The Gospel -- What It Isn’t
Galatians 2:1-10

Before the apostle Paul explains the liberating beauty of the gospel of Jesus, he reveals what the gospel is not, including . . .

1. Cultist (2:1-2)
2. Enslaving (2:3-5)
3. Segregated (2:6-9)
4. Social Welfare (2:10) 

I’m going to quote from William Mitchell Ramsey. A hundred years ago, plus or minus, he set out to disprove the Bible by taking a personal, geographical tour of Bible lands of the New Testament, specifically the journeys of Paul, in order that he might demonstrate how the Bible can’t be trusted.

He went over and was absolutely overwhelmed by the truth of Scripture. He was converted to faith in Christ and became a leading Bible scholar and geographer and probably the premier expert of all time in the travels of Paul. He also wrote a commentary on the book of Galatians. Before I read the text I’ll read what Ramsey says about the text:

“What a sentence it is that we have to study, involved and perplexed, taking up one point, abandoning it, resuming it, explaining, correcting, returning on itself. Never was such a sentence penned by mortal man before or since.”

 (He’s been dead 100 years. Maybe someone since then has done that.)

“Never has so much been said in so few words and never has it been said in such defiance of ordinary construction, and yet on such a high intellectual level. The one thing on which all commentators are agreed is the terrific, awe-inspiring nature of that portentous sentence for though one may thrust in a period here or there, it is really one sentence that runs through verses 1 to 10.”

            Galatians 2

¹ Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. ² It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.

³ But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. ⁴ But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. ⁵ But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

⁶ But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)--well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. ⁷ But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised ⁸ (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), ⁹ and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ They only asked us to remember the poor-- the very thing I also was eager to do.

A number of years ago I sat with a pastor and an individual in his church trying to sort out some complaints that the gentleman had against his pastor. The pastor was just crushed at this because this fellow was complaining that this pastor didn’t preach the gospel. The pastor had been in gospel ministry for decades and was devastated personally to think that he could be accused of not proclaiming the riches of the cross of Jesus.

What did this fellow mean that he was not preaching the gospel? The pastor was not preaching against things to his satisfaction, by not preaching against select sins that this parishioner really wanted to hear railed against. He wanted the fellow in the front row who chewed tobacco to hear that that was wrong. For those with issues in their lives and problems having to do with smoke, drink and chew and go with girls who do -- he wanted their ears pinned back! He wanted them to know that they were out of line. To him, that was the gospel.

Is it our job to clean up one another’s lives, or is it our job to proclaim the wonders of the One who can? There’s a huge difference here. The gospel is good news. That I’m a wreck or out of control or deteriorating isn’t good news. That there is One who can deliver me is good news. Do you see the distinction?

Paul is coming up against this very issue because there are those who want him to change his message to include something in addition to the finished work of Christ on the cross and faith therein. Sometimes we confuse the gospel with what the gospel cleans up.

Some of my best evangelistic moments are in the jail. When I’m sitting there across those tables that are fastened to the floor, sitting on stools that are fastened to the floor, sitting across from someone who is really hurting -- maybe physically, certainly emotionally, obviously legally -- the person who is really hurting does not need to be told to clean up his act. The person who is hurting needs to be told there is One who has already hurt for them. The one who is in that type of position, the one who is at rock bottom, and under conviction, the one who is drawn to the Savior is one who needs to be told, “Look here, your life isn’t going very well, is it?” To which they will always say, “You are right.”

“Jesus’ life is perfect, right? Yours isn’t. How would you like to trade?” The good news is that Jesus offers His life for those who are willing to turn from their own and embrace His. That’s good news. It’s been paid for; he has done it for us.

In Galatians, the apostle Paul is going to take several chapters in detail to explain the good news, how it works biblically, how it works theologically, how it works practically. He’s going to take it all over the place with the good news. Before he does that he tells us what the good news is not, what the gospel isn’t.  He’ll describe it here.

Galatians chapter 2, verses 1 to 14, talks about Paul having two different kinds of encounters with the main apostles, Peter being among them. The first encounter turned out pretty well. The next encounter, with Peter, didn’t turn out very well.  He’ll be discussing those. Today we’re just going to talk about the first one.

You’ll need to follow the fairly text carefully because William Ramsey was right, this is a hard sentence to follow.

The gospel is not cultist (2:1-2)

Paul said after 14 years -- that’s 14 years since his conversion, not 14 years since the previous event -- he goes up to Jerusalem again. The previous time, 3 years after his conversion, he’d gone up for only 15 days. Now it’s 11 years after that, he’s visiting again. He goes to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking along also Titus. So it’s Paul, Barnabas, and Titus going to Jerusalem because of revelation.

