a prophet who dwelt in Babylon, was blameless before Yahweh.
Yet, he could not take sacrifices to the temple, and he could not execute all of the civil laws that are mentioned in the Torah. He had to follow Babylonian laws.
But there still were aspects. One aspect is what you do when sin happens. That's your sacrifices, that's your civil Torah. And then the other aspect is what sin actually is, the right and wrong. This is not the way of love; this is the way of love.
Those aspects are unchangeable. The priestly, that's changeable. Because of the priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood, all that entails the both of those, that's always been changeable.
If you look at the sacrifices in the 1,000 year reign, they're very different in the book of Ezekiel, compared to what you see in the Torah. Sometimes Yahweh doesn't execute His own civil laws. He should have put David to death for what he did, murder and adultery, but He chose to have mercy.
Those areas are flexible. Yahweh can choose to have mercy when He wants to have mercy. How He chooses to redeem us from sin can change, but the right and wrong do not change, and that's what we're talking about here in the book of Galatians, the right and wrong.
Let's get started. I want to point out that in Galatians 1:6-9, after Paul makes his basic introduction, he says--and I'm going to read from the New King James. He says:
Galatians 1:6 - I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the favor of the Messiah, to a different gospel...
Evangel, or gospel, or good news. I don't like to say "gospel" because it means God spell.
Galatians 1:7 - which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the glad tidings of the Messiah.
Glad tidings is a good translation. Good news, evangel are both good translations.
Galatians 1:8 - But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other evangel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
Now, that's pretty serious. That's real serious. And so Paul writes a very serious letter. The real question in the book of Galatians is not whether or not we should keep the Torah. That was a settled issue.
The real question in the book of Galatians is what is the true good news that Yahushua wants us to proclaim? Does the true good news mean that we receive salvation after we have been circumcised and kept the Torah?
Does the true good news proclaim salvation through abolishing the law so that our sins are taken away? Or does the true good news simply proclaim that we can receive forgiveness for transgressing that law if we repent and believe in Yahushua, nothing added?
Let's examine Galatians 2:1-2.
Galatians 2:1 - Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me.
Galatians 2:2 - And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them the glad tidings which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.
This chapter begins with Paul describing his time in Jerusalem with his fellow laborer in the faith, Barnabas. They had gone to Jerusalem to discuss this matter of what the true good news is really supposed to be.
They wanted a clear ruling on the question, "What is needful for a person to receive salvation?"
How do I know this? They went up to Jerusalem--this is actually mentioned in the book of Acts, chapter 15. This is called the Jerusalem Council. The Jerusalem Council is when Paul had a dispute with the men of Judea about salvation and what's necessary to receive it. What's the true good news?
As a result, they went there and got their decision. Actually, it was James that had a big hand in making the decision, although they all pretty much had unity.
The real dispute came from the men from Judea. You see in Galatians 2:2, it says:
Galatians 2:2 - And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them the glad tidings which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.
That's the main apostles in Jerusalem. He was doing it privately in case he had done something wrong. I'm going to read about this in Acts 15:1-2.
Acts 15:1 - And certain [men] came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
Acts 15:2 - Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.
What's the question? "Are we saved before circumcision or after?" They said, "Unless you're circumcised, you can't be saved." That's an important thing to remember.
This trip was necessary because of certain men from Judea coming in unawares. They ended up being false brethren, we'll find out. So they brought this doctrine to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
At that time, Kepha, Peter, referred to this kind of theology, "a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." I'm going to read about that in Acts 15:5-11. This is the King James Version.
Acts 15:5 - But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command [them] to keep the law of Moses."
Acts 15:6 - Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.
Acts 15:7 - And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up [and] said to them: "Men [and] brethren, you know that a good while ago Elohim chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
Acts 15:8 - "So Elohim, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as [He did] to us,
Acts 15:9 - "and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Acts 15:10 - "Now therefore, why do you test Elohim by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Acts 15:11 - "But we believe that through the grace of the Master Yahushua Messiah we shall be saved in the same manner as they."
Notice Kepha says there in verse 11 that we are all saved by grace. We are all saved by grace.
As evidenced by that statement, the real question they were discussing is not whether or not the Gentiles ever in their life needed to keep Torah, but whether or not the Torah observance was necessary before they were regarded as in the brotherhood and having salvation. Or was circumcising and keeping the commandments a requirement or not? Kepha said:
Acts 15:11 - "But we believe that through the grace of the Master Yahushua Messiah we shall be saved in the same manner as they."
