February 4, 2018 NOTES NOT EDITED
Spirit Walkers: Spirit Walkers Are Straight-talkers
Spirit Walkers: Spirit Walkers Are Straight-talkers
Galatians 2:11-21
I’m sure you have heard people say they don’t attend church because churches are “filled with hypocrites.” I always say, “Don’t let that stop you, we always have room for one more!”
Year’s ago there was a very self-righteous, holier-than-thou, Bible-toting, Church going woman who lived in an older, established neighborhood. Most people had been there for a while. One Sunday, her non-church going neighbor knocked on the door. The lady’s husband answered. He asked to borrow her lawn mower. The whispered from behind the door, “The very idea of cutting grass on Sunday,” she ranted to her husband. “Shameful! Certainly he can’t have it. Tell him, our lawn mower is broken.”
Sadly, there are way too many hypocrites in church. We must avoid hypocrisy in our lives by understanding three important aspects of justification, and the righteousness it develops.
1. Conduct Matters (11-12)
It is important to establish the tone of this passage. Paul was not merely addressing Peter’s hypocrisy, a character flaw that plagues each of us to one degree or another. Peter’s actions had dangerous consequences—eternal consequences.
The language in verse 11 seems quite strong. 11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.
The CSB (and ESV) both give a good translation. Other versions translate this passage as something like “he was clearly in the wrong” (NET, NIV, kataginsko). The idea of “condemnation” better expresses Paul’s tone.
The word, kataginosko (καταγινώσκω), is a very strong word. It means that something is known about a person that makes them worthy of the strongest contempt. It expresses a deep, moral fault. To compound the strength of this compound word, Paul uses the perfect participle. To compound the issue even more Paul attaches the participle to the imperfect tense of the word, “to be” (h|n), which translates as, “was being.” This very strong language describes Peter as “standing in a state that deserves the utmost contempt.” Our conduct as Christians matters to God, because it affects our witness and therefore it affects the eternal destiny of others.
Verse 12 For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.
Paul does not stop with this strong condemnation. He goes on to use the word, “hypocrite (hypocrisy) in verse 13. This is a much stronger word than our English word. The Greek word, hypocritēs (ὑποκριτής), had its origin in Greek theater. The actors would wear masks depicting the character they were playing. In Classical Greek hypocrites, had no inherently bad meaning. It was just “acting.” In the Jewish Greek of the Septuagint, it had an ominous and deceitful meaning. This is the meaning Paul uses in
verse 13: Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
Our conduct has a powerful affect on others around us. We are either being influenced by others, or we are influencing others—and usually a little bit of both. Peer pressure is a powerful force. Even Barnabas, Paul’s right-hand man, was carried away by Peter’s conduct.
What Peter was doing was not just “play acting,” but something morally wrong, and even more egregious, theologically wrong. Therefore, the consequences of this hypocrisy were “eternal.”
Christians, especially in our culture today, do not pay as close attention to “righteous living” as we ought. We love the idea of “justification,” but fail to recognize that righteous living is the fruit of the tree of justification by grace. We often confuse the truth, “we can do nothing righteous to become saved,” with the heresy, we need do nothing righteous after we are saved. Justification and righteousness stem from the same root word. They are linguistically and theologically connected. Thus, James would later address this very same issue in regard to righteous living:
James 2 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works. d 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder.
What we believe is important, but how we live according to what we believe is also of utmost importance—James would say, “Equally important.”
Somewhere along the course of my life I learned this important truth: Non-believers have one of two problems. The first is that they do not know a Christian. This is a problem of information. The second is, they DO know a Christian but that person is living an unconsecrated life. That a problem of transformation.
When it comes to the gospel, Conduct Matters. But, Paul also taught,
2. Conduct Does NOT Matter Most
Peter’s condemnation came from Paul, not because Peter’s personality was wrong, but because Peter’s theology was wrong. Often even people who have “orthodox” beliefs will have “heterodoxical” behavior. That is not the case with Peter. Peter’s theology about the relationship between grace and Law was faulty.