He lays out the gospel, which he preaches among the Gentiles, to those who are there who are of reputation -- to those who are standouts. He names them later, James, Peter, and John. This is not a teaching or a religious movement that is in any sense cultist.

When I was in two small Montana towns east of the mountains, I was serving in churches that some among the local population referred to as “the cult.”  Both were Bible churches, but to the locals we were referred to, when they were upset, as a cult. We were the new church in town; they were the established older long-standing churches. Because we were new and weren’t like them, then we must be the cult. It’s a derogatory term to be called a cult and in this case it certainly also was wrong.

Let’s understand what a cult is -- not occult which has to do with witchcraft and sorcery. Here’s a possible way of looking at it or a recommended definition: A religious movement characterized by a special leader, normally one prominent soul, often female, private knowledge; i.e., “I know this truth and if you are worthy I will share it with you,” and a restricted, exclusive corner on truth. A cult is defined as, “We are the ones who are right, and if you aren’t in our group you aren’t right.” Sometimes that’s taken to the extreme of, “You don’t get to go to heaven because you don’t go to church here.” One special leader, private knowledge, and an exclusive corner on truth.

A cult is not a denomination. There’s a difference between the two. Some people say, “I don’t want to have anything to do with church denominations, as though there’s something wrong with going to this church as opposed to that one. Church denominations and churches, in my opinion, are not a bad thing. What they tend to represent are for one, geography -- certain people in a certain place have come to worship God in a certain way. That’s fine. Church history -- following the movements of major church leaders like Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, and others, understanding them, embracing what they are teaching, embracing it and going that way. That’s fine.

It may even have to do with personality. Some people are wired a little more emotionally or a little less emotionally and so may prefer a certain denominational approach over the other. In my opinion, a denomination, if it adheres to the six or seven fundamentals of the Christian faith is simply emphasizing one aspect of the same truth perhaps over another. It’s not that big of a deal.

But a cult will say, “No, we’re it. We’re the key.” What Paul was presenting was not cultist. He had Barnabas with him, he had Titus with him, he responded to the direct revelation from Jesus. God has pulled the curtain back and revealed to Paul, “I want you to corroborate what you’re doing with what they’re doing in Jerusalem.” There’s accountability, there’s universal sameness in teaching. It isn’t hidden. It isn’t in a corner. It isn’t mysterious. It isn’t exclusive, and there is no one leader. The gospel is not cultist.

What’s going on here, I think, is absolutely huge if you stop to think about it. For eleven years the apostle Paul has been circulating in the area of Damascus up to the north preaching around predominately Gentile areas, proclaiming the gospel of faith in Jesus Christ for salvation -- salvation by grace through faith plus nothing.

He has been sharing that with the Gentile crowd and with any Jews he’s been able to teach. This is what he has been doing for years. Through revelation, that is, through direct word from Jesus, he goes up to Jerusalem with these companions to make sure his gospel matches theirs. I got to thinking about this in my own twisted way -- what if his gospel did not match? 

What if Peter, James and John, the first apostles, the most prominent among the apostolic number, were down in Jerusalem preaching something different? That’s why the apostle said, “I went up there, I laid it out before them privately. We separated ourselves. I could tell them what I’m preaching. If we were not on the same page then we would really have some problems.”

Can you imagine the sense of joy, fulfillment, perhaps even of relief when Paul, Peter, James, and John said, “We haven’t even been in contact with one another over these 11 years but we are singing from the same sheet of music. We are expressing the same truth, you to the Gentiles, we to the Jews.” What a wonderful thing that God has orchestrated this tremendous compatibility over all those miles, over all those years. Don’t you see? Isn’t that amazing? What if it had not been so? It would have been a real wreck early on in the history of the church.

When God orchestrates things, it’s always exciting. Jesus is challenged: “What about the temple tax?” He said, “Go on down to the lake and the first fish you catch, in its mouth you’ll find a coin.” Who put that together? God put that together. 

How about, “You go on into town and there you’ll find a donkey tied up with a colt. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone wants to know what you’re doing, say the Lord has need of it and he will let you” -- and it happens.

Or – “Find this guy carrying a pot of water on his head, follow him, he’ll take you to a large upper room richly furnished. Prepare the meal there” --and it happens.