His point was everyone, Jew or Gentile, is saved by grace, not by any commandment keeping, not by circumcision. Even Jews who had been circumcised and had kept the Torah, or at least were making that effort, didn't really have salvation until they believed in Yahushua, upon hearing that message.
He also said that to make circumcision or Torah observance a requirement for salvation would be to test Elohim, to test Yahweh. How would that be a test toward Yahweh? Well, there was already miracles given. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, and so the test would be did He really save them? Let's put them to a test. Were they really saved or not?
The Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles and 120 disciples of Yahushua in the upper room, Jews. And when it was poured out upon the Gentiles, a lot of the Jews were pretty shocked they could receive the Spirit without being circumcised. We'll get into that more later.
But, in truth, there was not a man in all the generations of Israel who had ever kept the Torah, and so to make the keeping of the Torah a requirement before salvation was not the true good news that Yahushua and the apostles were teaching.
And so Kepha, Peter, after detailing the proof that Yahweh had accepted the Gentiles in their uncircumcised state, as Cornelius had received the Spirit in Acts 10, he affirmed that both Jews and Gentiles are saved through the grace of Yahushua the Messiah, rather than circumcision or any other act of Torah obedience.
The ultimate decision in Acts 15 by James was to not require it for salvation, but it was necessary that they do have some fruits of repentance, and he did list some requirements: refraining from sexual immorality, from idolatry, from things strangled, from blood.
So they began to keep Torah. They needed to show some kind of evidence that they were making efforts in that direction.
But he wasn't going to throw the entire yoke of the Torah on them at once in order for you to say to them, "You are our brethren."
Acts 15 is a study in and of itself. If you're kind of confused by what's going on in Acts 15, I would encourage you to read the study. It's in last year's transcripts, 2006, November 3, and it's at EliYah.com/transcripts11032006.html. It's a verse-by-verse study in Acts 15.
Who were these certain men from Judea? To properly understand the book of Galatians and the context of Paul's letter, it's important that we have a good understanding of what kind of people Paul was facing.
They were ruled against in the Council of Acts 15, and so Paul is basically upholding the ruling in his letter, and he is explaining why that ruling is what it is. For this reason, we're going to start identifying the characteristics of these men.
They were false teachers. They were preaching another good news, something I'll be calling throughout this study "the good news of the circumcision," which is not good news at all, because one of the first things they want you to do is cut your foreskin off.
You're not going to get too many converts with a message like that. I'm going to call it "the good news of the circumcision," which Paul said, "If anyone preaches a good news other than the one that we have preached, let him be accursed."
These were accursed men teaching falsehoods. So in this study, we're going to keep a running list of notable characteristics of these certain men, as we go along.
Here's what we have so far, based on what we've read. There are five things we can point to here. First, they were from Judea, according to Acts 15:1. Acts 15:5 said they were of the sect of the Pharisees. That's an interesting one.
Number three, they claimed to be believers in Yahushua, and yet how were they from the Pharisees? I guess some of the Pharisees were trying to combine Pharisaical religion with belief in Yahushua.
Number four, they believed that one cannot have salvation unless they are first circumcised and/or kept the Torah. That's according to Acts 15:1,5.
According to those same two verses, they were vigorous in their belief to the point that they would argue with Paul and Barnabas over it and even approach the apostles and elders about it.
Now, with this in mind, we're going to continue reading Galatians 2.
Galatians 2:2 - And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.
Galatians 2:3 - Yet not even Titus who [was] with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
Now, chronologically, the event Paul is describing, again, is the one in Acts 15, and this is the first time that Titus is mentioned in scripture. Titus would eventually go on to be Paul's co-laborer and assistant in his ministry with the Corinthians and other places.
And he says, "Not even Titus..." In other words, not even Titus, meaning Titus was a man who had some understanding, but not even him was compelled to be circumcised.
Galatians 2:4 - And [this occurred] because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Messiah Yahushua, that they might bring us into bondage,
Galatians 2:5 - to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
Again, the emphasis is placed on the truth of the good news being proclaimed, according to Galatians 2:5. That's the emphasis, rather than this false good news of the circumcision.
In verse 4, Paul identifies certain men of Judea as false brethren. We see that they also liked to work in secret. Another attribute about them can be found in Galatians 6:12-13.
