The Great Debate (Galatians 2:1-10)

It is a real privilege to be here again this morning, and sorry that, I like listening to Jim, I really do. But you're stuck with me this morning, so we'll try to make this just as enjoyable. It is a real privilege to be here with you again this morning.

Thank you to you guys, and thanks also to the elders, to Jim and Dave and the others, for allowing me to be able to speak. Let's start this morning by reading, going right in and reading. We're in the book of Galatians.

We've reached chapter two. We're gonna read verses one through 10. So let's just read those verses together. Verses one through 10 of chapter two. It says, then after an interval of 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.

It was because of a revelation that I went up, and I submitted to them the gospel, which I preached 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.

But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 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.

But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. But from those who were of high reputation, what they are makes no difference to me.

God shows no partiality. Well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me, but on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised, for he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship, to the circumcised effectually worked for me also, to the Gentiles.

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.

They only asked me to remember the poor, the very thing I was also eager to do. Well, we've heard Acts, and we've heard this little bit of Galatians on what I'm titling this morning called The Great Debate.

Rite of Passage, Covenant Signs, and the Circumcision Controversy

But before I do that, I want to ask you some questions, or ask you a question. Have you ever been through a particular rite of passage, like in order to belong to a certain club or organization, or possibly have you ever gone through a ceremony to change your status, possibly like a graduation, high school or college?

Or what about a ceremony that symbolizes a new relationship with you and somebody else? And if you ever were married, which many, most, if not all, were here, of the adults, most likely you went through a ceremony.

And that ceremony recognized a covenant that you've made with your spouse, and the wedding ring that you possibly or probably wear would be a symbol, a sign of that covenant that you've made. We're talking about signs and symbols a little bit this morning.

In the Montjuic culture, most of you know that we worked for 40 years among the Montjuic people and translated God's word. Well, we had a long time that we're able to just watch and observe them and their culture to learn how they thought before we could translate.

And in the Montjuic culture, there was a certain ceremony that every adult had to pass through in order to become a good Montjuic adult. The ceremony was called the Black Ceremony. And when a man or woman had at least one child, then the society, the community then, began to put pressure on that man or that woman, or both, in order to go through this Black Ceremony.

And when they had, like I said, when they had one child, then they were pressured. And this was done in order so that the souls of their children would not be taken away by evil spirits or hassled by evil spirits, that was the purpose of it.

So in a sense, it was a rite of passage for the adult, but it was also a protection ceremony for the children from demon activity. And I only observed this ceremony once because it was actually fading out by the time we got there.

But this ceremony was done for a young father. He had, I think, a couple of kids at that time. And I am also certain that it would have been done for all the other older people before him, though I didn't, of course, wasn't able to observe that.

And the ceremony that I observed that night consisted of this one male parent. He sat all night long in front of a small fire, and it was in a clearing, and all night long, the relatives and the other members of the Monhui tribe, the community close to him, all danced around him all night long.

And he had his face painted with black from charcoal. His face was black, and that was to represent the fact that he was becoming black. All night long, the members danced around him, and then from that night on, he was considered black.

And his children were considered somewhat protected. And I, obviously, it didn't work because demons don't help you, okay? But that's what they thought. But being black helped his children then to not be taken away, or their souls taken away.

And to symbolize the passing into this new phase, this rite of passage, so to speak, the man or the woman, whichever one took care of this, went through the ceremony, their name was changed just a little bit at the ending.

For example, the name of one man I knew who had gone through this ceremony a number of years before that had his name changed. It used to be Selai, and it become Selai. And his wife's name went from Oni to Oniai.

So that little nt on the end of their name symbolized that they were now in that, they'd passed through that ceremony. Now there was another group of people as well in the world who went through another symbolic ceremony.

I think you know who I'm talking about. This was a rite of passage, so to speak, and it was the Jewish people. And they went through the rite of circumcision. And as most of you know, the Bible speaks often of circumcision, doesn't it?

It was first initiated with Abraham. And it was a symbol of God's covenant with him and with his offspring. And all of Abraham's descendants then from that point on, all the Jewish males were circumcised to distinguish them as God's covenant people, God's chosen people.

