Welcome back, fam!

Last time, we went through Galatians 1, and discussed some things we can apply to our lives. Today, we’ll be doing the same thing for chapter two.

Paul starts this chapter by talking about his journey to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus. He explains that he “went up because of a revelation” (2:2), showing us that he does not act without guidance or direction from God. I think if there is one thing we can learn from Paul, it’s that seeking God above everything – yes, even yourself – will allow us to live an abundant life with everything we need (Matt. 6:33). We have to remember, as Christ followers, that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9).

But if we’re being honest, that’s really hard to do sometimes.

Putting our full faith in God isn’t easy. This indescribable, amazing Creator of the universe loves us and wants a relationship with us – and we can’t even see Him. For any non-believers reading my blog, you may be thinking, “These church people are crazy to believe in something they can’t even see.” And you would be right. No truly rational person could comprehend the thought of a relationship with someone you can’t see or touch. If you’re familiar with The Big Bang Theory or Young Sheldon, then you know that Sheldon Cooper is a great example of this. Sheldon is extremely detail-oriented and isn’t shy to say what he’s thinking when he’s thinking it. On numerous occasions, he is seen almost humored at the idea of a god, or any religious being that cannot be physically seen. It seems as if he is incapable of comprehending even the thought of God.

But here’s the thing about Christ followers – we can’t comprehend this either.

That’s right. Even the Christians who stand on stage preaching about how good God has been to them. Even the Christians who always seem happy-go-lucky. Even the Christians who seem like they can do no wrong. Let’s say you are in a room with the pastor of a leading church. Two people with different views on God and the idea of a relationship with Him. What would you see? You might say, “Well, Anne, I would look at myself and see someone who isn’t worthy of God’s presence, a lowly sinner. But then I’d look at the pastor and see a holy man of God, someone so much better than me.” Now, what would God see? He would see two sinners trying to do His will. No, there’s not another person in the room with you hiding in the corner. In the eyes of God, we believers are all the same. Romans 3:23 says that we all fall short of His glory, and Paul says that here in our Galatians text as well. He says, while describing the people he taught to while in Jerusalem, that whether they were influential or not “makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality” (2:6).

A few verses later, Paul describes his encounter with Peter, saying that “he stood condemned” (2:11). He talks about the differences in Peter’s actions when he is with the Gentiles and with James. Paul describes Peter as being “afraid of criticism from these people,” and no longer ate with the Gentiles. Last week, I mentioned the topic of being afraid of judgement from others and how Paul reflects the idea of not needing to know what others think about your faith in his letters. How interesting is it that we see this topic again? What’s even crazier is that the concept of “blending in” when it comes to modern society is also shown here. Verse 13 shows Paul’s observation of Peter’s actions and the effect it has on the people around him. Paul says that “as a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray.”

Pay attention to a couple of those words – “even Barnabas.” For those of you that don’t know, Barnabas is known as the “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). His call was to active missionary service, and was described as being “a good man,” being “full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith,” and Acts 11 says he “encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.” So, as you can imagine, Barnabas was extremely influential in terms of a believer. Think of Barnabas as your modern-day small group leader or preacher. Now, sin’s job is to cloud our judgement, and we are all victims to it every single day. And even the most influential people in the Church fall to such temptation. Look back through our text and see where Paul says that God shows no partiality. Something to think about, yeah?

Paul calls Peter out on his actions in verse 14 by saying that he saw “that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel” and told Peter, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Maybe that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, so let me put it this way. If you claim to be a Christian but you live in sin, how can you expect other sinners to act like Christians?

Ouch.

When we say that we are Christ followers, the expectation for us rises. We are now responsible for our actions since we now know right from wrong in the eyes of God. My advice: don’t layer expectations of other sinners that you can’t uphold yourself. This, however, is a simple fix. Do what we are called to do: live like Christ. If seeking Him and living righteously means getting everything we could ever need, why would we not follow God? Paul ends the chapter with wise words in verses 20 and 21. He says, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Basically, when we are born again in Christ, we are now living by the will of Christ and not our sinfulness. As a result, we receive God’s grace, and it is a gift that we shouldn’t take for granted. Finally, if our righteousness – or, rather, our eternity – was determined by our actions (success in life, being a “good person,” etc.), then the conclusion is that you and I would not have needed a savior. But the fact is that no matter how much good we do, we are still subject to sin. You and I are still sinners, no matter what our success looks like. But we have a powerful weapon on our side – God’s grace. And He is always waiting for us to come back to Him when we find ourselves stuck in sin.

And with that, I think that brings an end to this week’s blog. Next week – chapter three!

With love,

Anne :)