Galatians 6:12 - As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these [would] compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Messiah.
Galatians 6:13 - For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
These false brethren were actually Torah breakers themselves. They didn't keep the Torah. They were just interested in circumcising Gentiles so that they could go back to their Pharisee buddies and brag about it. "Look what I did."
This focus on the praise of men was amongst the most notable characteristics of some of the Pharisees at that time Yahushua mentions in Matthew 23:4-5.
Matthew 23:4 - "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay [them] on men's shoulders; but they [themselves] will not move them with one of their fingers.
Matthew 23:5 - "But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.
That's what their goal was. Yahushua knew their hearts. What Yahushua said about them continued to be true when Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians. "They just want you to be circumcised so they can go back and boast in your flesh. Guess what I did?" Disgusting. That's a perverted, twisted way of proclaiming the good news.
Let's add these elements to this list of notable characteristics we talked about earlier. They were from Judea. They were from the sect of the Pharisees. They claimed to be believers in Yahushua. They believed that one could not have salvation unless they're first circumcised and kept Torah.
They were vigorous in that belief to the point that they would even argue with Paul and Barnabas over it and even approach the apostles and elders about it, but they were actually false brethren. That's the sixth point.
Seventh, they liked to sneak into assemblies of true brethren and convert them to their own good news of understanding of how to receive salvation. Also, they did not even keep the law themselves. That's something else.
Ninth, they were interested in circumcising the Gentiles so that they could receive glory from men. That's Galatians 6:12-13. Of course, Matthew 23, their sect had a history of being focused on man-pleasing and laying heavy burdens on people that they themselves would not do. That's number ten.
So these are ten characteristics about the people that were trying to guide the Gentiles in a different direction, into a different good news, into pressuring them that they weren't saved until they had done these things.
These Pharisees regarded it as their duty to go to these Gentile believers and bring them over to their own way of receiving salvation. Obviously, their view of the good news, of the true good news, was actually bad news for the future of their sect, and so they wanted to do a little syncretism here. Syncretism is a mixture of two religions.
Pharisaical Judaism is not of Yahweh. Yahushua demonstrated that pretty clearly. But true Judaism, if you call it that, is of Yahweh, and it includes the good news of Yahushua.
For one of these disciples, these Gentile disciples to go and get circumcised by this group of people with these ten characteristics was to basically convert and confess to their false beliefs in the same way baptism would be a conversion and acceptance of the true belief and, therefore, depart from the teachings of the good news of Yahushua the Messiah.
That's very dangerous. You're laying another foundation based on works, rather than grace, based on man-pleasing, rather than Yahweh pleasing. With this understanding, let's continue reading Galatians 2:6-10.
Galatians 2:6 - But from those who seemed to be something -- whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; Elohim shows personal favoritism to no man -- for those who seemed [to be something] added nothing to me.
Galatians 2:7 - But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as [the gospel] for the circumcised [was] to Peter
Galatians 2:8 - (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles),
Galatians 2:9 - and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we [should go] to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
Galatians 2:10 - [They desired] only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
Paul tells the Galatians that the apostles and elders added nothing to the good news that Paul was proclaiming to the Gentiles. In fact, they had agreed to have Paul and Barnabas go to the Gentiles, while they went to the Jews and gave them the right hand of fellowship.
Paul is saying these things because, obviously, the elders in Jerusalem are the ones leading the charge, leading the battle, and he's making the point that they are in his camp. The Acts 15 Council demonstrates that very clearly; however, in actual practice, Kepha got caught up in a form of hypocrisy. I'm going to read about that next. It's in Galatians 2:11-13.
Galatians 2:11 - Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
Galatians 2:12 - for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
Galatians 2:13 - And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
An important question in these verses is, "Why was it hypocritical of Kepha, Peter, to do this, and why was Paul bold enough to rebuke Kepha, the man who had walked with Yahushua for over three years?"
In context, they had just went through that council meeting in Acts 15, and they had all come to Antioch to deliver this decision to the brethren, according to Acts 15:30-35.
When all together at the Council, Kepha and Barnabas both stood with Paul and agreed that the good news they were proclaiming was the right one and calling the good news of the circumcision a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear.
So for both of them to withdraw from keeping company with the Gentiles was quite hypocritical, for they were standing with the truth that the Gentiles were to be accepted into the brotherhood and having salvation in Acts 15, but in practice they were withdrawing and separating themselves from them out of concern for what those of the circumcision might say or do.
