Gálatas 2
J. Vernon McGee · Citado em PreceptAustin
Gálatas 2
McGee says: Paul stood by his guns. These false brethren said, “This man Titus who is here meeting with the church (and it was practically all Jewish then) has not even been circumcised!” Paul says, “No, and he’s not going to be circumcised. He is as much a believer as any of you. He has been saved by faith apart from the Law. He is not about to follow any part of the Law for salvation.” This is a tremendous stand that Paul is taking. Swindoll comments "If Paul and Barnabas had sought peace at any price, the brilliant light of the glorious gospel of grace would have been eclipsed by the waning, reflected glory of an obsolete covenant of works. And if the Judaizers had won a victory at the Christian command center in Jerusalem, the outposts of the true faith would have suffered similar attacks at the hands of an emboldened insurgency of self-righteous frauds. This is why Paul and his associates refused to yield to the demands of the false teachers "for even an hour" (2:5). The survival of the truth of the gospel itself was at stake, and Paul wasn't willing to give even an inch." (Swindoll's Living Insights New Testament Commentary – Galatians, Ephesians)
Gálatas 2
McGee says: Let’s understand that there were not two gospels in the sense of Peter’s gospel and Paul’s gospel. These men were in complete agreement. The gospel of the circumcision and the gospel of the uncircumcision refer to the groups the gospel was going to. Circumcised (4061)(peritome) refers to one who is literally circumcised, which in the ancient world was virtually always the Jews. Circumcised is used in a figurative sense to refer to ethnicity in Ro 3:30; 4:9, 12; 15:8; Gal 2:7–9; Eph 2:11; Col 3:11. As we have noted above the most important circumcision is not physical but spiritual by the Spirit - see Dt 10:16, 30:6, Jer 4:4, 9:26, Ezek 44:7, Col 2:11; Ro 2:28,29, Php 3:3. See Circumcision of the Heart. Galatians 2:8 (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), Greek: ho gar energēsas (V-APA-NMS) Petrō eis apostolēn tēs peritomēs enērgēsen (V-AIA-3S) kai emoi (in me) eis ta ethnē Amplified: For He Who motivated and fitted Peter and worked effectively through him for the mission to the circumcised, motivated and fitted me and worked through me also for [the mission to] the Gentiles. Phillips For the God who had done such great work in Peter's ministry for the Jews was plainly doing the same in my ministry for the Gentiles. Wuest For He who worked effectively for Peter with respect to (his) apostolate to the circumcision, also worked effectively for me with respect to the Gentiles. (Eerdmans Publishing) NET Galatians 2:8 (for he who empowered Peter for his apostleship to the circumcised also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles) GNT Galatians 2:8 ὁ γὰρ ἐνεργήσας Πέτρῳ εἰς ἀποστολὴν τῆς περιτομῆς ἐνήργησεν καὶ ἐμοὶ εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, NLT Galatians 2:8 For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles. KJV Galatians 2:8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) ESV Galatians 2:8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ASV Galatians 2:8 (for he that wrought for Peter unto the apostleship of the circumcision wrought for me also unto the Gentiles); CSB Galatians 2:8 since the One at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles. NIV Galatians 2:8 For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. NKJ Galatians 2:8 (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), NRS Galatians 2:8 (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), YLT Galatians 2:8 for He who did work with Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, did work also in me in regard to the nations, NAB Galatians 2:8 for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the circumcised worked also in me for the Gentiles, NJB Galatians 2:8 (for he who empowered Peter's apostolate to the circumcision also empowered mine to the gentiles), GWN Galatians 2:8 The one who made Peter an apostle to Jewish people also made me an apostle to people who are not Jewish. BBE Galatians 2:8 (Because he who was working in Peter as the Apostle of the circumcision was working no less in me among the Gentiles); he (KJV): Ac 1:8 2:14-41 3:12-26 4:4 5:12-16 8:17 the same (KJV): Ga 3:5 Ac 9:15 13:2-11 14:3-11 15:12 19:11,12,26 21:19 22:21 Ac 26:17,18 1Co 1:5-7 9:2 15:10 2Co 11:4,5 Col 1:29 Galatians 2 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries ONE MESSAGE TWO DIFFERENT MISSION FIELDS (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles) - Note the use of the "parenthesis" marks in most of the translations. Paul is saying that it is the same Spirit of God Who energized the work of Peter and himself, to two different mission fields both giving forth the same message.
