Passage: Galatians 2:11-21

The Big Idea

Legalism is fueled by fear and peer pressure. Even Peter, who knew better, pulled back from Gentile believers when the “right” people showed up, and others followed him. Paul confronted him face to face, because the gospel was at stake: no one is justified by works of the Law, only by faith in Jesus Christ. Through the Law, Paul died to the Law. He was crucified with Christ, and now Christ lives in him. So don’t go back!

The Man, the Boy and the Donkey

There’s an old fable about an elderly man traveling with a boy and a donkey. As they walked through a village, the man was leading the donkey and the boy was walking behind. The townspeople said the old man was a fool for not riding, so to please them, he climbed on.

In the next village, people said the old man was cruel to let the boy walk while he rode. So he got off and put the boy on the donkey.

In the third village, people called the boy lazy for making the old man walk, and suggested they both ride. So they did.

In the fourth village, people were outraged at the cruelty to the poor donkey, made to carry two people. The last anyone saw of the frustrated old man, he was carrying the donkey down the road.

Why are we so influenced by what people think? Because we have an ingrained desire to compare each other by the standard of the Law.
But often it’s really just that person’s interpretation of the Law.
Have we been freed from the Law? If you believe the Bible, yes. Paul says the Law is good when used properly, but it isn’t laid down for the righteous (1 Timothy 1:8-9).

So why go back?

Paul Confronts Peter (Galatians 2:11-12)

When Peter came to Antioch, Paul opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.

Even your friends and role models can be wrong. They can become legalistic and go back to the Law.
Let’s learn from Paul’s example and never let a person’s status or position affect our ability to tell the truth of the gospel from the lie of legalism.

Before certain men came from James, Peter used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he drew back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcision group.

Paul tells us what happened and why. Peter knew God didn’t require Gentiles to come under the Law of Moses:

He learned it from the vision God gave him (Acts 10:9-16).
He learned it when the Holy Spirit was poured out on Gentiles who believed, without being circumcised (Acts 10:44-48).
He learned it when the other church leaders agreed (Acts 11:1-18).

Now Peter turned his back on everything he knew about the place of Gentiles in the church, and treated uncircumcised believers as if they weren’t really saved.

He did it because of fear. And he led others to do the same. That’s the power of a leader.

Wearing a Mask (Galatians 2:13)

The rest of the Jewish believers joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away.

A hypocrite is someone wearing a mask. Their “good” religious upbringing gave them a mask they could put on as a substitute for genuine spiritual living.
Even Barnabas had one. He probably hadn’t used it in a while, but in that moment of peer pressure, he pulled it out of his bag and slipped it on.

Bring Out the Bacon (Galatians 2:14)

When Paul saw they weren’t walking in line with the truth of the gospel, he confronted Peter in front of everyone. If Peter, a Jew, lived like a Gentile, how could he force Gentiles to live like Jews?

Now Peter refused to eat with Gentile believers.
When a Jew refused to eat with a Gentile, he did it in obedience to Jewish ritual law. But Peter had already learned that keeping those rituals, like kosher food laws, wasn’t essential for salvation for Jews or Gentiles (Acts 10-11).
Peter had stopped keeping those rituals himself. Now he was pretending he did, to accommodate the legalism of the visitors.
By his actions, he implied that Gentile believers had to keep the Law, when he himself didn’t! We always judge others more harshly than ourselves.
Legalism produces a lack of love. Love is gentle.

It must have been hard for Paul, given who was siding with Peter:

First, the strong, domineering personalities who came from James.
Then Barnabas, probably his best friend.
Finally, the rest of the Jewish believers.

Paul was in the minority. It was him and the Gentile Christians against all the Jewish Christians. He was standing with people who had just come out of lives marked by sexual immorality, hatred, violence and idolatry, before the Holy Spirit made them new.

Paul was essentially saying, “Peter, you eat bacon and ham and lobster. You don’t keep kosher. But now, in front of these visitors, you act like you keep these laws all the time.”

Justified by Faith (Galatians 2:15-16)

Paul reminds Peter that they were both Jews by birth, not “Gentile sinners.” Yet they knew a person isn’t justified by works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So they too had believed in Christ Jesus, to be justified by faith and not by works of the Law, because no one will ever be justified by works of the Law.

Paul confronts the real problem: “Peter, we both grew up as observant Jews. We did a great job keeping the Law! And yet we know we weren’t made right with God by that. Even we had to trust Jesus’ work on the cross alone for our salvation.”

Faith in Jesus Christ isn’t just intellectual agreement. It’s personal commitment. Literally, Paul says we have believed into Christ Jesus. It isn’t just agreeing that Jesus lived and died; it’s running to Him for refuge and calling on Him for mercy.