In Acts chapter 10 there are two scenarios going on simultaneously. Down in Joppa, which today is Haifa, Simon Peter is on a rooftop praying and having a vision from God, Further north in Caesarea, a Gentile named Cornelius is praying and is instructed by God to send people down and find this guy named Peter. About the time Peter’s prayer is ended on the rooftop of Simon, the tanner, in Joppa there is a knock on the door and it’s these guys from Caesarea. Is God putting that together or not? So is it any big thing for God to put all these pieces in place and bring them to their appointed juncture at their appointed time? This is God’s doing. It’s His, and I know those early apostles rejoiced in it.

A word to the wise: Sometimes we will say or hear others say, “God told me to go here and do this.” If God tells us to go there and do that and it involves another person, God better tell that person too or maybe a wire is crossed. When God is in it, it always works. God was in this. Paul and Barnabas and Titus were right where God wanted them.

The gospel is not enslaving (2: 3-5)

The gospel does not enslave. In my opinion, the timing of this trip was fairly early in the ministry of Paul. He probably went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas at the same time it says in Acts chapter 11 that he took famine relief money to the saints in Jerusalem. He had been having ministry in the Damascus area; he had been experiencing some rumblings of doctrinal problems. Remember -- he always started with the Jews; he always went to the synagogue first because that’s where the God-fearing Gentiles came to worship. That’s where they would most likely hear the gospel and then take it back to their Gentile world. Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles; that’s where he wanted to go.

Due to the nature of people, it wasn’t long before they wanted to add something to the grace of God. The Jewish folks among them started saying, “What about circumcision, what about adding that to the gospel? After all, if you’re saying someone becomes a Christian they come into God’s family, right? That means they are in the covenant community, right? In the Old Testament whenever someone joined the covenant community the indication they had done so was the physical act of circumcision, right? So why are we not doing it now?”

They came to think they needed to. Paul, of course, stood firm. Salvation is by grace, through faith, plus nothing. All my trust in Jesus only, plus nothing. But those Jews were saying, “I’m not convinced,” and the seeds of doubt grew among them. A movement developed called the Judaisers. They said, “Yes, you have to believe in Jesus, but you also must add circumcision if you’re going to be complete as a believer.”

It was this mindset that the apostle Paul opposed. We come to Galatians 2:3. Verses 3, 4 and 5 are a parenthesis. He is digressing for a second, talking about Titus, talking about those who snuck in. He says it this way: But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. Titus is a Gentile, he is as Greek as they come, and he was not compelled to be circumcised. Titus is like a test case for the gospel. “Is this guy really saved?” “Well, yes, he trusted in Jesus and Jesus only. And by the way, he’s still Greek.” “Is he circumcised?” “No, he’s not.”

Paul, Barnabas and Titus had come to Jerusalem to meet with the Jewish leaders. They found that certain false brothers, pretenders, had snuck into this assembly to spy out our freedom in Christ. Freedom from thinking we have to keep rules to be saved. We’re free from that now. These guys are sneaking in seeking to disrupt that notion, seeking to distort that way of thinking.

Paul says they are false brethren. They have snuck in. He uses a word for spying very similar to the notion of when Joshua sent the spies into Jericho. They are probing for weak spots. They want to know where the chink in the armor is, so to speak. They were the Judaisers. Their tendency is to add rules to the faith. But not even Titus was compelled. These false brethren, he said, snuck in to scope out our freedom, which we have in Christ Jesus in order that they might enslave us. 

They want us back under the rules; they want us back in bondage thinking you have to do things, act a certain way, look a certain way, refrain from certain things in order to be accepted in God’s sight. He said that’s not where we are and that’s not why Jesus died. That’s where they are, working their way to heaven. They want to drag us back into that way of thinking too and just hold us in captivity. Keeping us under the thumb of guilt feelings, not real guilt, just guilt feelings. I don’t measure up, I don’t perform, I don’t do it right, I don’t look right, I’m not being right. That’s bondage and these individuals are saying, “Come on back.”

If you want to get theologically deep, this reminds me of Pinocchio. He wanted those strings off of him. He wanted to be a free boy. He gets his freedom but he’s not too bright. Before too long he is sucked into Pleasure Island where all these little boys who were free to run wild in the streets are now lured to. The next thing you know, they’re sprouting ears, tails, and hooves and are pulling horse-drawn carts from the mines. They’re now slaves once again.

That is what’s happening here. They tried being good, tried impressing God with virtue and character, tried living enough right life to realize they couldn’t do it. Jesus said, “I did it for you. Why don’t you give me your life and I’ll give you mine.” So we surrender. We say I’m not going to try to keep the rules to be saved any more. That doesn’t work. It can’t work. What it does do, and Paul goes into great detail here, it shows me how sinful I am and how badly I need a savior so now I come to Him.

He gives me new life and now I find a freedom I didn’t have before. Then some joker comes along and says, “By the way, you’re not keeping all the rules.” I might as well go to Pleasure Island and be in bondage once again.

