Opening Illustration & Setup
Once upon a time in a land far, far away…
The globe stands at the precipice of war. The world is watching, the people are holding their collective breath.
One man, a power-hungry autocrat who thinks his nation has been cheated, wronged by the nations around him and the world at large, invades its neighbour, claiming historic rights to the territory it occupies. And the international community is in turmoil. What will happen next? Surely there is a country with enough sway and power to handle this situation!
Everyone’s eyes turn to one statesman, one man who was expected to have the answers. One man who was expected to address this unfolding turmoil. And so he does what he is expected to do: he speaks strongly about the problem—promising sanctions in his speeches—and decides to meet this autocrat face-to-face.
The statesman returns, triumphant! Hear, hear! Peace has been reached through diplomacy. The aggression will cease. The statesman had won the day as well as the adulation of the watching world. Everyone agreed that his actions had avertedanother possible world war… well, almost everyone.
One brash man, a pugnacious sort who loudly and directly criticizes the statesman. The brash man calls him weak, soft, timid. Strength must be met with strength, he declares! The day will come where this gentle, diplomatic approach would be shown for the appeasement it is, and further aggression from the autocrat would be inevitable.
Who is the autocrat? Who is the statesman? Who is the brash man? We all know we aren’t going to find out until the end, so let’s pop that in our pockets for now and open our Bibles to Galatians, chapter 2, starting in verse 11.
Scripture Reading — Galatians 2:11–21 (NKJV)
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Exposition & Application
Verse 11
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
Wow! Talk about coming in hot! This opening line gives off real mommy-and-daddy-are-fighting vibes, doesn’t it? So what’s going on here?
Paul just finished talking about how he and Peter and James and John are brothers in the ministry and how God called all of them to reach people with the Gospel, so it makes it all the more jarring that he suddenly launches into this account of him openly rebuking Peter!
And the phrase “withstood him to his face” does NOT paint an adequate picture of what happened here! This was a public opposition, likely in front of the whole church! This would have been quite a scene for the faithful in Syrian Antioch. But why? Why did Paul feel the need to openly oppose Peter?
“Because he was to be blamed.” Again, the New King James chooses softer language than is warranted by the Greek. The phrase actually means “he stood condemned” or was “judged to be guilty”. But why address this so publicly? Why make a big spectacle of it? Wouldn’t it be better to just say it privately and bring correction in the quiet of a back room?
No.
Peter was a leader in the church, and—as we will soon read—he was sowing division by bringing in false doctrine. This was a public mistake by a public leader that needed public correction.
Imagine if I got up here and started saying something heretical, like there was another way to God besides Jesus. It would be just as wrong for Pastor Joel or one of the elders to address it privately as it was for me to say it publicly. But why not go to him quietly? Why not Matthew 18 it? This was no private sin or personal transgression!
(1 Timothy 5:20, NKJV) Those [elders or pastors] who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.
The key for me in this was the idea that for Paul to be silent—even for a few minutes to talk to Peter privately—might signal to others that he was okay with what he was seeing. And he was not. Because—as we will get into through the rest of today’s passage—the very heart of the Gospel was at stake. So the question for us is: what would we have done? Would we have stayed quiet for the sake of peace? Or spoken up for the sake of truth? Because none of us is more important than the Gospel.
Verses 12–13
12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
The “for” that starts this sentence signals that Paul is about to explain why Peter stands condemned, guilty. Because he used to eat with the Gentiles, to break bread with them, to fellowship with them. There were no fences, no walls, no barriers between those who were in Christ. There was nothing separating one Christian from another. These were the good days.
But then, “certain men came from James”. This is James the brother of Jesus. The head of the church in Jerusalem. The natural question becomes: were they sent by James? Representatives of the church in Jerusalem? It’s possible, but I doubt it. It seems much more likely to me that these are the same men—or at least the same type of men—that James himself addresses in Acts 15:
(Acts 15:24, NKJV) Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment—
They had no commission from Jerusalem, they just wanted to give their view some weight which it neither earned nor deserved. It was, however, effective. Because when they arrived and started clucking their tongues and wagging their fingers, Peter stepped in line. And he “withdrew and separated”. And again, the translation here is not the best possible rendering of what was happening. It sounds like Peter did this and it was done. But that’s not the case. A better translation would be “he was withdrawing and separating”. This was an ongoing action, not a one-time event.