It is not that Peter was merely “adjusting” his behavior for the benefit of a particular culture. Paul, himself did this. 1Cor. 9:20-22
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law —to win those under the law. 21 To those who are without that law, like one without the law—not being without God’s law but within Christ’s law—to win those without the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.
This is not what Peter was doing. He was not being a Jew when with Jews and a Gentile when with Gentiles, but he was being “a Jew when with Gentiles.”
As we learned a moment ago, Peter was just not “play-acting,” but he was morally wrong in what he was doing. In fact, verse 14 demonstrates Peter’s true theological position:
Verse 14 But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, (“not straightforward, ESV) I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel (NIV, force) Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Peter was not merely “misbehaving” in front of the Gentiles, he was intentionally “misleading” them. The word translated, compel, refers to a forceful constraint upon another. The original root word means, “to bend.” The idea is similar to our English idiom, “twisting someone’s arm to do something.”
So, it is not only “what” Peter was doing, but “why” he was doing it that brought condemnation. Peter was not only wrong sociologically, but he was wrong theologically. Peter was teaching the Gentiles that in order to be “fully” saved, they had to keep the Law of Moses—dietary rules, circumcision, etc.
At issue with Peter’s misguided conduct is the doctrine of “justification.” Paul instructs Peter in regard to justification by grace through faith alone in
verses 15-17 We who are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners” 16 know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. 17 But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter t of sin? Absolutely not!
Verse 15 is probably a bit of sarcasm on Paul’s part. Paul was pointing out that if Jews by birth did not obey and keep the Law of Moses, it is hypocritical to expect Gentiles sinners to keep the Law (“Sinners” was usually amended anytime Jews referred to Gentiles).
In verse 16 Paul take the argument even further by pointing out “no one is justified (made right with God) by the works of the Law.”
What matters most of all is that a person can only be “justified” by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. No hybrid of works and faith, Law and Grace, will save a person. Grace alone saves—sola gratia.
Justification is a very significant doctrine in regard to the gospel. Paul uses this word 8 times in the Book of Galatians, 3 times in Gal. 2:16. It occurs in various forms throughout the N.T. The forms are related to the root, dike (dich), meaning penalty or punishment. The verb form, as used in the Classical Period, means to “execute judgment, or to make or establish as right.” The judicial, or legal, result of justification is the removal of a “penalty” (dike). In the case of the gospel, the penalty (dike) is not simply removed, but it is paid for by the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ and His subsequent resurrection. The result of justification is “righteousness” (dikaisunē, δικαιοσύνη), or “right living.” Justification involves a “transaction” where Jesus takes our sin and we receive His righteousness (2Cor. 5:21). Romans 6:1-14 is a good summary of the doctrine of justification. Through grace, we die to the power of sin. Through Christ’s death, we are “freed from deaths claims, and death no longer rules over us” (Rom. 6:7-9).
So, while our CONDUCT MATTERS—what we do—what MATTERS MOST is what Christ has done. That’s justification by grace.
3. Crucifixion Corrects Our Conduct and Clarifies Our Witness
Verses 17-20 get to the heart of the matter of Peter’s lack of “straight-talking and Spirit Walking.”
Verse 17 is a little hard to untangle. 17 But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!
Paul is making a preemptive strike against an objection the “Judaizers” (Law promoters) were making. They were claiming that without keeping the Law, the Gentiles would simply keep living like the sinners they are. Paul replies that both “Jews” and “Gentiles” are subject to sin as long as we are in this body of flesh. This does not mean following Christ by grace through faith alone is a license to sin. In fact, Paul makes the argument in verse 18-20 that it is only through grace that a person can keep the Law:
Verse 18: If I rebuild the system I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.
Paul explains that if anyone returns to the law, instead of receiving grace, they will gain what the law provides: the law proves that all men are “lawbreakers” since only Jesus Christ ever perfectly kept the Law. It would be “self-defeating” to keep the Law after being saved by grace.
Verse 19 For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God.
