A Little Steel for Your Spine

galatians 2:1-10

Main Idea: We must resist false gospels because of our submission to Christ and love of our neighbor.

I. Submit to the Revelation (2:1-2)

t was not, we may be sure, that he had any personal doubts or misgivings about his gospel and needed the reassurance of the other Jerusalem apostles, for he had been preaching it for fourteen years; but rather lest his ministry, past and present, should be rendered fruitless by the Judaizers. It was to overthrow their influence, not to strengthen his own conviction, that he laud his gospel before the Jerusalem apostles.”
~ John Stott The Message of Galatians
His fear is not that his gospel will be voided of its power if the decision in Jerusalem should go against him; what he fears, rather, is that a negative verdict will create a fissure in the church between its Jewish and Gentile wings.
~ Douglas Moo

II. Unyielding in the Confrontation (2:3-5)

Such people were no doubt genuinely shocked by the carefree attitude of Gentile Christians to the law of Moses, their own most treasured possession. It is highly likely that they thought themselves to be enriching the spiritual lives of Gentile converts immeasurably. But from his own experience Paul knew that this action was but a return to slavery. True, the Galatians had not been slaves to this particular Jewish system before: as pagans, they had had their own system of religion and morals. But a change of masters is not an escape from slavery: that is Paul’s whole point.
~ Alan Cole
Let this be then the conclusion of all together, that we will suffer our goods to be taken away, our name, our life, and all that we have; but the Gospel, our faith, Jesus Christ, we will never suffer to be wrested from us. And cursed be that humility which here abaseth and submitteth itself.
~ Martin Luther

Three Reasons Why We Are Vulnerable to False Teaching

Ignorance
Idolatry
Indifference

III. Impartial to the Confirmation (2:6-10)