When I was a teenager my girlfriend would make me watch all these Rom-Coms with Freddy Prinze Jr., Heath Ledger, or Josh Hartnett in them, but I didn’t mind because it meant Rachel Leigh Cook, Sarah Michelle Gellar, or Neve Campbell was probably close by as well. But I tell you what… as soon as my guy friends would show up:
Bro those movies are totally lame, dude! We should watch something with explosions and swears!
Now this would often hurt my girlfriend’s feelings and it would often result in a swift and surprisingly painful punch to the arm. The message was clear: I value the opinions of these people over your feelings. And it’s the same message Peter was sending to the Gentile converts in Antioch. And that message was received loud and clear, even Barnabas—someone who lived and ministered and travelled with Paul—got caught up and swept away in it. And it was surely causing grief and division in that church.
What about us? Are we consistent? Are we the same “me” at church and at home? Around our Christian friends and our non-Christian co-workers? Or do we shape-shift, trying to please whoever we’re with at the moment?
Verse 14
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
This is another interesting passage, because we understand the word “straightforward” to be about speech. But this word isn’t referring to speech. It’s referring to action. It actually means “to walk uprightly” or behave in an orthodox manner. Basically, Peter and the other Jewish converts were not LIVING in a way consistent with the Gospel!
So, how do we deny the truth of the Gospel in our actions?
Well, there are lots of ways, but the problem Peter was running into was denying the freedom Christ bought for us. Peter—under pressure from the Judaizers—added law to the Gospel. And by adding to the Gospel, they were both polluting it and diluting it.
And so Paul, in front of the whole Antioch church, dresses Peter down. And the rest of what we read in today’s chunk is understood to be a quote of Paul’s rebuke.
And he starts with the hypocrisy. Peter was living like a Gentile until the Judaizers showed up on the scene, then all of a sudden not only is HE living like a Jew, but he wants the Gentiles doing the same! It’s important to understand that the reason Peter was withdrawing and separating was because the Gentiles didn’t have the law, and since they didn’t have the law they were sinners, unclean, and contaminated.
Up until Jesus came along the Jews were special. They were God’s chosen people. Salvation was only for them! But now these stupid, ugly (probably smelly) Gentiles could be saved too? This was unacceptable! The Judaizers wanted to maintain their special status. They were the MOST important.
But Paul is having none of it. He asks the question, “why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?” But the English falls well short of the meaning in Greek. In the original Greek the sentence is more like “how dare you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”
We don’t have any record of Peter ever teaching this as doctrine, he just modelled it as behaviour. And this is the power of our example, church! I’ve been coaching Little League ever since I got to Calgary almost three years ago and I’ve had a lot of the same kids over that time. And I’ve been praying for those parents. I told them I was a pastor—which is why we always got stuck with the Sunday evening games—and I coached as unto the Lord. And now, after years of investing, caring, and inviting people to church, I’m starting to have real conversations. I’m starting to get real questions. One dad recently told me his son declared that he believes in God… “just ’cause”.
When Pastor Joel talks about a “face of grace” I don’t think he intends for us to be like the character Joy from the Inside Out movie, where we are trying to make everything happy and upbeat all the time. Sometimes life is hard, but we can still have—and display—deep and abiding peace and joy. My wife has literally been asked by people we have been praying for why she is always so joyful!
Our behaviour matters, church! It speaks volumes about what we truly believe. Peter and the other Jewish Christians were communicating that they had fidelity not to Christ, but to the law. Let me be clear, church. This was idolatry. And—much as it might surprise you—it was not the law that was being made into an idol, it was the law-keeper. This was a gospel of self-importance. A gospel of control over one’s own destiny. A gospel other than the Gospel of Christ.
Does our behaviour testify to the goodness of God and the freedom of grace? Or are you preaching another gospel?
Verses 15–16
15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Paul just lays it on the line here and I love it. Paul flatly states the elephant in the room. Jews see the Gentiles as sinners. “Gentile” and “sinner” are effectively synonyms for the Jews. Because the Gentiles neither have nor abide by the law, they live in a constant state of transgression. Every sin they have ever committed clings to them like wet toilet paper because they have never even tried to address them.