They were in this covenant relationship with God, and that symbol was the sign of the fact that they were his chosen people. So over the centuries then, circumcision continued to be such an important thing, such an important factor, a symbol, that even in Paul's day, when the gospel message had reached to the non-Jewish communities, guess what?

There were many Jews that thought that circumcision, or felt that circumcision was part of the salvation process, and it should be included with those non-Jews who converted to Christ. So this became a problem, okay?

But to the logical thinking of the Jewish mind, when a non-Jew became a Christian, they felt it was absolutely necessary. And I think logically speaking in their minds, they thought because circumcision was this mark that distinguished them in a relationship with God, they thought it would be just as important for the Gentiles to adhere to this, to do their own part, so to speak, in the salvation process.

Thus they thought that each person had to do something, become circumcised, and also obey some of the traditional laws. So with that in mind, we're coming to Galatians 2, of this great debate that took place, and it's recorded both for us as was read in the book of Acts, in verse chapter 15, and also here in Galatians.

And Paul also is continuing his defense of the fact that he is an apostle, and this is part of his proof as well. But now the narrative is shifting to a different place, it's shifting to Jerusalem. It took place in Jerusalem, this debate took place in Jerusalem, and it's one of the most important meetings in church history.

It's one of the, kind of like the hinge, so to speak, in cementing truth and correct doctrine in the early church. And this debate was recorded for us, like I said, both in the book of Acts, that was read, and in this book of Galatians here.

We're in this second chapter, and we need to keep in mind that Paul is continuing his defense. So for the sake of an outline, I just wanted to, we don't have to stick to it as completely as we have to, but an outline I thought would be helpful a little bit.

So we're gonna look at five characteristics of Paul that we can learn from and we can model. First of all, his obedience in verses one and two, then his graciousness in verses two through five, and his impartiality in verses six and seven, his humility in eight and nine, and his sensitivity to people in order to be charitable in verse 10.

Paul’s Obedience to Revelation and the Gospel Message

So let's look, first of all, at his obedience in verses one and two. He says here in verses one and two, he says, after an interval of 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also, and it was because of a revelation that I went up, we'll get just that far.

So we start out with a timing. 14 years, he says, after his first visit, and the first visit is mentioned in verses 18 and 19 in chapter one, and that visit was, as we studied when I was talking about this earlier, he went up for only two weeks, it says 14 days, or 15 days in Galatians 1, 18, and 19.

And then back in Acts 15, where we heard, we find that Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem by the church at Antioch to settle this question as to whether or not Gentile Christians should be circumcised.

And in Acts 15, five, we read that during that council meeting, some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, so they were actually believers, but they were Pharisees, and they stood up and they said it's necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the laws of Moses.

Now, I thought about this. You see, these Pharisees were Pharisees first, and they were also circumcised first. So it had nothing to do with their salvation. But then afterwards, they begin to think, oh yes, this is very necessary for us to be in this covenant relationship with God.

So they thought that's why they should also circumcise them. So we do have here a purpose why Paul went, and that was to settle this issue. Some scholars wonder why he waited 14 years, and I believe Paul was very busy for those 14 years going all through Asia in some of his missionary journeys to reach all these Gentiles.

So he'd been busy until this important matter came up. And I wonder, too, why is it recorded in both Acts 15 and in Galatians? And I think every time that there's something that's done twice, it's very important, and that's why I think it's the hinge that this whole thing was on.

So we have Paul mentioning here the actors in this narrative, there are three of them. It was himself, and he says, with Barnabas, taking Titus also. And Titus is also mentioned here. And now we understand why he took Barnabas.

That's because Barnabas was one of his companions for a long, long time. But what was Titus doing here? Who was he? If we drop down to verse three for a second, we find out that he was a Greek, it says.

Even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And so we find out he wasn't circumcised, so he was a Gentile, but he was a believer. And we'll look at this just a little bit more in just a little bit, there is an important point, why Titus was with him.

Now if we look at verse two, we read that Paul says, it was because of a revelation that I went up, and I submitted to them the gospel, which I preached 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.

