But when the one who set me apart
was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I could preach Him among the
Gentiles… - Galatians 1:15-16a (NET)
This mention of Paul’s call to
preach the Gospel to the Gentiles is an excellent precursor to what follows in
the second chapter of this letter to Galatia. Raising the issue of
Gentile inclusion under the banner of the covenant, which is the purpose of
preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, necessarily invokes considerations of
adequate covenant marking. In regards to this, as Paul relates the story
of his journey to Jerusalem in the years following his own conversion, and as
his ministry and message of Gentile inclusion among God’s covenant people based
on confession of Jesus as Lord has been established for quite some time, he
writes “not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised,
although he was a Greek” (2:3). This is key, as it assists Paul in laying
the foundation for his arguments concerning justification---what it is, how it
occurs, and what it represents---which comes later in the second chapter.
Why is it significant that Titus,
a Gentile, was not compelled to be circumcised? It’s significant because
of who it is that did not do the compelling, namely, the “influential people”
(2:2) in the Jerusalem church. If these “influential people,” located in
Jerusalem, which was the obviously the bastion of Judaism and the geographical
source of those that went out to other churches in other areas insisting on the
need for Gentiles to Judaize in order to properly and legitimately participate
in the covenant and to enjoy its promised blessings, did not insist on
circumcision for Titus (with circumcision also standing in for the other
covenant markers of Sabbath-keeping and food laws), then this spoke volumes for
Paul’s message and his understanding of the justification that he had been
preaching for fifteen years. In fact, Paul makes it clear that the only
ones that insisted on Gentile circumcision and their performance of the works
of the law were “false brothers with false pretenses” (2:4b). By
deduction then, true brothers with true motives were those that recognized the
basis for Gentile justification as belief in Jesus as Lord.
Further elaborating on his time in
Jerusalem, and further validating the argument that he is presenting to the
Galatian brethren, Paul informs them that “those who were influential… added
nothing to my message” (2:6a,c). Not only was his message about
justification and its corresponding covenant markers that allowed Gentiles to
enter the covenant people as non-Judaizing Gentiles accurate, but there was no
fault to be found with it. It is also possible that Paul meant this
statement as a double entendre, insisting that nothing needed to be added to
the acceptance of the Gospel, such as circumcision, Sabbath keeping, or
adherence to food laws (this is not about doing “good works”), to validate
one’s justified status.
With what immediately follows, we
see that Paul never loses sight, and never allows his audience to lose sight of
the all-peoples inclusion and world-encompassing nature of what the God of
Israel had accomplished and set forth through the Messiah Jesus, as he adds to
the lack of the addition of anything to his message, writing “On the contrary,
when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Gospel to the uncircumcised
just as Peter was to the circumcised… they gave to Barnabas and me the right
hand of fellowship, agreeing that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the
circumcised” (2:7,9b).
Though there is a distinction
drawn in terms of ministry focus, there is no distinction drawn between Jews
and Gentiles in terms of their position relative to the covenant God or in
their participation in His kingdom that has been inaugurated through the
Resurrection of Jesus, nor is there a distinction in the message that is to be
preached to Jews and Gentiles. Both groups are to hear and accede to the
message that confession of the Gospel’s claim is now the basis for God’s ongoing
covenant with His people, and that His people now consist of people drawn from
all nations, without distinction.
This cannot be said enough, as it
is the ground in which the concept of justification is rooted. We cannot allow
ourselves to be distracted by an incorrect approach to the issue of
justification, especially as it is addressed in Romans three and Galatians two,
which would have us considering the subject in terms of attaining an individual
salvation that looks to an eternity in heaven as the reward of “faith alone”
that stands against an attempt to achieve heaven via performing “works” in
accordance with a code of law. This approach, which would not be
recognized or understood by Paul himself, must be removed from the field, as
justification has primarily to do with being included in the covenant people of
God.
“Faith alone” versus “works” is
only relevant to a discussion of covenant markers, inseparable from the
Jew/Gentile divide and the barriers that had heretofore prevented the
enlargement of God’s covenant people, with “faith alone” standing for the new
covenant marker that coincides with the new age of the kingdom that has dawned
and the new creation that manifests itself whenever a person confesses the Lordship
of Jesus and so is “in Christ,” while “works” stands for the old covenant
markers that Paul now equates with the old age that preceded the coming of the
kingdom of God (that must exist and already be ongoing because of the claim
that Jesus is Lord and King) and the old creation that is steadily passing away
in the face of the victory of God foretold and begun in Christ’s victory over
death and the grave.
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