But then Paul smacks them with the word “knowing”. “We who are Jews by nature … knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law.” See this word “knowing” is not mere knowledge. It is a basic fundamental and rudimentary knowledge that would be expected of all people. This is 2+2=4 stuff, church. Paul is almost yelling through cupped hands, “Peter! You know better than this!” Peter was a disciple of Jesus, is a commissioned Apostle of Christ, the one on who Jesus said he would build a church against which the gates of hell could not stand! Even little bitty tiny infant baby newborn Christians should know this stuff. How much more a pastor!
The only thing adding the “works of the law” does is wrestle control away from Jesus and put it back into our hands.
It’s like when you get put in charge of some project at work and your boss needs daily or hourly updates and has feedback and input on every decision and you sorta feel like it’s not really your project, it’s his, and he just doesn’t have time to do the step-by-step work. So you’re not really in charge of anything, you’re just a proxy for your boss? Ever been there? I know I sure have… I mean… not since I’ve joined Mountain Springs. Right, boss? I think he’s watching the livestream…
Is that what we do for Jesus? We go full Carrie Underwood, “Jesus take the wheel!” But then we look down and we’re still 10-and-2? I don’t know what your answer is. But you probably should!
Verse 17
17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!
Upon a fresh reading, you—like me—might be scratching your head and wondering what in the beef does this mean?!
When the Jews accepted Jesus as their Saviour, this meant their justification by way of Jesus, and not by the law. And this means that they—just like the Gentiles they once saw as dirty and unworthy—are also dirty and unworthy. Once they have rejected the law by embracing Jesus, they stand on the same ground as the Gentiles. They are same-zies.
And for my note-takers in the room, that word “found” doesn’t mean “became” or “were made into”. No, it means “found out” or “uncovered”. The great irony is that they are just discovering something that was always there. The law NEVER made them better! The law was always about holding up a mirror to a sinful people so that they—so that WE—could see how utterly hopeless we were!
But we are so sinful and egotistical and prideful that we even turned the window of our shame into a trophy to display! Ladies and gentlemen, we had our dunce cap shadowboxed and hung on the wall in our living room!
And Paul anticipates the objection that will come from the Judaizers and those poisoned by their rhetoric; “Well, if Jesus shows us all to be sinners, then doesn’t that make him a promoter of sin?” You can almost hear the smirk and the raised eyebrow of the questioner! Like they’ve just uncovered some incredible gotcha that proves the need for the law.
Just because someone comes and shows you the mold behind the drywall in your basement doesn’t mean he is promoting it. He is showing it to you so you can deal with it! It was always there, growing, festering, multiplying.
Here’s the honest truth, church. We’re all sinners. And the sooner we come to grips with that, the better. We like to think we’re the good guys. Every lie, cheat, steal? Crane your neck as a beautiful woman walks by? Say something more than you should have about someone who isn’t there? Yeah. Welcome to the club. I can introduce you to a guy who can help. Come talk to me after the service.
Verse 18
18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Another phrase which might leave us confused at first reading, but is actually surprisingly simple and succinct.
Paul is saying that to tear down the law only to build it back up again leaves you spiritually homeless. Peter—along with Barnabas and the other Jewish Christians—have put themselves in an untenable position. By tearing down the law to embrace Jesus they have become sinners like the Gentiles, and by rebuilding the law, they have minimized Jesus and rejected His salvation. Peter has rejected both camps by refusing to commit to either one!
A number of years ago my brother and his roommate decided to make some chocolate milk using some chocolate syrup they had in the cupboard. There wasn’t enough syrup to make two, so my brother suggested his roommate split the syrup evenly into the two glasses of milk and they could both enjoy a mediocre chocolate milk. Then he went to the washroom while the roommate prepared the drinks.
When he returned he found his roommate enjoying a rich chocolate milk while my brother’s glass of plain, white milk sat on the counter waiting for him. My brother was understandably upset with this decision and asked why he would take all the syrup for himself. The roommate replied, “Why should we both have BAD chocolate milk, when one of us could have GOOD chocolate milk?”
My brother—still annoyed—consented that this was a reasonable position to take… and promptly poured his white milk down the drain.