What is justification?

Albert Barnes described justification as God’s declared purpose to regard and treat sinners who believe in Jesus Christ as if they had not sinned, on the basis of the Savior’s merits. It isn’t mere pardon. Pardon forgives past offenses. Justification has to do with the Law and with how God will treat the sinner from now on: as righteous, as if he had never sinned. And the basis is the merit of Jesus Christ, which we can plead as if it were our own. He took our place, died in our stead, and absorbed the stroke of justice that would have fallen on us.

That’s why what Peter did was so awful. He was putting the useless Law in front of his brothers and sisters in the Lord.

What difference did it make whether they were circumcised or ate kosher? Bring out the bacon, ham and lobster, because all that matters for justification is real, true faith in Jesus.

Is Christ a Servant of Sin? (Galatians 2:17-18)

Paul asks: if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we turn out to be sinners ourselves, does that make Christ a servant of sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I tore down, that proves me a lawbreaker.

Paul answers the critics of the Gentile believers in the best way possible. The critics said: “They’re not even trying to keep the Law! I don’t like that! They need to try like me! I try so hard!”

Paul’s answer amounts to this: there’s more sin in trying to earn acceptance with God by law-keeping than there is in the ordinary failures of a Christian’s daily life. If I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down, that’s when I become a lawbreaker.

That’s the great tragedy of legalism. In trying to be more right with God, people end up being less right with God. That was exactly the situation of the Pharisees who opposed Jesus, and Paul knew that thinking well, because he’d been one.

Died to the Law (Galatians 2:19)

Paul says that through the Law he died to the Law, so that he might live to God.

The Law isn’t dead. It’s still very good at doing its job. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s perfect.
It isn’t the Law that died. Paul died to the Law. His relationship to the Law died.
When Paul truly understood the Law, the way Jesus explained it in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), he realized it made him guilty before God, not justified. That sense of guilt “killed” him, and showed him that keeping the Law wasn’t the answer.

Martin Luther said blessed is the person who knows how to use this truth in times of distress. He can say: “Mr. Law, go ahead and accuse me as much as you like. I know I’ve committed many sins, and I still sin every day. But that doesn’t bother me. You’ll have to shout louder, Mr. Law; I’m deaf, you know. Talk all you want, I’m dead to you. If you want to talk about my sins, go talk to my flesh. But don’t talk to my conscience. My conscience is a lady and a queen, and has nothing to do with the likes of you, because my conscience lives to Christ under another law, a new and better law, the law of grace.”

Crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20-21)

Paul says he has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer he who lives, but Christ lives in him. The life he now lives in the flesh, he lives by faith in the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him. He won’t set aside the grace of God, because if righteousness came through the Law, Christ died for nothing.

Paul anticipates a question: “Paul, when did you die to the Law? You look pretty alive to me!” And he’s happy to answer: “I have been crucified with Christ.”

I will never go back to relating to God on the basis of the Law and how well I keep it! Now I live by faith, in His keeping of the Law for me. And all of this comes to me by grace. All this righteousness and love come to me through the New Covenant of grace.

Going back to the Law is setting aside the grace of God. It’s one way or the other, not both. Either Jesus provides everything we need, or He doesn’t. What do you think?

Is He everything for you today? Or is there still something you’re trying to prove?

Are you trying to prove to your parents that you’re a good kid?
Are you trying to prove to yourself that you can do it?
Are you trying to impress someone?
Are you trying to look like you have it all together?
Are you trying to look good for the people at church?
Are you trying to get other people to be what you think they should be, by trying as hard as you do?
Are you trying?

Instead of being? Instead of trusting? Instead of believing?

Have you believed in this grace of God?

The Trapeze

Juan Carlos Ortiz compared the Christian life to a trapeze act. We watch in wonder at the skill and timing, and gasp at the near misses. Usually there’s a net underneath, and when the performers fall, they bounce back up to the trapeze.

In Christ, we live on the trapeze. The world should be able to watch and say, “Look how they live! Look how they love one another, how husbands treat their wives, how they work, how they treat their neighbors.” That’s living on the trapeze, as a display to the world.

And when we slip? The net is surely there. The blood of Jesus has provided forgiveness for all our sins. Both the net and the ability to stay on the trapeze are works of God’s grace. But, Ortiz added, if someone is always sleeping in the net, you have to wonder whether they’re really a trapeze artist at all.

Grace Takeaway

Don’t let fear or peer pressure pull you back under the Law. You’re justified by faith in Jesus Christ, not by anything you do or don’t eat. You died to the Law through Christ, and now He lives His life in you. Stop trying to prove yourself, and live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself for you.

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Don’t Go Back!