Gálatas 2
McGee adds that "koinonia, one of the great words of the gospel and the highest expression of a personal relationship. It means sharing the things of Christ." Swindoll sums up this last section writing that "On that epochal day, rather than being scolded in front of their opponents, put in their places, and then sent back to Antioch stripped of their ministry, Paul and Barnabas received a threefold endorsement. First, the apostolic leaders saw Paul's distinctive contribution to the work of the ministry. They realized that Paul and Barnabas represented not a competing message but a complementary ministry (Gal 2:7). Peter had been sent to the Jews, Paul to the Gentiles.Second, they put Paul's ministry on par with Peter's. The church leaders saw that although Peter and Paul had different ministries, their empowerment and authority came from the same source—God (Gal 2:8). Because both ministries had clear evidence of God's miraculous confirmation, it was clear that God had shown favor to each of them. The only solution was to view the situation from God's perspective: Paul and Peter represented unity and diversity in the body of Christ.Third, they recognized the grace given to Paul and encouraged him to press on. Seeing that Paul had the gifts, skills, training, and experience to minister to the Gentiles, the apostles urged him to keep at his God-given task (Gal 2:9). (Swindoll's Living Insights New Testament Commentary – Galatians, Ephesians) So that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised - So that (hina) introduces another purpose clause. What's the purpose? The Gospel would go via Paul to the Gentiles and via the "pillars" to the Jews. It reminds me of the old adage "Divide and conquer!" Gentiles ("heathen" KJV, "nations" YLT) (1484)(ethnos gives us our word ethnic) generally refers to a multitude (especially persons) associated with one another, living together, united in kinship, culture or traditions and summed up by the words nation, Gentiles (especially when ethnos is plural), people (much like "people groups" in our modern missionary vernacular). Eadie says ethnos "is used in its broad sense, of all the nations beyond Palestine, as nations in want of a free and unclogged offer of the gospel." The circumcised (4061)(peritome) in this context is used figuratively as a description of the Jews. Eadie asks "Are not the Jews so named here on purpose, as if the reference were not only to the covenant rite, but also to what had been the theme of dissension at Antioch and the subject of present consultation in Jerusalem?" David
Gálatas 2
McGee says: There are many people today who talk about wanting to live the “crucified” life. That is not what Paul is talking about in this verse. We are not to seek to be crucified with Christ. We have already been crucified with Him. The principle of living is not by the Law which has slain us because it found us guilty. Now we are to live by faith. Faith in what? Faith in the Son of God. You see, friend, the death of Christ upon the cross was not only penal (that is, paying the penalty for our sins), but it was substitionary also. He was not only the sacrifice for sins; He was the substitute for all who believe. Paul declares, therefore, that under the Law he was tried, found guilty, was condemned, and in the person of his Substitute he was slain. When did that take place? It took place when Christ was crucified. Paul was crucified with Christ. Simpson says: This is the end to which the Spirit is always working, not to develop in us a character, a set of human virtues and high qualities that we can call our own, but to form Christ in us and teach us to live in constant dependence upon Him. It is not a state, but a relation, a union with a Person, a living Presence who carries in Himself all the forces and resources of our new life....He expresses it in that incomparable passage which is the very essence of the Gospel of the deeper Christian life. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Here the substitution is so complete that not only is the old I of the natural self left out and crucified with Christ, but even the new I that has risen with Him is suppressed, and Christ, as a personal Presence, takes its place. Even the very faith by which this life is maintained in union with Jesus is not our faith, but the faith of the Son of God actively manifested in us by virtue of that substitution through which He gave Himself to be instead I have been crucified with Christ (Christo sunestauromai) - Only two words in Greek which literally is "“with-Christ I-have-been-jointly-crucified." Eadie says: . . . “I have been crucified with Christ.” Wondrous words! I am so identified with Him, that His death is my death. When He was crucified, I was crucified with Him. I am so much one with Him under law and in suffering and death, that when He died to the law I died to the law. Through this union with Him I satisfied the law, yielded to it the obedience which it claimed, suffered its curse, died to it, and am therefore now released from it— from its accusations and its penalty, and from its claim on me to obey it as the means of winning eternal life. By means of law He died; it took Him and wrought its will on Him. As our Representative