Kepha was especially at fault. He had walked with Yahushua over three years, was chosen by Yahweh to first bring the good news to the Gentiles in Acts 10. At that time, he was willing to fellowship with the Gentiles, and he defended it in Acts 11.
So here was a situation where some very important leaders are sinning and causing confusion among the Gentiles by their actions, which was contrary to the decision that was made beforehand.
So Paul asks this question.
Galatians 2:14 - But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before [them] all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
How are they not being straightforward about it? Because they were basically going along with the good news of the circumcision when they refused to keep company with Gentiles. That's why.
Galatians 2:14 - But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before [them] all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
Galatians 2:15 - "We [who are] Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Kind of a confusing couple of verses there. It seems like almost improper English in verse 15.
Galatians 2:15 - "We [who are] Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
I'm going to explain. There's a couple of words added there in italics in your King James or New King James Version. When you remove them, it all makes sense.
But at this point, I want to point out that there are a lot of people who like to interpret this statement and this question by Paul as him saying, in essence, "You, if you are a Jew, and you have rightly abandoned the law by living like a Gentile and eating with them, why do you compel the Gentiles to keep the law like a Jew by only eating with the Jews?"
That's the way probably 90 percent of Christianity, as a whole, understands that. I've looked at the commentaries, and that's pretty much how they look at it.
Due to this interpretation, it is commonly understood that the Torah should not be obeyed and that these verses support this doctrine of Torah abolishment, but verse 15 really begins to show the fallacy of this interpretation. He says the following and starts to identify what he meant. He identifies the Gentiles as being sinners. Gentiles, he says, are sinners.
While many think Paul's statement of Peter living after the manner of the Gentiles was a positive statement, saying, "Oh, yeah, we're free from the law," is actually a negative statement, because in verse 15, Paul says that "We are not sinners of the Gentiles. We Jews are not sinners of the Gentiles."
In other words, Paul is saying, "Peter, Kepha, how are you ever going to bring the Gentiles, sinners, into living a righteous life when you are acting like a sinner yourself?"
This was a very convicting statement to Peter that exposed his sin of hypocrisy. So if I was to put in this understanding into the text, it would be understood this way. "If you, being a Jew..." That's a non-sinner, knowing and keeping the Torah and so on.
"...live in a manner of a Gentile, that is sinning and breaking the Torah by being a hypocrite and fearing man over Yahweh, and not as the Jews, who are Torah keepers, why do you compel Gentile sinners to live like Torah-keeping Jews?"
This is further clarified when we get into some Greek text here. I want to point out that Paul's rebuke was not any proof whatsoever that we shouldn't keep the Torah. It was simply rebuke that Peter himself was sinning, transgressing the Torah when he chose to fear man over Yahweh, pretend like he was going along with this false gospel and play the hypocrite.
The King James Version and the New King James, it says, "Why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as Jews?" Or why do you compel the Gentiles to live as Jews?
But if you look at some other Greek manuscripts, the Nestle Aland Greek text, which is based on older manuscripts, reads this. "How can you compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" How can you compel?
That's an important difference, because it underscores the point that the question wasn't "Why are you over there trying to get Gentiles to live like Jews? Don't you know that law is abolished?"
The real question is "How can you ever compel the Gentiles to keep the Torah if you're a sinner yourself living like a Gentile?"
So for clarification, once again, let's put this in the text. If you, being a Jew--and he knew he kept Torah, he knew it--live in the manner of a Gentile, that's a sinner--he said we're not sinners of the Gentiles--and not as the Jews that's a Torah keeper, how can you compel Gentile sinners to live as Jews, that's Torah keepers?
You're not going to compel anyone to live like a Torah keeper when you're a Torah breaker yourself when doing it.
Verse 15, in particular, says:
Galatians 2:15 - "We [who are] Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
If you have a King James or a New King James, I want you to notice that there's two words which are in italics. When a word is italicized, this is the alert the reader that these words are not found in the original text. Also, commas are not found in the original text in Greek or Hebrew.