Paul goes on to explain that since the purpose of the Law is to demonstrate sinfulness and inability to be righteous in our own works (Rom. 3:20). Paul, therefore decides to follow the path of grace. In verse 20 Paul outlines the process by which we “think right and do right,” the point where justification and righteousness intersect. [Note: some modern translations change slightly where verse 20 begins].
Verse 20 I have been crucified with Christ 20 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, 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 for nothing.
The only Christ-honoring life is a crucified life. Crucifixion is absolute. Crucifixion is permanent. Crucifixion is difficult and painful. But, crucifixion is absolutely necessary to Walk in the Spirit. As we have mentioned several times, the fundamental issue in Galatians is “walking in the Spirit,” or being “Spirit Walkers:
Verse 5:16. I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Peter was not a “straight talker because he was not a Spirit Walker.” He was not a Spirit Walker because his flesh was not crucified. Peter, at the time Paul confronted him, was walking in the flesh because of faulty theology. His conduct was corrupt so his witness was unclear. Paul realized that if Peter’s conduct was not corrected and witness was not clarified, it would be devastating to the progress of the gospel as it moved outside of the city limits of Jerusalem.
Spirit Walkers must be straight talkers. So, why are so many Christians silent and the witness of the Church so ineffective? The simple answer is this: we are not being crucified with Christ! This puts the breaks on a life of holiness and therefore a life of effective living and preaching of the gospel. Most Christians are not “straight-talkers” because only dead men tell gospel tales, and most people have not truly let their flesh be “crucified with Christ.”
Over the years I’ve attended many “evangelism training conferences.” The question that always comes up is, “why don’t more Christians share the gospel with others?” According to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 95% of Christians never win another person to Christ in their life-time.
Every time I hear that statistic, it stings like putting Merthiolate on a cut when I was a kid. If you have never had that experience, you don’t know what you missed!
Conduct matters. Yet, most of the conduct of most church-goers is as bad or worse than that which Paul confronted in Peter. Several studies have been made comparing the conduct of non-believers to the conduct of regular church-goers. The results show little or no difference in regard to who gets divorced, who has an abortion, who drinks, or any of several other comparables. In regard to conduct, the church fails. Theology fares no better. Most Christians could not pass an elementary quiz on theology.
The result of poor conduct and poor theology is that most Christians are “silent” when it comes to sharing the gospel. The bottom-line is this: most Christians have not “been crucified with Christ.”
Crucifixion corrects our conduct and clarifies our witness.
One of the phrases that we hear all the time in news casts on T.V. is the term, “Fake News.” Each political party tries to spin facts to suit their own selfish agendas. There’s little or no “straight talk” in the news these days.
What Paul is confronting in Gal. 2:11-21 is “Fake Christianity.” True Spirit Walkers Must Be Straight Talkers.” Sadly, most professing Christian church-goers not only are NOT straight talkers, but when it comes to the gospel, they don’t talk at all.
Conduct Matters. Correct Doctrine Matters Most. Crucifixion of the flesh Corrects our Conduct and Clarifies our Witness.
Determine today that you are going to be a Spirit Walker who is a Straight Talker.
Live like a believer and your witness will be more believable. Don’t give in to cultural pressures to compromise the gospel.
Verse 21 sums up the issue between justification by grace through faith, or justification according to one’s own good works:
Verse 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
When person tries to work his or he way to heaven, they literally trample on the grave of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and tell God that His gift of His Only begotten Son, and all the pain and agony Jesus endured, was for nothing. It’s spits in the Face of God’s mercy.
Somewhere along the way I came across a very insightful poem that expresses the power of being a “straight talker”:
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
The eye is a better pupil, more willing than the ear;
Fine counsel is confusing, but example is always clear,
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,
For to see a good put in action is what everybody needs.
……………………………………………………………….
Though an able speaker charms me with his eloquence, I say,
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. -- Edgar A. Guest
Peter changed his conduct when he corrected his theology and allowed his flesh to be crucified with Christ, and as a result, Peter became a Giant among the Pioneers of the Gospel.
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