in whom we were chosen and in whom we suffered, He yielded Himself to the law, which seized Him and nailed Him to the cross. When that law seized Him, it seized at the same time all His in Him, and through the law they suffered and died to it. Thus it is that by the law taking action upon them as sinners they died to the law Gutzke says: This truth is even more clearly stated in verse 20, where Paul writes, “I am crucified with Christ.” He means that by faith he belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he accepts in the Lord Jesus Christ death to himself even as it came to Him. The believer joins Him on Calvary’s cross and reckons himself indeed to be dead. He reckons himself to be dead by faith; it is an exercise of faith. “I am crucified with Christ” in the flesh; “nevertheless I live.” He was Paul the apostle. He was a missionary. He was a teacher and a preacher. But he says, “Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” “Yet not I,” in the sense of his human ego. He was not the old Saul the Pharisee, “but Christ liveth in me.” There is a new life in him, and it is the life of Christ. As Bartlett says "It is hardly necessary to say that Galatians 2:20 is one of the pre-eminently great texts of Scripture (Memorize it!). Better, perhaps, than any single verse, it summarizes Paul's philosophy of life. And for untold numbers of believers it has been a polestar of faith, the very essence of what CHRIST means to them. We may very profitably devote to it long hours of meditation and study. In this lesson we can but touch upon the highlights of interpretation. The fact remains that we have been crucified with CHRIST. The perfect tense expresses action begun in the past and continuing in the present. Positionally, our crucifixion with CHRIST occurred the moment we accepted Him as our LORD and SAVIOUR; but the effects of our acceptance of His finished work for us on the Cross will continue through all eternity! There is, however, an experimental (Ed: or experiential), as well as a positional, aspect to our being crucified with CHRIST. Justification should issue in sanctification. To realize that we are made holy in position should help us to become holy in condition (Ed: Only possible of course as we learn to dependent daily on the "Source," the Holy Spirit and not the "good intentions" of our flesh!). Many a Christian, however, wants to take a Pullman sleeper at justification and wake up in glorification, without covering on foot the rough intermediary road of progressive sanctification (Ed: See discussion of Three Tenses of Salvation). On the other hand, not a few believers fall short of the full measure of victorious living though failure to grasp the transforming truth of identification with CHRIST; they depend upon what they can do for themselves in their own strength (Ed: cp John 6:63, John 15:5, etc), instead of resting upon the finished work of their SAVIOUR (Ed: cp Mt 11:28-30)." (Galatians 2:11-21 - Personal Explanation) Harrison says: These amazing words of the apostle we conceive to contain the finest, clearest statement in a single sentence anywhere to be found of how the Christian life is really to be lived. But why is it here this early in the epistle, before the exposition has even begun? And why is it in the first person singular, when it gives the great essentials of Christian living for all believers? Many time I have quoted these words and spoken from them, but never until now have I seen them in their true light. They are the clincher to Paul’s claim for the Gospel he preaches. It works. It is authoritative, authenticated as it is by the presence and power of the Author Himself. It is as though Paul said, “The Christ-centered Gospel I preach is allsufficient. I am demonstrating its sufficiency in my own experience. Since I met Christ on the Damascus road my life-principle is entirely changed. I no longer depend upon self-effort, much less law regulation. Christ lives in me. The life I now live is Christ-controlled. His control is perfect and complete.”
Gálatas 2
McGee says: The main thought in this verse is simply that if there had been any other way to save sinners, then God would have used that method. If a law or a religion could have been given that would save sinners, God would have given it. The only way that an infinite God could save you and me was to send His Son to die. He was willing to make the supreme sacrifice. I do not nullify the grace of God - The two couplets (1) grace and Law and (2) faith and works both are like "oil and water!" They absolutely do not mix! Peter's actions were in a very real sense a work of the Law (even through Peter knew better) and the effect of his actions Peter was as if he had "preached a sermon" that one is saved by grace plus works of the Law. Had this message been allowed to resonate throughout the young Christian community, it would have had the "net effect" of negating the grace of God. Campbell - The clear implication is that Peter and the others who followed him were setting aside God’s grace. The essence of grace is for God to give people what they have not worked for (cf. Ro 4:4). To insist on justification or sanctification by works is to nullify the grace of God. (The Bible Knowledge Commentary)