So what it should read--and I do like how the Scriptures version quotes this particular verse, I believe, as accurate. "We Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles." Then verse 16:
Galatians 2:16 - "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Yahushua Messiah, even we have believed in Messiah Yahushua, that we might be justified by faith in Messiah and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Why is he bringing this point up about justification? Because through what Kepha was doing, he was suggesting that he went along with the good news of the circumcision, which meant that you had to be justified by the works of the Torah, rather than through faith in Yahushua. That's why he had to bring this up.
What it should read, without the italics, is basically this. "We Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles know that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Yahushua the Messiah."
That was true, because it was Kepha and all of them who were Jews who made that ruling just before their trip to Antioch. I hope that everybody understands. It's pretty confusing the way it's written, but when you put a correct understanding, a correct backdrop, and a correct context within these words, it all comes together as making sense.
This solidifies the understanding that Paul is saying that righteous Jews who know the truth ought to know what's right and proclaim the right way to the Gentiles. He was saying that we--Paul, Barnabas, Kepha, all of them--Jews by nature know very well that we are not justified, that's made righteous or declared righteous by works.
We are declared righteous by faith. That's an important thing that basically was the foundation of the faith that the apostles were trying to teach.
For Kepha to go over and sit down with the Jews at their table and kind of withdraw himself and all the Gentiles get in one area and all the Jews in another, as if the Gentiles had to do something more in order to be accepted into the brotherhood, was to submit to that false teaching that you had to be circumcised and keep the Torah before you could be accepted.
It caused confusion. Here they were giving them this letter that they were accepted, but then in practice they weren't, because they were afraid of those of the circumcision. Them buddies had power back there in the Pharisees court.
The Pharisees apparently were putting a lot of pressure, because a lot of them were being converted to the truth that Yahushua is the Messiah, but they were going to try to accept people that were Gentiles into the fold that hadn't been circumcised yet? That's very anti-Pharisaical, and so you're going to get persecution for doing that.
So they came over there and kind of perverted things and undermining the power of Yahushua's blood, which cleanses us from sin, apart from the works of the Torah.
It's important for us to understand what the true good news is. Maybe through what I'm saying, you might think I'm being contradictory, because by one hand I say we should keep the Torah, but on the other hand I'm saying we're not justified by works of the law. The two are not contradictory. The word "justified" simply means to be declared righteous.
It's a simple and very, very important truth that not one of us are able to be made righteous or declared righteous through the law of Yahweh. The law of Yahweh simply tells us what's right and what's wrong. It will not declare any of us to be righteous. To the contrary, it will declare that we have been unrighteous.
None of us will be able to stand before Yahweh on the day of judgment and say, "I am declared right by that law. I deserve salvation because from birth until death I kept that law and did not depart. I kept every one of those commandments, being a perfectly obedient man from birth until death."
None of us can go before Yahweh and say that. That's the only way we could ever be declared right by the law is if we had obeyed every one of the commandments. For that reason, because we have not kept Yahweh's commandments and have all disobeyed them at some point in our life, we're condemned. We're in a condemned state.
Unless we can somehow be declared righteous, even though we're not, we need a Savior. Yahweh is willing to put the righteousness of Yahushua on us so that we can be declared right by faith in Him.
Once we are declared right and clothed with His righteousness by faith, then we have all the righteousness we need to be saved.
How do we receive Him? What does He expect of us? Does Yahushua turn us away when we cry out to Him, to Yahweh, and to say, "I want salvation, I repent, I turn away from my sins," and from our heart we turn away from unrighteousness and toward righteousness and from our heart we believe in Yahushua, the He is the covering for our sins?
Does He turn us away and say no? First you've got to learn all the Torah and keep it. Then you've got to be circumcised. Then I'll save you.
Well, that's what the good news of the circumcision was. Oh, no, you're not saved yet, not until you get circumcised and start keeping that law.
Do you see the difference? Do you see why Paul was so against it? We can read the things they were teaching, those ten points I brought out, that we can get from the text itself is clearly demonstrated as false, not just in New Testament era, so to speak, but it was never true. It was never true.
Yahweh always looks at the heart, even in the Old Testament. We'll get into that more later. But we need to have Yahushua's righteousness applied to us in order for us to have salvation.
When Kepha, that is Peter, refused to eat with the Gentiles, people who were formerly idol worshipers and were still learning about the Torah, he was suggesting by that action that they had not yet received salvation and were unworthy to sit with him at the table.
By his example, he was suggesting that he agreed with those of the circumcision, that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised. "Come up higher. Come up over here where we are. Then we'll accept you. Then Yahweh will accept you. Until then, you've got some work to do over there, you little Gentile dog."