So I see two reasons in this point here, two reasons why Paul and Barnabas went to this council. The first reason was that God actually told him to go. He says it was because of a revelation that I went up.

So we have here a special reason, God's command, and Paul obeyed, he was obedient. He was telling his readers that it wasn't just a whim, it wasn't just, oh, you know, let's just go to Jerusalem and see what's going on, it wasn't because the apostles called them to come, and some of them, and it wasn't because he needed further instruction.

He says it was because of a revelation, God had revealed it to him, and this is very important to Paul, and he went because God told him to go, God had sent him. So he obeyed, he was in tune with God.

And so I was thinking, how, in this first thing here, how can we model this character of Paul's obedience? It is important, but, you know, we can't just sit and wait for a revelation, can we? And why is that?

It's because we don't, we aren't gonna get a revelation from God, we're not gonna hear a voice, or hear some whisperings in our ears, it doesn't work that way. Because after the scriptures were written, there is no more revelation.

It's true that God does speak, though. And how does he speak? We have it right here, don't we? We have his words recorded for us, and we can read them. All the scriptures were given by inspiration, it says, only through his written word.

This written word is our guidebook and our map, and thankfully, we have it in our own language, don't we? We don't have to read it in Latin, like some people used to believe. Mono, we have it as well, and so do many tribes today, because the gospel has been taken to them as well.

This is why it's important, though, for us to spend time in God's word. It's because it gives us what God wants us to do. We need to read it and meditate it on his word as much as possible, if every day is possible, so that we can know what God is telling us, and we are to obey him.

So like Paul, we are also to be obedient to his commands. We also have a second reason here in this passage, in this verse, where it says Paul also, they went to Jerusalem, and he says, I submitted to them, that is, the church leaders in Jerusalem and the elders, I submitted to them the gospel, which I preached among the Gentiles.

So Paul's first reason was to be obedient to God's command, and his second reason was to inform the church leaders in Jerusalem what his message was. What the gospel message was that he'd been preaching to the non-Jewish population.

So what was this gospel message? What was it? If we go back to Acts 15 again, and look at verse nine, it says, we find Peter making this statement. He says, and he, or God, made no distinction between us and them, meaning us, the Jews, and them, the Gentiles, cleansing their hearts by faith.

And the key phrase here is by faith. Peter was saying that the appropriation of God's salvation is simply by faith, simply believing that God's words are true. And Peter was very clear in saying this.

He doesn't make mention of circumcision. He doesn't make mention of any right, of any law that had to be followed. Their hearts were cleansed by faith, he says. And it's just as he witnessed with his experience with Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, that Luke has recorded for us.

Salvation is a gift of God, isn't it? Like the song, the words we were singing this morning. Salvation is a gift of God that no man can work for. And that's why we call it grace. That's grace. And how do we appropriate this gift?

By faith, we believe it. Cornelius was a Gentile who had demonstrated this fact, and Peter was making it clear to the others in the council that faith was the only prerequisite. Now let's jump ahead just in this very chapter in Galatians now, and see what Paul also had to say as he was reasoning.

He says in verse 16, 2 -16, he says, nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through what? Through faith in Jesus Christ, in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law.

So the statement here is saying it is through faith alone, isn't it? That a man is justified. A man is made righteous before God. Man can do nothing to add to it. There's no ceremony, there's no adherence to any rules, any laws, anything.

It's by God's grace, and it's through faith. Same thing that Paul wrote also later on when he wrote to the Ephesians. It's a verse that's very important to most of us. You remember what it is, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9?

For by grace, we've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. He says, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Then in Romans, he also wrote very similar to the Romans as well, and both of these were written 10 years later, 10 or 12 years later.

He said, in Romans 3, 21 and 22, he said, but now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

So the debate that took place that day in Jerusalem regarding how a person was actually saved ought to have been settled that day with all the proofs and everything, especially after Peter and James got up and spoke as well as we read in Acts, and with Paul's proofs and their testimony and the miracles that happened, but was it settled?

Was it settled? You know, it saddens me to see what's happening in our churches and in the religions of the world, all these good religions that inspire the testimony of these guys, there's still remnants today of a gospel of works, faith plus something else.

