Introduction
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is somewhat unique in that the tone of the letter is very much heated and the content strong and urgent.
1:6 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ; for a different gospel;”
1:9 “…if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (REPEATED TWICE)
1:10 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
1:11-12 “For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (DEFENDING HIS APOSTLESHIP)
Recognizing Grace (2:1-10)
It is not uncommon to hear people in our community talk about grace.
* Thankful they received grace
* Maybe a challenge to believe in grace or give grace
* Or saying that we are saved by grace
However, in verse 9 of Galatians 2 we read of grace being seen, recognized, or perceived.
And in Galatians 2:1-10 the recognizing of grace was the decisive element.
These verses are Paul’s description of an important meeting he’d had with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. As you see from the first several verses (2:1-6), this was an intense and important meeting; at issue was the controversial question of Gentile circumcision. In fact, some, whom Paul calls “false brothers” (v. 4), were dead-set on seeing Paul’s Gentile traveling companion, Titus, undergo circumcision and thus become a Jew (2:3-5).
But Paul stood his ground:
“But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour” (2:5).
Yet, as he goes on to say, the decisive element was that the Jerusalem leaders: James, Peter, and John recognized the grace that had been given to him.
In fact, Paul explains, when the Jerusalem leadership “saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised” (2:7), and when they “recognized the grace that was given to me” (2:9), they concluded that the only right thing would be to partner with Paul by extending to him “the right hand of fellowship” (2:9).
Thus, as Paul explains, the Jerusalem leadership didn’t add anything to his gospel (2:6). On the contrary, they affirmed the fact that God was using the gospel to save Gentiles (2:7-9). Therefore, they reached a resolution—all because they recognized grace.
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If such an important matter was ultimately decided because leadership was able to recognize, see, or perceive grace being given by God then that begs the question:
How can we, too, recognize grace in this manner and harness the wisdom of the leadership of the Jerusalem church?
Perhaps, we are able to recognize grace in this manner when we are able to recognize the changing of people and their lives by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When we recognize a person come under the conviction of sin and put his or her trust in Jesus Christ and give themselves over to faithful obedience and watch them become a living sacrifice for our Lord and Savior Jesus we know we are seeing grace.
This is what the Jerusalem leadership saw in Paul.
In fact, as Paul tells the Galatians, these leaders recognized that the fruit of Paul’s ministry was on a par with the apostle Peter’s own: “They saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised” (2:7).
But what precisely had they seen in Paul’s ministry?
No doubt they would have heard about Paul’s early evangelistic efforts shortly after his conversion and his ministry in Arabia (1:17) and then in Syria and Cilicia (1:21).
Surely the pillars of the early church were also hearing what the rest of the c...