The true good news contains the knowledge that in Yahushua we have the righteousness we need. All we need to do is repent. That means to turn away from sin, start walking toward righteousness, and Yahweh will purify our hearts by faith, giving us the grace to learn His commandments at a pace that we can bear without fear of condemnation.
For more clarity, I want you to consider the differences between the two evangels, the two glad tidings or good news being preached. On the one hand is the good news of the circumcision. It says this. Number one, repent and accept Yahushua. Then, number two, learn all the Torah and obey it. Then, number three, get circumcised.
And then you are Abraham's seed and fully declared righteous, and you're saved, and you're accepted into the brotherhood at that point. That's nothing but a vain attempt to be justified by the Torah.
The true good news is this. Repent and accept Yahushua, according to Acts 2:38, and then you are Abraham's seed, and you are declared righteous. That's it! No works, just faith and a heart that's willing to change.
This is called justification by faith in Yahushua. the other one, the first one I mentioned, the good news of the circumcision, puts you under the law in order to receive salvation, something that not even they were able to do. It says they didn't keep the law.
The latter, the true good news, puts you under favor, under grace. It was this good news of the circumcision that Paul spent a tremendous amount of time battling against. He was a former Pharisee himself. He understood well what they were trying to teach.
They taught that a person was only saved when they became a son of Abraham through circumcision. Why did they teach that? Reality is that in scripture there is almost a ring of logic to it.
The logic was that since circumcision was a sign of the covenant between Yahweh and Abraham, which stated that he would give Abraham's descendants the land of Canaan, a person needed to be circumcised in order to be a son of Abraham and, therefore, an inheritor of the land.
Being an inheritor of the land was necessary in order to receive all the promised blessings that came along with that covenant, namely, eternal life in the promised land.
That was their logic, but there are a number of things they missed, and there are a number of reasons why that belief was wrong. Paul discusses that in great detail in Galatians 3, and we're going to go over that next week.
Meanwhile, let's continue where we left off in Galatians 2, verses 17 and 18.
Galatians 2:17 - "But if, while we seek to be justified by Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] Messiah therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!
Galatians 2:18 - "For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
At this point, Paul is making a very interesting statement. He discusses a potential situation where a person who sought to be justified by the Messiah was instead found to be a sinner. When we're justified by the Messiah, we're not sinners, brothers. We are righteous.
The Christians fashion themselves as being, "Oh, we're just sinners saved by grace." We're not called to be sinners. We're called to be righteous men and women, to be holy ones, saints.
How could that situation be possible where a person is seeking to be justified by the Messiah, but is found a sinner? Isn't everyone who seeks to be justified by the Messiah declared righteous? Isn't that what's commonly taught today? "All you've got to do is believe. Once you seek that justification in Messiah, you're saved, buddy."
Isn't that what they say? The truth is that not everyone who seeks to be justified by the Messiah is saved. In fact, Yahushua said that Himself. Matthew 7:21-23.
Matthew 7:21 - "Not everyone who says to Me, `Master, Master,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
So not everyone. You can't be a sinner.
Matthew 7:22 - "Many will say to Me in that day, `Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
Matthew 7:23 - "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
The ones Yahushua said He would condemn apparently thought they were justified by the Messiah and even claimed to do various miracles, as a testimony that Yahushua was with them, but instead they were found sinners.
Matthew 7:23 - "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
So if someone refuses to do the will of the heavenly Father, in other words if they didn't repent, they're not going to be declared righteous; otherwise, you turn Yahushua into a minister of sin. He's not a minister of sin.
If one refuses to turn away from sin, they're not declared righteous. The word translated "iniquity" in Matthew 7:23 is Greek word 458 in your Strong's Concordance, if you want to look it up. It means "illegality, i.e. violation of law."
The Thayer's Greek Lexicon says this. It means the condition of without law because of ignorance of it, because of violating it, contempt and violation of the law, iniquity, wickedness.
Brethren, the truth is that those who claim to follow Yahushua, but want to continue a life of sin and purposely transgressing the law are in big trouble. We don't want to be among them; therefore, Messiah is not a minister of sin, as Paul said. Elohim forbid. Literally he says, "May it not be," or "Certainly not."
Galatians 2:17 - "But if, while we seek to be justified by Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] Messiah therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!
