Food of Faith?

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Opening Prayer

Lord, my hardness of heart and dimness of spirit get in the way of serving You. Remove my reluctance to know and do Your will.

Read Galatians 2:11-21

^[11] When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ^[12] For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. ^[13] The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. ^[14] When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “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? ^[15] “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ^[16] know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. ^[17] “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ^[18] If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. ^[19] “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ^[20] I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ^[21] I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Meditate

“An ordinary meal eaten with people of different social positions is in reality not an ordinary meal” (Reta Finger). See verse 12. Perhaps this is the way to true community.

Think Further

This brings us to justification, mentioned four times in verses 16 and 17. A justified person is in the right, with God and with God’s judgment. It’s a “vertical” word, about holding our head up before God. Forgiveness is thus a big part of justification, a point that Paul makes elsewhere (Rom. 3:21–26). Here his immediate concern is “horizontal”: if you are justified and so am I, then we look one another in the eye; we belong together. Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus may—indeed must—meet at one table.

Justification comes, says Paul, through faith and through Jesus. It does not depend on Israel’s ancient Law. The Law would either divide Jew and Gentile or it would push Gentiles into acting as Jews, with kosher food, circumcision and so on. Jesus, in contrast, unites us. The cross brings new life, a new way of being and belonging (20). Christians of different races may trust in Jesus, with the same faith and on the same basis. When they do, they belong together, as one fellowship. This point is the hub and heart of Galatians. Paul will take the next couple of chapters to explain and underline it.

The Jerusalem agreement (Gal. 2:9) evidently had cracks. Paul would carry on telling Gentiles about Jesus, but it might still be difficult for Jewish and Gentile Christians to mix. Food laws—the traditions and divisions of Israel’s Torah—got in the way. Perhaps persecution contributed too: times were tense in Jerusalem, and if the Christians there were known to have Gentile contacts and sympathies, this may have caused some pressure and unpleasantness. Whatever the cause, some Jewish believers in Jesus were in two minds about eating with Gentiles, and Paul was indignant when Cephas changed his stance (11,12). There was a big principle at stake.
This brings us to justification, mentioned four times in verses 16 and 17. A justified person is in the right, with God and with God’s judgment. It’s a “vertical” word, about holding our head up before God. Forgiveness is thus a big part of justification, a point that Paul makes elsewhere (Rom. 3:21–26). Here his immediate concern is “horizontal”: if you are justified and so am I, then we look one another in the eye; we belong together. Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus may—indeed must—meet at one table.
Justification comes, says Paul, through faith and through Jesus. It does not depend on Israel’s ancient Law. The Law would either divide Jew and Gentile or it would push Gentiles into acting as Jews, with kosher food, circumcision and so on. Jesus, in contrast, unites us. The cross brings new life, a new way of being and belonging (20). Christians of different races may trust in Jesus, with the same faith and on the same basis. When they do, they belong together, as one fellowship. This point is the hub and heart of Galatians. Paul will take the next couple of chapters to explain and underline it.

Apply

Where do you share fellowship, food and faith with Christians of other races? How does this help you to discover the unity that Jesus gives his people?

Closing prayer

Mighty God, thank You for the bond of unity that there is in Jesus Christ. Where it is fractured, bring reconciliation, that we may be effective witnesses to the world.

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