Paul says these false brothers want to enslave us, but we didn’t yield to them any time at all. We gave them nothing in order that the truth of the gospel might remain. Keep this gospel pure and simple and accurate and true. Paul said we didn’t accommodate these people, we didn’t move in their direction so that the truth remains yours. I, for one, am grateful that Paul, by the grace of God, understood the truth of the gospel, stuck to it and didn’t deviate. He stayed there as an example for us as well as for our brothers and sisters in Galatia long ago.

The gospel is not cultist and the gospel does not enslave. The gospel sets us free.

The gospel is not segregated (2:6-9)

By that I mean it is not exclusive. It is not just for certain people. In verses 6 through 9, he’s come back. He talked about these false brothers; he talked about Titus and how we’re not giving these people anything. He comes back to his original thought where he says we went up to these pillars, these stalwarts and shared with them our gospel. In verse 6 he picks it up again.

⁶ But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)--well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.

Paul says he wasn’t impressed with their standing as people. It wasn’t the fact that they were pillars that impressed him. He says it didn’t matter to him, there’s no partiality with God. Literally, God doesn’t look on the face of a man, God doesn’t go by appearances, God goes by hearts.

He says but there we were with these stalwarts, these reputed pillars -- they added nothing. In other words, they didn’t have anything I didn’t have. They didn’t correct me; they didn’t modify my approach; they didn’t say, “Yes, but there’s also this . . .” He said they added nothing. We truly were in harmony with them. He goes on:

⁷ But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised ⁸ (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), ⁹ and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

It is God. It’s God’s work in us. That’s why it is all of grace -- because God is the same. That’s why His gospel is the same and applies the same to all people regardless. It’s His gospel. He is the one working in Peter. He’s the one working also in Paul and He’s the one also working in you and in me. He doesn’t segment the gospel, saying, “Give this much of it to these people and this much of it to those people hoping they will figure it out.” He doesn’t take that approach in any regard. There is no partiality here. The Jews get it from Peter. The Gentiles (we’re not talking about only the people but the areas in which they live) are Paul’s. Predominately Jewish areas are Peter’s. That’s what it is saying. Do we care? No - as long as all the bases are covered, it doesn’t really matter. Paul recognizes this as grace given to all by God.

When we see growth in grace, when we see ministry or people coming to faith or people reaching out, when see people coming to worship or see any person making a move toward God, we immediately need to understand -- that is God working in them. We can immediately have something to celebrate and be thankful for.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Not only do James, head of the church and half brother of Jesus, and Peter and John fishermen from Galilee (now premier apostles) add nothing to Paul, but they see that God works well in him. He identifies them as the ones who are the pillars. “They gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship.”

Not only did they not correct us, they gave us a hug.  They embraced us. They said we are on the same page. John wrote what I would call the fundamental definition of being in fellowship in the first three chapters of I John. He says to his readers, who are Greeks in Ephesus, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched, concerning the Word of Life” which is Jesus. All that we have seen and heard and experienced we proclaim to you so that your fellowship may be with us. We know whom ours is with. Ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. If you are with us you are with them.

By John handing out the right hand of fellowship (that’s a huge statement), saying we’re on the same page, we’re on the same ground, we’re saying the same thing, we are united in this deal is what Paul is telling the Galatians, “We are together.”

Later on he will be accused of having a different gospel from that of Peter. That’s why he is now saying no, we don’t. They gave us the right hand of fellowship so we go to the Gentiles and they go to the circumcised. I marvel in whose work it really is. We get pretty busy in Christian stuff, but it is God who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure according to Philippians. It is His power that works mightily in us according to Colossians. It’s the work of an impartial God. I like to think the of big picture. Sometimes it’s helpful. Probably the most defining verse in the entire Bible is Genesis 12:3, God’s promise to Abraham is basically what the rest of the Bible is about.

He talks in Genesis 12:3 about God reaching people from every nation. “In you, all the nations of the world shall be blessed,” he told Abraham. That comes to its fullest fruition in Revelation 21 and 22 where we get to see heaven and where it’s all going. There we get to see people from every tribe and tongue and nation walking the streets of gold. We come to realize that what God said in Genesis 12:3 He meant. He makes it happen in Revelation 21 and 22. It’s marvelous and that’s how God does it. That’s how we can say this segregated gospel is unheard of. It’s absolutely contrary to what God has begun to do way back in Genesis and what he will continue to do on into the future. 

