THE CIRCUMCISION CONTROVERSY

Lectionary passage: Galatians 2:1-21 - Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ²I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ⁴But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us— ⁵we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. ⁶And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those leaders contributed nothing to me.⁷On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised ⁸(for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), ⁹and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do. 

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; ¹²for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction.¹³And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?’ 

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.¹⁷But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. ¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ;²⁰and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. 

Paul skips some fourteen years in his account.
        His mission journeys he does not recount.
Instead he tells how Barnabas and he
        went to Jerusalem again to see
the leaders of the church there and declare
        the gospel he’d been preaching everywhere,
his views on circumcision to explain,
        to make sure he’d not run his race in vain.
Some Judaizers had said Paul was wrong.
        Yet even Titus, whom Paul brought along,
the leaders in Judea did not seek
        to circumcise, though Titus was a Greek.
The question had arisen because some

        of those who disagreed with Paul had come
to spy upon the freedom he espoused
        in Christ for Gentile converts.  They aroused
Paul’s ire, and he did not give in to them,
        but took the issue to Jerusalem.
The leaders of the church had nothing more
        to add to all that Paul had said before.
Now all the leaders he had come to ask
        knew he had been entrusted with the task
of preaching to the Gentiles the good news,
        as Peter had been preaching to the Jews.
“The God who worked in Peter’s ministry
        was also very much at work through me.
As he is an apostle, I am, too,
        that all may hear the Word —Gentile and Jew.
The pillars of the church —James, Peter, John—
        on hearing us, agreed we should go on
proclaiming to the Gentiles the good news,
        and they would keep on preaching to the Jews.
They asked only that we continue to
        support the poor, and that we want to do.
At Antioch when Peter came along,
        I told him to his face that we was wrong.
For though he used to eat with Gentiles, he
        drew back from being in their company,
when certain men came there from James, who made
        him separate himself, he was afraid
to face the circumcision group, and he
        caused more to join in his hypocrisy.
Why, even Barnabas was led astray
        by what the Judaizers had to say.
When I saw that they were not being true
        to gospel teaching, I said, ‘Peter, you
are living like a Gentile not a Jew
        (my words were heard by all the others, too).
Why do you force the Gentiles to conform
        to Jewish customs, which are not the norm?
We who are not Gentiles but Jews by birth
        know that no one can ever prove one’s worth
in God’s sight by observing Moses’ law.
        Our faith is in Christ Jesus not the law,
for by the law no one is justified,
        but only by faith in Christ crucified.
If seeking to be justified in Christ,
        we show ourselves to be sinners, is Christ
promoting sin?  Of course not!  For if I
        rebuild what I destroy, I prove that I
am one who breaks the law. For through the law
        I died to law" (a Pauline legal saw!)
"that I might live for God. Yes, I have been
        now crucified with Christ and freed from sin.
I live no longer, but Christ lives in me.
        The life I live, I live by faith, you see,
in him who loved and gave himself for me,
        by dying on a cross on Calvary.
The grace of God I do not set aside,
        for if by law we could be justified,
then Jesus died for nothing!,” Paul concludes.
        What Paul tells in this letter re his feuds
with Peter and the Judaizers shows
        how brilliantly Paul argues what he knows.