January 10 Click on verses for Full Scripture

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Today's Pathway: Galatians 2:2-5 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

We finished yesterday by seeing that Paul had gone to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles to see whether or not they were committed to preaching the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith, and were rejecting the teachings of the Judaizers who said that works, specifically keeping the Old Testament Law, were also necessary. Paul wrote in verse 2 that he wanted to make sure that he was not running "in vain". This does not mean that Paul was questioning whether or not his preaching was accurate. He was certainly not looking to the other apostles to verify his doctrine. There was no need for him to do so because he had received it directly from the Lord Himself! However, he did want to know if the apostles believed like he did, or if he would be running his race to evangelize the Gentiles by himself. Phil Newton explained it this way:

"What Paul meant was not that he had failed to understand the gospel or had possibly preached the wrong gospel. But instead, in the joint race of gospel ministry, he might have found himself alone, with all of the others getting side-tracked by changing the gospel message. He might have found his fruit, the Galatian converts and others, being led away by the Judaizers for a false gospel. If the heart of the early church, the Jerusalem Christians, could not support his gospel preaching, then the Judaizers would have just what they needed to divert these young converts into their false teaching."

As an aside, there is an important truth here. There may be some areas where true believers may not completely agree with each other. But one of the areas about which there can never be any disagreement is the message of the Gospel. Either salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing, or it isn't. Those who add works to grace in any way are at best seriously confused, and at worst are probably lost themselves. The message they preach is heretical and condemns those who believe it to the Lake of Fire. There can be no fellowship between a believer and an infidel (II Corinthians 6:15), and there can be no "evangelistic cooperation'' between these two opposing theologies, for one brings a man to Heaven and the other sends a man to Hell.

Paul writes in verse 4 that these false teachers had infiltrated the church. They had been brought in "unawares", which means that they passed themselves off as being born again followers of Christ and of sound doctrine, when in fact they were not. Notice that Paul does not call them "confused brethren"; he calls them "false brethren". These unbelievers came into the church in a subtle and sneaky fashion for the purposes of spying on the Christians, specifically in the area of being free from the Law of Moses. Please understand that they had not come in order to learn so that they might be converted. In wartime, why do spies infiltrate the opposing army? They do it so that they can defeat the enemy. These Judaizers had joined the churches for the express purpose of spreading the false doctrine that Christians were bound to keep the Law of Moses, if not in order to be saved, then at least in order to be spiritual (Galatians 3:3). Paul says in verse 5 that he never allowed these false teachers any opportunity to preach their heresy. Some had apparently suggested that he should compromise with them a little bit for the sake of "unity". Paul refused to yield one inch of sound doctrine to these spies. Here is another important principle: there can be no compromise with false teaching, for once error enters the church it will spread through the congregation like a cancer. Paul wrote,

"a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (I Corinthians 5:6).