Friday, August 7, 2009

Galatians Journal: Chapter 2, verse 9 & 10

Galatians 2:9-10 “James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. 10. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”

(I didn’t have time to finish verse 9 last time, so I’ll wrap up verse 9(b) and then move on to verse 10)

“They agreed” This "they" appears to be all the leaders, including those who would have sympathized with the Judaizers. On the one hand, the agreement that Paul should minister to the Gentiles, and the other apostles to the Jews could be considered a compromise position – not unlike the compromise arrived at during the Council in Acts 15:29. It could viewed as a grudging acceptance of the Gentile believers, and an ongoing system of spiritual “apartheid” – at least for the time being. Well, perhaps that’s too strong a statement. The compromise in Acts 15 seems to recognize there are certain cultural matters the Jews will never accept in the Gentiles, or that in order to preserve unity in the church, the Gentiles had to compromise too. The compromise here in Galatians 2 might be a similar concept – an agreement to keep the ministries separate and distinct for expediency to allow both factions to flourish without “offending” the other.

That might have been the practical result, and (as we see later in the discussion of Paul’s confrontation with Peter) there may have been some residual ethnic bias in the apostles. But I really think this is actually a recognition of divine calling. Paul’s purpose in God’s Kingdom was to minister to the Gentiles. Paul was doing this because God told him to do this – this is confirmation coming from the leaders and authorities over Paul in the Church.

Every Christian and every church congregation needs to have a similar encounter and experience. Once we hear from God about our gifting, our passion, our vision, and we begin to walk in obedience to fulfill it, we will be tested, and we will need to submit what we’re doing to spiritual authorities God has placed over us. Invariably, if we’ve heard from God, the authorities will confirm our calling, or at least guide us in a path that will lead to the confirmation of our calling. This happened at my church (Spirit of God Fellowship in South Holland, Illinois) years ago, when we were considering merging with another local congregation (our “urge to merge” phase). The authorities we were submitted under confirmed our vision and outreach to the poor and disadvantaged (today, one concrete example of how this vision has manifested itself is in Restoration Ministries in Harvey, Illinois), and released us to continue down our path of a more “radical” Christianity, rather than merge with a more traditional church. Like Paul, our vision was confirmed and more firmly established.

Verse 10: The “bottom line” commission the elders in Jerusalem gave to Paul was basically “keep doing what you’re doing, but don’t you dare forget to keep helping the poor.” Here is good advice, and a sobering thought for any church or individual. This is a ministry litmus test. If what we are doing in the Kingdom of God doesn’t have an impact in some way on helping the poor and needy – “remembering the poor” – then perhaps we aren’t hearing from God. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a “hands on” ministry to the poor, but I believe it must be a real impact. Paul’s whole reason for being in Jerusalem in Galatians 2 is famine relief (see Acts 11:27). This is the essence of the Gospel message. Without it, we are simply “navel gazing.”

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