It is difficult to get meaningful gospel ministry going among people who are poverty afflicted. It’s difficult for many people to deal with the elderly and the infirm, those who are prisoners, those who are addicts, those who perhaps are wealthy, too rich for the gospel, too poor for the gospel, too old for the gospel, too crippled for the gospel, too handicapped for the gospel or whatever. We have come to accept subliminal thinking. We think, “Well, since they’re like us, they’re not liberal, they would make a good candidate.”

We need to understand that God puts us where He puts us to reach those he puts us in the midst of. Sometimes He wants us to go where it isn’t that easy, where the blood of Jesus can be effective in the lives of folks who aren’t just like us. God help us remember it’s His work and not ours.

The gospel is not social welfare (2:10)

¹⁰ They only asked us to remember the poor-- the very thing I also was eager to do.

That’s the only thing. Paul said that’s why we’re here, we’re bringing famine relief to the poor -- because when you’re in Jerusalem and the Jerusalem church is under famine it’s close to your thinking. So James and Peter and John say let’s not forget the poor. Paul says, “Here the money, we’re not going to.”

Yet, people often confuse preaching the gospel with helping the hurting. There’s a reason for that. If we take a quick historical review we can see why Christians sometimes confuse the gospel with social welfare for one reason or another. About 120 or so years ago in our country after Darwin published “The Origin of the Species,” and after the industrial revolution had taken off and technology was exponentially multiplying, people became more and more confident in what people could do or what people had learned and developed.

Because of that, doubt began to be cast upon Scripture that, up to that point, really was taken for granted. Most everybody believed in God, believed in creation, believed in prayer. The better that people seemed to get, the more sophisticated and advanced, the more doubt there was so that there developed two Christian camps. The one camp said people are doing pretty well so we’re wondering if this fall and sin and curse is all that big a of deal. Not only that, we’re wondering if Jesus really was all He said He was and whether the Bible is really true in every regard. We’re just not sure now, this one camp would say. We’re not sure about eternal things. We’re not sure about heaven or hell or how to get there. It may be, could be, but we’re not sure, but this we are sure of, they said, that Jesus helped hurting people. So that we’ll do.

The social gospel was born; you’ve heard that expression. That is the root of the social gospel-- basically what Jesus wants is for us to help the hurting. A backlash against that came to be known as the fundamentalist movement of 100 plus years ago. The fundamentalists said “We are sure of what the Bible teaches, we trust the Scriptures, we believe in the fallenness of the human race, we believe in the substitutionary atoning work of Jesus on the cross, we believe in salvation by grace through faith plus nothing, we believe in sharing that gospel worldwide and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to set ourselves in defense of the gospel and if you liberals want to handle the social stuff, go ahead. We’re going to establish Bible institutes and send missionaries and do that stuff.

So there developed in the history of the western church a dichotomy, a parting of the ways. The mainline liberal churches handled social stuff and were socially active. Fundamentalists went elsewhere creating an unhealthy pendulum swing because not only did the liberals forget all about the gospel but conservatives forgot all about the hurting. That situation was aggravated about 1964 with the birth of the Great Society and the war on poverty. Now we have the liberal church that we can hand over all social welfare to. What they drop, the government will handle, leaving us free to do what? Awana and other things.

That, I believe, is beginning to change a bit, but the conservative, evangelical community has a pretty dismal record in social help and helping the hurting. It seems as if people who call themselves Christians today are one extreme or the other. Some would say no social involvement, let the government, let the liberals, let agencies do that. Matter of fact, don’t confuse the gospel with helping the hurting. We’re going to preach to the lost, we’ll get people saved, we’re going to send missionaries. We’re going to do all that.

On the other extreme there are those who call themselves Christians who say social welfare is the gospel and we need to set people free from their circumstances and give them a fresh run at life.

I don’t believe for a minute that helping people out physically is a substitute for the gospel. I believe what Jesus said. I think His balance is best. He said there are two great commandments. The first one is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength -- to which we would say amen. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Because that’s exactly how God does it.

Loving the neighbor means meeting the neighbor’s needs. “Who is my neighbor?” the rich young ruler asked. The first person you see who has a need is your neighbor. Meeting needs attracts the hurting lost to a living God. It isn’t the gospel but it can sure open the door to the gospel. It’s an expression of our devotion to God who created everyone in His image. He puts us among people and in certain circumstances and says, “OK, you go to work now.”

To love your neighbor is what the Bible calls us to do. Sometimes that means to feed them. To love your neighbor attracts the hurting lost to the living God. The gospel is not just giving folks stuff. Paul would go on to say, “You’ll end up giving people things, but not in order to impress God to get to heaven, because God has already saved you and you’re going to heaven.” He makes the change inside.