The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 139

come down to see the work of God among the Gentiles. In his Iarge-henrtedness he had not only approved of it and rejoiced in it, but, laying aside all his Jewish prejudices, he hnd taken his seat at the table of the Gentiles, and had eaten whatever was placed b~fore him. But certain " false l,rethren" having come round, and having urcred the imperativ~ necessity _of ceremony, he yielded to his fears, withdrew from Gentile ~ociety, and lived m quanmtme with the Juda1zers. It would appear also that Barnabas was entrapped into similar vacillation; so that there was nothing for it but for Paul to stand up like a man and denounce Peter for bis weakness. In doing so he was con- tending for the truth of the gospel. Let us look into the subject a little more closely. I. CoNSIDER PETER's LIFE OF LIBERTY. (Ver. 12.) It was only right, and what we should expect, for Peter to throw aside his Jewish narrowness, the punctiliousness about meats and drinks, and to go in for brotherhood with the Gentiles at their feasts. Here we have the noble and big-hearted apostle acting upon his own better impulses. It is such liberty the gospel fosters. It is the foe of that narrowness which so often keeps men from uniting. It is the foe of that little-mindedness which keeps so many in estrangement. We cannot be broader in our sympathies or freer in our life than the gospel makes us. It can be easily shown that the so-called liberties beyond its sphere are real bondages. II. CONSIDER PETER's RETURN TO EONDAGE. (Vers. 12, 13.) When the Judaizers came down from Jerusalem, they were so positive about the necessity of the Jewish ceremonies and scrupulosities, as to put pressure upon the apostle ; so that, taking counsel of his fears, he deliberately withdrew from Gentile society and shut himself up with the Jews. This was a sore fall. And so astute were these brethren in their dissimulation that Barnabas was also led away. It is well to see clearly how bondage sets in immediately on our abandoning principle and acting on the pressure of our fears. Men fancy that, when called upon to act on principle, they are forfeiting their liberty; but the truth is all the other way. The free are those who act upon the dictates of truth; the slaves are those who have surrendered principle because of pressure. Ill. CONSIDER PAUL'S NOBLE REPRIMAND OF PETER. (Ver. 14.) It must have been a trial for Paul to take his stand against his senior both in years and in the apostolate, He must have appreciated the delicacy of his position in standing up against the conduct of the apostle of the circumcision. But he felt constrained to rebuke his brother as by his vacillating conduct traitorous to truth. And in no way can we testify so powerfully to iruth as when we take the field, however reluctantly, against those we respect, and who are deservedly popular, but who have somehow erred in judgment upon some point of importance. It requires courage and firmness; but it always has its reward in the extension of troth and of God's kingdom. IV. PAUL SHOWS THAT THE QUESTION OF JUSTIFICATION WAS REALLY INVOLVED IN PETER's CONDUCT. (Vers. 15-17.) Peter had very properly, though a Jew, lived after the manner of Gentiles, and so manifested his Christian liberty. Why, asks Paul, does he now turn round and require Gentiles to live like Jews? Is it to be thus insinuated that ceremonies save men's souls? Is not this the vilest bondage? Is not the gospel, on the contrary, the embodiment of the truth that a man js not justified by the works of the Law, but by faith iD. the Lord Jesus Christ? If Jewish ceremonies are still necessary to justification, then the work of Jesus Christ, in which we are asked to trust, cannot be complete. Such ceremonialism is thus seen to be in conflict with the gospel of justification by fai!h alone. To_ tell men that ce:emonies must s~ve them is to tum them away from Chnst as the object of trust to rites and ceremomes as the object. Am I to believe in the power of baptism and of the sacraments as administered by certain persons in order to salvation? or am I to trust my Saviour? The two methods of salvation are totally distinct, and it is fatal to confound them. The meaning of all such ceremonialism is to put souls upon a false track, so far as salvation is concerned. It is to translate man's justification from the true foundation in Christ's work to the rotten foundation of self-righteousness. Against this we must ever wage persistent war. V. PACL CONSEQUENTLY INSISTS ON THE SINFULNESS OF THE LEGAL BPIBIT. (Ver.18.) For what we destroy in accepting the gospel is all trust in ceremonies as grounds of salv:t.tion. The works of the Llw are'seen t-0 be no ground of trust for justification and aalvation. If, then, after having destroyed the self-rie;hteoua and legal spirit, and fled Oil. n, 1-21.) '1'1-IE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 105