How often do we let someone talk us into settling for something unappealing, unsatisfying, and unfulfilling? Don’t try to walk some fantasy middle path because someone told you that you can have your cake and eat it too. That’s a lie. Jesus is the only way to life, and anything we add to Jesus is actually something we are robbing Jesus of.
Verses 19–20
19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Paul has quite a run of head-scratchers going here. This is three-in-a-row! What does it mean to die through the law to the law? According to the law, failing to keep it perfectly brings death. So when Paul abandoned the law, he effectively accepted its verdict: death. He can no longer rely on it for salvation, now his whole and only hope is in Jesus.
One of Pastor Joel’s favourite phrases is “burn the ships”. This comes from the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. In 1519, when he landed in what is now Mexico with a small force to conquer the Aztec Empire, he allegedly ordered his men to burn their ships. Why? To tell his people in the strongest possible terms that there was no going back. They wouldsucceed or they would die trying.
Then Paul follows up with this phrase “I have been crucified with Christ”. This is so good, church. So Paul says he has died to the law—by his own choice to reject that law. And now he is crucified with Christ, too! Paul is dead, dead! Or at least his flesh is. And that word flesh—for the note-takers in the room—means “human effort” or “self-reliance”. So Paul has given up not only on the law, but on anything else that would give him control, instead yielding his whole life to Jesus. And in so doing declares that he is crucified with Christ.
What does this mean?
It’s an amazing thing, friends. What this means is that when we give up trying to save ourselves, trying to control our destiny, trying to carve our own path—all of which still end in death, by the way—and instead confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, then His sacrifice on the cross covers us. In fact this phrase “I have been crucified with Christ” is in what’s called the “perfect” tense! This means a completed action with ongoing effect! The work of Jesus finished at Golgotha 2000 years ago is still rippling, echoing, reverberating all these years later with just as much force and power and glory as it did on that ancient Passover!
And so we yield control of our lives to Jesus—seeking His will, His leading, His guidance in all that we do—and by doing this, we allow Him to live in us and work through us.
And it’s hard! I get it, folks. I am a logistics guy. I am a planner. I am the guy with the spreadsheet and the operations manual. But just because I’m not in control doesn’t mean that I’m out of control. I take one step at a time in my plan, holding my dream in open hands and when—not if, but when—God has taken that dream out of my hands and sent me off in a new direction, I would smile and say “praise the Lord”. That is a skill I have developed over many years, mind you! That was not an instant change!
How many of you know—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that you are a better driver than your spouse? How many of you can’t resist saying so from the passenger seat?
How many of you remember the simple joy of driving with your mom or dad as a kid. You didn’t criticize their driving, you didn’t offer advice, you didn’t remind them to signal or shoulder check or that the exit was “back there”. You just enjoyed the ride, enjoyed the company, enjoyed the moment you were in. What if I told you that you could have that feeling every day?
Being in charge is stressful, folks. Let someone else take the helm. And that, friends, is what Paul is saying here: “Christ lives in me.”
Verse 21
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Paul says I—unlike the Judaizers—do not set aside the grace of God. Because that’s what adding things to the Gospel does. And I really love the way the New King James phrases this; adding things to the Gospel “sets aside” grace. This is, in effect, a rejection of grace as inadequate and not enough. It’s a total inversion of the truth! See we like to think that we can be righteous “through the law”—a modern equivalent might be something like “being a good person”.
Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that while we can do some good things, we can never be totally good. If I tried to live out the ideas in the Bible without Jesus, I would be “more righteous” than some other person, but still not 100%. And if you aren’t totally and completely blameless, then it doesn’t matter if you’re better than this guy or that guy.
Think of it like this. You got three guys on a starship that is about to explode. There is a nearby planet where they can gofor safety, but they are having some debate as to how they will get there.
The first guy insists they use the transporter. It’s instant and reliable, and the shuttlecraft is low on fuel.
The second guy responds, “Well, I don’t know, we’re all wearing red shirts, we’re probably going to die when we go down there. I like my chances on the ship. I’m staying behind.”
The third guy says, “I don’t trust the transporter with my life. I’m taking the shuttlecraft. I’m a great pilot, I’ll make it! See you down there.”
So the first one beams to safety on the planet. The second one dies when the ship explodes. And the third froze to death in the vacuum of space when the fuel on his shuttlecraft ran out before he could reach the planet.