And the reason I believe this is because the human heart is always looking for something to do, something to gain, how to gain acceptance with God and how to gain an entrance into this kingdom. We all, we think we have to do something, and that's so important.

The other day I was reading on the internet trying to find anything that might have to do with faith plus something else, or just something else altogether, and I did find something. I don't want to bash this particular group of people, but I want you to listen to some of the things that I found.

This is how to become a good Catholic, and how to maintain or remain being a good Catholic. Here's a few things they teach that's important. They say baptism is the right of becoming a Christian. It's necessary, whether the baptism occurs by water, blood, or desire.

And then they say that sins are forgiven in baptism and in the sacrament of penance. And then they state that if a person lived a life not bad enough to warrant hell, but not holy enough yet to go right into heaven, then the soul goes first to purgatory, which is a middle ground between heaven and earth, a state where departed souls go to be cleansed of any attachments from the sins that they've committed.

Before going on.

So after reading those things, I was thinking, how is one saved? According to this teaching, they have to be baptized, and they have to do penance. Sounds like works, kind of, doesn't it? And then there's the problem of this place called purgatory.

I read another article, and the article, this particular teacher wrote this. He said, purgatory is a place where souls go to die in grace and friendship with God, but are still imperfectly purified. So you're a little bit good, but not quite good enough to get into heaven, okay?

So they say purgatory is where after death, they undergo purification so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. And they're ensured eventual entrance into heaven once they're purified.

And those souls, they rely on the prayers of the souls still on earth to relieve some of their temporal suffering. So if one's a good Catholic, he needs to hear a lot of prayers for Aunt Martha to get her out of purgatory, doesn't he?

Because he's stuck. And if I were a good Catholic, and I knew I was coming up on dying, I'd want to make a lot of friends because I'd want them to pray me out before I died. So, and then there's another question.

How many prayers are necessary? Gets kind of complicated, doesn't it?

It is complicated.

Sadly, all of this, in all of this so good religion, there's no mention of faith. And I've rarely found any instance about God in this at all. It's all about human efforts, all about works. And like I said, I don't want to bash the Catholics because they are, they are good people.

But it makes you wonder, doesn't it, where they're going. Don't people see that all this is just man-made religion and it's just all about works? Instead of teaching what Paul said and what Peter said and what some of the others said about faith and about grace, it's good works alongside of faith.

In order to be saved. It almost sounds like they're just repeating what the Pharisees were trying to tell the council there in Jerusalem that day. And that day was circumcision and this is just good works.

And the point I'm making is this, is that we all, as humans, default to works. We all default to think we can help God in the salvation thing and also maintain our salvation often. And this is why it became such an important debate in Paul's mind.

This was why it was the hinge. And he wanted the believers in Galatia there and also in Rome and also in Ephesus to understand this. Because it is so easy to slip into works. Those of you who were here when I talked a while back about the Monhui people will remember me possibly explaining them when they first responded to the gospel, we would meet together and we sang and we read God's word, the part that we had translated already, but one day some of these leaders came up to me, these church leaders, and they says, we need to sing more.

Why, why do we need to sing more? Do you really like singing that much? No, we need to sing more because it gives us power and it makes us acceptable to God. So I thought, whoops, that same problem here.

They mistakenly thought that God's grace was not enough, was it? And they needed to add singing to their faith and this was because, like I said, every human heart wants to do something to make himself better or something that God will accept him and thankfully, we were able to correct this false thinking and today we have many believers who do understand this truth that it is faith alone in the finished work of Christ that saved him.

Paul’s Graciousness, Tact, and Firmness in the Jerusalem Debate

All right, let's look now about how Paul was gracious in verses two through five. Here in verse two he says, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation. So he submitted his message of the gospel to those who were important, the important ones, the important church leaders and why do you suppose it was so important for him to go first to these elders and be the first, so that they'd be the first to hear him?

Why did he go in private? Could it be possible that he was afraid he would be rejected or that he had his message, he'd gotten the wrong message out? I don't think so because Paul was pretty clear on that because it was a revelation from Jesus Christ himself.