That's where he says that phrase in the King James, "Elohim forbid." It means certainly not, may it not be. There are a couple of other places where Paul said this same phrase. Romans 6:15, he says:
Romans 6:15 - What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
He says it again in Romans 3:31.
Romans 3:31 - Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Same phrase. He says that because he's throwing a little bit of a balance here, that just because we're saved by grace and not under the law doesn't mean we're free to break it and continue in sin, willfully violating Torah.
We don't continue in sin so grace may abound or attempt to make the law void, as they try to do today. Rather, we establish the law, meaning to cause it to stand, Greek word 2476. He's basically saying the same thing as in Galatians, that Messiah is not a minister of sin. What is sin?
1John 3:4 - Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
The phrase "transgression of the law" is that same word, anomia, which is found in Matthew 7, where He says, "Depart from me you that work law transgression, violation of the law, iniquity. This all comes together as one unit. It's not mixed and matched. It's not confusion. It's the antinomian doctrine that's creating confusion.
Paul says, "If I choose to build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." Let's read it again with this understanding. He says:
Galatians 2:17 - "But if, while we seek to be justified by Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] Messiah therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!
Galatians 2:18 - "For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
The Messiah is not a minister of sin in such an instance; rather, a person is making themselves a transgressor. They're choosing to build again that sin that was destroyed.
The word "transgressor" here in the Greek is found five times. It's 3848. It's found five times in the New Testament. Every single time, it's used in reference to someone disobeying the Torah, someone disobeying the law of Yahweh given through Mosheh. Romans 2:25:27, Galatians 2:18, James 2:9-11. How was sin destroyed to begin with? He gives the details in verse 19 and 20.
Galatians 2:19 - "For I through the law died to the law that I might live to Elohim.
Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Messiah; it is no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of Elohim, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Here comes the Torah breakers. They want to say, "Oh, we're dead to the law. The law is dead. The letter kills." Wait a minute, wait a minute. It does not say the law is dead. It doesn't say that.
It says that we are dead. We are dead to the law. There is a huge difference. If we're dead to the law, then as far as the law is concerned, we're dead. We fulfilled that requirement that the law demands. We fulfilled the requirement that the law demands; namely, death.
How do we do that? When we receive Yahushua, we are dead to the law because we are impaled, crucified with the Messiah. That's how. The law demands we die, because at some point we have broken that law. We deserve death, and we fulfill that which it required through our participation in the death and resurrection of Yahushua.
We are dead to the law, but, brethren, the law isn't dead. It's living, powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. That's why it killed us. But the good news is, as he says, we live to Yahweh. We die with Messiah. We are raised with Him. The life which we now live is Yahushua abiding in us.
What's being said here is if one chooses to build again the things which I destroyed, which were sin, we make ourselves a transgressors and are rebuilding that sin that was placed upon us before we died to the law.
Those who do that are simply making themselves transgressors again and are in need of redemption until they repent. We cannot make Yahushua a minister of sin. He did not die for us so that He could destroy our sins, only so that we could just go back to our former life of transgressing the law again and refusing to turn from that.
He died for us so that the law's death requirement could be fulfilled in us, if we become a part of His body, which was put to death on the tree, but now lives to Elohim.
If we are a part of His body, we are not transgressors anymore. We are not sinners anymore. We are not Gentile sinners anymore. Read these verses again with this understanding in mind, and it becomes perfectly clear. Galatians 2:17-20:
Galatians 2:17 - "But if, while we seek to be justified by Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] Messiah therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!
Galatians 2:18 - "For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Galatians 2:19 - "For I through the law died to the law that I might live to Elohim.
We're supposed to live to Yahweh, not make ourselves transgressors again.
Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Messiah; it is no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of Elohim, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
He gives two reasons why Yahushua is not a minister of sin. Number one, verse 18:
Galatians 2:18 - "For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Number two, we, through the law, we died to the law that we might live to Yahweh. We're supposed to be living to Yahweh. He's not a minister of sin. We're not to rebuild the things we destroyed, because we died to the law, so that we could live to Yahweh.
This being the case:
1John 2:4 - He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1John 2:5 - But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of Elohim is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
By this we know. By what? By keeping His Word, we know we are in Him. That's why Yahushua said in Matthew 7:23, "I don't even know you."
It's all one book, brethren. It all fits together perfectly.