All three of them had a choice to make — and only one trusted in what was actually able to save him. The others tried to save themselves their own way, and both ways ended in death. It didn’t matter that the guy in the shuttlecraft was closer, they were both still dead!
That’s exactly what Paul is saying here. If you try to get to God by staying where you are — by your own morality, by keeping the law, or by being a “good person” — you’ll never make it. And if you try to get to God by some self-made plan — by your effort, your religion, your pride — you’ll still fall short. Only one way actually saves: trusting fully in what Jesus has already done for you and, like the transporter, it’s instantaneous.
Conclusion & Response
Let’s pull that story back out of our pocket from earlier. The autocrat, the statesman, and the brash man.
An invasion as the world holds its breath. Who were these people? What happened?
The year was 1938. The statesman was Neville Chamberlain returned from a summit in Munich claiming he had secured “peace for our time” by giving the autocrat—Adolf Hitler—a slice of Czechoslovakia. The world applauded. Only one voice stood in open rebuke — the brash man, Winston Churchill — who warned that appeasement never satisfies tyranny. And he was right. Within months, Hitler launched a full-scale war. Millions died.
Church, we can’t make peace with lies. Compromise always leads to disaster.
Peter meant well. But he backed down. He stopped eating with Gentiles to appease legalists — and by doing so, he denied the very Gospel he once preached. Paul saw it clearly: the moment you add anything to Jesus, you’ve lost everything.
And here’s the truth: we do the same. Maybe not with dietary laws or circumcision, but with approval, comfort, control, politics, or performance. We reshape the Gospel in subtle ways to keep people happy, keep ourselves safe, or keep our ego intact.
And in doing so, we confuse the message. We dilute the Gospel. We compromise grace.
That’s why Brennan Manning famously said:
The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
Let that hit you. Because it hits me.
So here’s the call:
If you’ve compromised—if you’ve been trying to live a Jesus-plus life, where you’re still at the center—repent. If you’ve caved to pressure, or modelled a Gospel that isn’t grace alone through faith alone, come lay that down.
Maybe you’ve never truly surrendered your life to Jesus. Maybe today is the day you burn the ships.
Today is a day for clarity. A day for courage. A day to stand for the Gospel.
Stand with me, church. With every head bowed and every eye closed.
- If you have allowed compromise to enter your relationship with Jesus.
You know the truth, but you’ve been bending it to fit in. You’ve been quiet when you should’ve spoken. You’ve added performance, approval, or control to the pure Gospel of grace. Maybe you’ve been living two different lives — one on Sunday, another the rest of the week. And like Peter, you didn’t mean to deny Jesus, but your actions have drifted from the Gospel you claim to believe. Friend, the Gospel doesn’t need your edits — it needs your surrender. And Jesus doesn’t want your performance — He wants your heart. If you’re feeling conviction, that’s not shame. That’s mercy. [ask for hands]
Pray something like this:
Lord Jesus, I confess that I’ve compromised. I’ve tried to keep control instead of giving You all of me. I’ve cared more about what others think than what You say. Forgive me. Wash me clean. I return to grace today. I want to live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Teach me to walk in truth and boldness again. In Your name, amen.
- If you have never accepted Jesus.
Maybe you’ve been trying to earn your way to God. Or maybe you’ve just kept Him at a distance. But today you’ve seen it clearly: there’s no other way. No religion, no law, no good deeds — only Jesus. Only grace. Because if righteousness could come by any other way, then Christ died for nothing. He died for you. And you’re not nothing! And He rose again so that you could be made right with God — by faith, not works. That offer is on the table right now. There’s only one Gospel. And it’s worth everything. [ask for hands]
Pray something like this:
Jesus, I need You. I know I’m a sinner, and I can’t fix that on my own. But I believe You died for my sins and rose again. I want to trust You, follow You, surrender to You — fully and forever. Come into my life and be my Lord. Save me by Your grace. I’m Yours now. In Your name, amen.
Benediction
(Galatians 2:20, NKJV) I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Church, may you go this week living by faith in the Son of God — who loved you, who gave Himself for you, and who lives in you now. Stand firm in His grace. Walk boldly in His truth. And proclaim His Gospel until He comes.
Go in peace.