I think it was because Paul highly respected the other apostles and teachers and elders. So he met first because he respected him and because he was gracious. This shows us Paul's graciousness. He graciously went to them first and he did it in private because in this way they could sit around and discuss the important issue without the crowd around.

It was just a few of them and I think Paul knew that if he could get them on his side then they would convince the rest of the people. And if they hadn't agreed with Paul, if they said no, I think we need to have circumcision because look, we're all Jews and we were circumcised so the Gentiles need to as well.

If they'd said that, then Paul, then his trip to Jerusalem would have been in vain. He says, lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. So he didn't want to waste that trip and the church at Antioch had sent him and God had sent him and I think Paul was reasoning that these men, they need to be convinced first.

That there's no necessary traditions, no circumcision is needed. Otherwise he would have spent that time in vain. Thankfully it did not happen, did it? It didn't. Look in verse three where Paul says, but not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

So Paul brings the second time up this man Titus and here he adds, who is a Greek and why mention him again? Was Paul just showing off the fact that I can be with an uncircumcised man, no problem. I'm liberated.

No, Paul wouldn't do that. Paul wasn't proud and he wouldn't do that when he's sharing the gospel or bringing glory to God. He says that not even Titus, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised and here it shows us that Paul was very tactful.

Paul was tactful. Titus is mentioned as his living proof. Kind of like his Trump card. If you've ever played Trump, you know what Trump is. His Trump card, so to speak, that the Jewish laws and specifically this right of circumcision was absolutely unnecessary.

And see, Titus was just like those other apostles. He could walk among them. He was accepted. He didn't have to undergo circumcision. No ceremony was needed. No laws were needed. He was just as much a believer as the rest of them were and Paul was showing here in this debate his living example of that fact.

There's no need for works. Now look at verse four. Paul goes on. He says, 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.

Sadly, that's what legalists want to do. They always want the others, everybody, to join them in legalism, in bondage. And in Paul's, he was gracious, but we see also that he was bold and firm as well.

He called these guys false brethren and he says they were secretly brought in and he says they were sneaked in. So they were false believers. Anyone who bases their Christianity on works is a false believer.

And it's interesting that he doesn't say who snuck these guys in, but it's just, so that's not important. The real point is that it was done all through trickery and through deception and through sneaking.

And this alone was enough to show the Galatians that the whole thing was a sham about circumcision. You see, you can't teach truth with falsehoods. It doesn't work. We can see that Paul was serious and he was not about to give in to these false brothers.

He was fully convinced that the truth of the gospel was based on grace alone and through faith. Anything else was sneaky and false. And he also says there in verse four that they're sneaking in, and these guys that snuck in, he says it was in order to bring us into bondage.

And this was bondage to the demands of the law. The only motive the Judaizers had was to destroy their liberty and to bring them under bondage. In Romans, where Paul wrote later to the Roman Christians, in Romans 8, one and two, Paul taught on this same topic.

He said, therefore, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. And if you've been here while Jim has been teaching in Hebrews, you've been hearing basically the same thing, that we as believers are not under the old covenant,.

Are we?

The old covenant was made up of the laws and the sacrifices and all the traditions that were put into that that Moses gave the people. And the circumcision was that sign, so to speak, that they were in that covenant.

And these laws, these ceremonies, are what Paul describes there as the laws of sin and death. So to put oneself under legalism in any way, as part of salvation, would be bondage. Because if we based our lives on keeping the laws, then we become slaves to laws, and that's what he was talking about.

Think for a second on the 10 Commandments, okay? Don't steal, don't lie, don't murder, don't take the name of God in vain, and so on. If we still felt we had to keep those commandments, would that give us righteousness?

Would that give us life? No, it wouldn't. Because God's moral laws and the ceremonies and the tabernacle worship and the circumcision were never meant to bring hope of salvation or a clear conscience, as Jim has said.

Instead, they were only meant to remind us of our sinful hearts. We all stand guilty before a holy God, and that's what the laws do. They remind us of that, we can't save ourselves. The law only condemns us and ends in death.