1John 2:6 - He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Even as Yahushua walked. How did He walk? If Yahushua abides in you, you will do what Yahushua did. What did He do? Did He keep the Torah? Absolutely, to utter perfection He kept the Torah.
He is the righteous One. It's His righteousness which saves us, when it's no longer we who live, but He who lives in us.
He's not a minister of sin. He's a minister of deliverance from sin by saving us from death and living out the righteous commandments in us that He kept while on the earth. But He's not going to be abused. He's not going to be turned into a minister of sin, as the false teachers of today want to turn Him into.
Our obedience to the Torah is evidence that we no longer are the Adam man who died. We are Yahushua the Messiah's body on this earth. Let me qualify that.
I'm not trying to tell you that unless you're perfect, you are not His. He only requires that we turn away in our hearts truly from sin, seeking to keep Yahweh's Torah, as we learn them, we learn His commandments, at a pace that He decides and He leads, not man.
Ultimately, our righteousness comes from Yahushua the Messiah, who gave His life for us. It is He that died so that we, all we needed to do was turn to Yahweh and believe in His Son, and we are made righteous.
If we were made righteous through the gospel of the circumcision, it minimizes what Yahushua really did. Then we're trying to do our own thing here.
Oh, we're not saved yet. Yeah, we accepted Yahushua, but we haven't really been cleansed yet. First we've got to do this, then we've got to do that, then we've got to do this. We've got to cut the foreskin off. You've got to go do this. You've got to do that. No, Yahweh knows our hearts. He knows where things really are down deep. He knows.
Galatians 2:21 - "I do not set aside the grace of Elohim; for if righteousness [comes] through the law, then Messiah died in vain."
Righteousness does not come from our law-keeping. We are declared righteous through the Messiah. If it came through law keeping, if it could come through law keeping, Yahushua didn't have to die for us. He just wasted His time.
The good news of the circumcision falsely taught that believers in Yahushua are not saved until they learn to obey the Torah and get circumcised, but the true good news is we're all saved the moment we repent and have faith in Yahushua. What good news that is.
Our hearts are purified by faith, just as Peter said in Acts 15, the moment we repent and believe, and just as Peter, Kepha, said in Acts 2:38-39.
Acts 2:28 - You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.'
Acts 2:39 - "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as YAHWEH our Elohim will call."
Now just Jews, Gentiles too. We repent, we're baptized in Yahushua's name to represent that death of the old man and Yahushua living in us. The Spirit of Yahweh then dwells with us, guiding us to all truth, guiding us day-by-day to higher levels of obedience, just as the prophet Ezekiel predicted, that this indwelling of His Spirit would do.
Ezekiel 36:27 - "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do [them].
Those who promoted the gospel of the circumcision believed circumcision and Torah obedience had to come first. First you've got to walk in the statutes, keeping the judgments, then you get the Spirit. The prophet said, no, you get the Spirit, then you're able to keep the statutes and judgments.
But you've got to learn what they are first, and He gives you the power to walk in them. Their false ideas are exactly why they were so shocked in Acts 10:45.
Acts 10:45 - And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
They couldn't hardly believe that was possible. What? He purified their hearts by faith? They didn't have to go through this proselytization process and get all these things that we've built up for ourselves?
Yahweh Himself established that they were wrong, and they are to be accepted as believers just like anybody else.
So in spite of all this--this is a major issue in the book of Acts, and it continued to be a major issue in Paul's letters and so on, because of this tendency for a circumcised person, who's learned in the Torah, to treat those who just came to Messiah differently, as if they had no salvation until they did these other things.
This is not the good news, and this is why the letter to the Galatians was written. The true good news is not that we are forgiven and now are free to disobey Yahweh's law. That's not good news at all.
The true good news is not that we achieve salvation and forgiveness through Yahushua after we get circumcised and keep the law. That's not good news at all.
The true good news is that Yahweh receives us and is willing to save us the very moment we decide to turn our hearts toward learning and following His ways of truth in the Torah, in His law, and the rest of His Word, receiving Yahushua the Messiah as our righteousness for when we fail to be obedient toward that law.
The moment we decide to do that, we are received into the body of Messiah, and we are now sons and daughters of Elohim, the children of Yisrael, through Yahushua, son of the living Elohim, who by the Spirit of Yahweh dwells within us.
That's the truth of Galatians 2, my brethren. May Yahweh bless you, and may He have mercy on each one of us. HalleluYah.
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