Bible Study on Galatians 2
Read
Galatians 2:1-5.
Why
did Paul go to Jerusalem? Was he summoned by the leaders? (He went in response to a revelation from God. He was
acting in obedience to God.)
Did
Paul doubt his work among the the Gentiles, telling them that they didn't have
to become Jewish to be Christians?
(In verse 5, he says that he didn't give in to them for a moment.)
But
he says that he wanted to make sure he wasn't running his race in vain. What
does he mean? (He wanted to make sure that the
Jewish Christians weren't turning back to legalism and destroying the unity of
the new Christian church. He would be running his race in vain if the Jewish
Christians continued to undermine his message among the Gentiles, undoing what
he had done. He didn't want to start a separate movement from the Jewish
Christians, but he knew he was right because he was listening to God.)
Read
verse 4 again. How did some people want to make Paul and the churches he
started slaves? (They wanted them to keep following
the Law even though Jesus had set them free from the Law.)
What
do we know about Barnabas and Titus?
(Barnabas was Jewish, Titus a Gentile. Paul himself was half-Jewish. Paul demonstrated
the unity of the new Christian message by bringing Titus and Barnabas with him.
One Jew, one half-Jew, one Gentile came to Jerusalem on a mission of unity.)
Read
verses 6-10.
Did
the Jewish Christian leaders agree with Paul that Gentiles did not need to
become Jewish to be Christians?
(Yes. They didn't make Titus be circumcised and they gave them the right hand
of fellowship, acknowledging that they were all partners. Paul even says that
the leaders didn't add anything to his message. He already knew everything they
did.)
Paul
mentions Peter, John, and James. Who were these men? (Peter and John were apostles of Jesus. James was Jesus'
brother, the writer of the book of James. The apostle James had already been
executed.)
Why
does Paul say that these three were held in high esteem and recognized as
pillars in the church? (They
knew Jesus. They started the Christian church after Jesus' resurrection.)
So
if they were so important, why does Paul say that whatever they were made no
difference to him? (God doesn't show favoritism. God
cares about what we're doing now, not what we have done. Leaders can fall and
God won't continue to honor them if they disobey Him or turn away from the
truth. Paul was standing on the truth in obedience to God, so he wasn't
intimidated or impressed by these other men.)
Have
you ever been impressed with another Christian? Intimidated? Why? (All Christians are equal. Pastors and leaders might know
more than we do about the Bible, but we know more than them when it comes to
our profession or being a mother, etc. Knowledge does not make us better
Christians. Obedience to God is what counts.)
If
Paul and the Jewish leaders agreed on everything, why did they stay divided in
their mission? They went to the Jews, Paul to the
Gentiles. (We all have different passions and areas we feel called to. Some
have a passion for evangelism, others for discipleship. Some for prayer, others
for action. Peter and the Jewish leaders felt passionate about evangelizing
Jews. Paul felt passionate about bringing Gentiles into the family of God.)
Read
verse 10 again. Why did the Jewish leaders and Paul both feel passionate about
helping the poor? (God cares about our physical needs
as well as spiritual. He has compassion on the poor and hungry. It was also a
way to show unity between Gentiles and Jews for the Gentiles to donate to the
hungry in Jerusalem. There was a famine in Judea and Paul collected offerings
from the churches he established to send back to Jerusalem. Feeding the hungry
isn't following the Law, it's an of love in Christ.)
Read verses 11-13.
Why
did Peter (Cephas) stop eating with Gentiles when some other Jewish believers
came to visit? (He was afraid of the circumcision
group.)
Wasn't
Peter the leader? Why was he afraid?
(Maybe he didn't want to cause division, hoping that the issue between Jewish
and Gentile Christians would blow over if he appeased them? Maybe he didn't
want to lose his influence over them? Maybe he didn't want them to judge him?)
Are
we ever afraid of other Christians' judgement? Why should we be? (If we've settled a matter between ourselves and God, we
shouldn't be afraid of another Christian's opinion.)
Read
verse 14.
How
did Peter live like a Gentile?
(He put his faith in Jesus instead of the Law. By not trusting in the Law like
a good Jew, he was living like a Gentile.)
Read
verses 15-17.
(Explain:
Both Gentiles and Jewish Christians are sinners. The Gentiles are sinners
because they don't follow the Law. Jewish Christians are sinners because they
now forsake the Law. They've become like Gentiles who don't follow the Law
because they're putting their trust in Jesus, not the Law.)
Does
Jesus make Christians actual sinners by asking them to turn away from the Law? (No, because the Law only applies to people under the Law.
You can only break the law if it has authority over you. A law in Syria, for
example, doesn't apply to me because I live in America. By our faith in Jesus,
God has removed the authority of the Law over our lives.)
Read
verses 18-20.
Paul
says that through the Law, he died to the Law. What does that mean? (First, he agreed that he couldn't keep the Law. He
couldn't be perfect enough to be justified by the Law. He deserved death,
according to the Law. So, he counted himself as dead. He gave up trying to
justify himself and threw his lot in with Jesus, even going so far as to die to
himself and his own efforts to be righteous. He's now united with Jesus, who
isn't under the Law.)
Why
isn't Jesus under the Law? (He's the
Son of God. By becoming a Christian, Paul was freed of the Law's power over his
life. He says he's not going to rebuild what he destroyed, meaning that he's
not going to turn back to the Law after trusting in Jesus. He's not going to
turn back to trying to become righteous on his own after he died to himself.)
Read
verse 21.
Why
did Jesus die? (Because no one could live
perfectly enough to follow the Law. The Law was just supposed to show us that
we couldn't save ourselves. Jesus had to die for us to give us the other option
that we could do - believe in Him.)
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