Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles …”
Summary: Paul is striving to explain to the Galatians why it is dangerous to pretend that we can win God’s favor by something as simple as circumcision.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:15 – The Godly Goal”“You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”
Summary: Deciphering what Paul is saying to Peter and his companions requires an understanding of past covenants made by God for man.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:14c – The Wrong Club”I said to Cephas [aka Peter] in front of them all,
Summary: Conflict resolution can be a challenging topic. In this passage Paul illustrates a technique for dealing with a large group.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:14b – Awkward Situation”When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel …
Summary: If you are building a road, you need a plan. If the plans are not followed, the road might not work.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:14a – The Inspector’s Dog”The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
Summary: Looking at the background to the story, we find that we have many details that don’t seem obvious at first.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:13 – A Big Deal”… because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
Summary: There is a thing called “group think” that occurs when people stop thinking for themselves and just go along to get along with the group. This isn’t a problem unless the group is thinking wrongly.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:12b – Group Think”For before certain men came from James, he [Peter] used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles …
Summary: In this passage, Paul tells the story about a time when Peter came to visit his ministry in Antioch.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:12a – Flashback”… because he stood condemned.
Summary: Today’s passage uses the word “condemned.” Because the word can mean that we have passed judgment on someone, we look at other possible meanings for the original Greek text.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:11b – Standing Firm”When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face,
Summary: Sadly, conflict is an unavoidable part of life this side of heaven.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:11a – Clash of the Titans”All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
Summary: Being God is a bit like being a parent. As parents, we want our children to learn to do good and avoid doing evil. But we can’t live our children’s lives for them.
Continue reading “Galatians 2:10 – God’s Pickle”