However, in contrast, if we're in Christ, or when we're in Christ, we're trusting only in God's finished work, aren't we? On the cross, that is, by faith alone. And we're not in bondage to the laws. Nothing can condemn us, because God has said that we have Christ's righteousness, as Jesus, as we've been hearing from Romans, or from Hebrews, no, let's go on to five, verse five.

Paul says here, we did not yield and subject to them for even an hour, so the truth of the gospel would remain with you. They were able to resist circumcising Titus, they didn't yield to the Judaizers' demands, they were not even gonna give in for one hour.

And Titus remained their proof that salvation is by grace through faith alone. At the end of verse five, it says, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. So the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

He meant that it would not be mixed with works. It would be the pure truth. So this whole issue, this whole debate that took place was down to an either or conclusion. And he calls it the truth of the gospel.

A gospel of truth versus a false gospel based in deception and trickery and works. So was it the gospel by faith alone or was it the gospel by faith plus circumcision? That was the question, that was the debate.

And he wanted the believers in Galatia to clearly see that it was a choice of truth, it was truth, and it would remain pure with them from then on. So we've seen how Paul was gracious in presenting his side and yet he was also very clear and he was also tactful and firm and he wouldn't budge.

Paul’s Impartiality, Humility, and the Right Hand of Fellowship

And we also see that we too, if we were presenting the gospel, we ought to be gracious, yes, but firm as well because we are ambassadors of truth. Now in verse six, we see just a little tiny bit about how Paul was impartial.

He says, but those who are of high reputation, what they were makes no difference to me. God shows no partiality. Well, those who have reputation contributed nothing to me. So we see clearly from this statement that Paul wasn't afraid of the other apostles.

He didn't put them above anybody else. They were all on an equal basis. He wasn't partial. He was impartial, just as God is. God is impartial and so was Paul. And he wasn't fearful because his confidence was not in what those apostles would say, it was only in the Lord.

The Lord had given him the message to begin with and that was final. And then he says here, these men of high reputation haven't contributed anything. They've contributed nothing. He shows that the gospel was by faith.

That was the same gospel that he had been preaching. It was the same gospel that they were preaching. They could add nothing to it. Now, verses seven through nine. I'm sorry I'm going through these verses rather quickly, but I want you to see, because it's a whole section here.

Seven through nine, we also see that Paul was humble. He was humble. It says here in seven and eight, but on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised, for he who affectionately worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised affectionately worked for me also.

In other words, what Paul is saying here is that it's not up to these other apostles who are there. It's not up to anybody else. There's a higher authority here. And that was God. He was saying God was the one who had been working through them all and had picked certain ones to go to this people and certain ones to go to that people, and it was God.

Just as he entrusted Paul to the job to go to the Gentiles, he had entrusted Peter to go to the Jewish people. It was he who had done it. So the most important thing here that he was making here was it was God, it was God alone.

Neither Paul or any of the apostles could take credit for it. So we see his humility, because he's giving God the credit alone, and specifically, salvation isn't about any particular act or covenant or symbol or good work or anything, but simply faith in God alone.

Then he says here in verse nine, in recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James, and Cephas, or Peter, and John, who are reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

So what he's further emphasizing here is that these other apostles, these leaders in the church, recognized that God had given to Paul this grace, he says, and what that means, it was a gift, a gift of ministry to present the same gospel of grace that they'd been given.

And when he says they gave to him the right hand of fellowship, all he was saying here was that they were willing to partner with him. This was a Greek phrase that was translated in English, the right hand of fellowship.

They were willing to partner with Paul. Paul had their support completely, and this was his signal to continue on in the ministry of the Gentiles without having to have anyone circumcised. So even in this, we see his humility.

He didn't say, hey, guys, I won the debate. Look, look at me. I was right, you see? Or anything else, except that it was a grace from God. The whole ministry, a gift. It was all about God and not about him.

And I hope, as I read through this and I started thinking about myself, sometimes, even when I worked in translation, often I would get to the point where I'd think, man, I'm really doing a good job here.

I'm really doing great, you know? But no, I had to remember, no, no, it's not about me. It's about God and his work. And so this is something I pray that I can continue to have the same humility that Paul modeled here, to be humble and to realize it's God at work, not me.