The legal practices of the Old Testament annul the believers’ freedom in Christ. In Galatians 2:3 and 4 Paul says, “Not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And it was because of the false brothers, brought in secretly, who stole in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into slavery.” The false brothers were the Judaizers who perverted the gospel of Christ by smuggling the ordinances of the law into the church. The freedom Paul speaks of here is freedom from the bondage of the law. Slavery here refers to slavery under the law.
The false brothers to whom Paul refused to be subject (v. 5) were spreading the concept that the believers had to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul stood against this and did not yield even for an hour. He would not be subject to those who sought to damage our freedom in Christ and to bring us into slavery. To be free in Christ is to enjoy liberation from the bondage of the law with its requirement of circumcision. All the believers are now free from obligation to the law, especially from the obligation to be circumcised. In order to maintain this freedom, Paul refused to have Titus circumcised or to yield in subjection to the Judaizers.
In Galatians 2:12 and 13 Paul, referring to Peter, says, “Before some came from James, he ate with those of the nations; but when they came, he shrank back and separated himself, fearing those of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.” The fact that Peter shrank back proves that he was very weak in the pure Christian faith. He had received an exceedingly clear vision from the heavens concerning fellowship with the Gentiles, and he took the lead to put that vision into practice in Acts10. But here, out of fear of those of the circumcision, Peter backslid to shrink from eating with the Gentile believers. Paul specifically points out that Peter feared those of the circumcision.
In verse 13 Paul says, “The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy.” When Peter, the leading one, backslid, the rest easily followed. It is almost incredible that Peter, the leading apostle, practiced hypocrisy in relation to the truth of the gospel.
In verse 13 Paul points out that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. Barnabas participated in Paul’s first journey to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and to raise up the Gentile churches. Even one who had so much fellowship with the Gentile believers was carried away by Peter’s hypocrisy.
A very serious failure in the churches was the failure of compromising with Judaism (Acts 21:20-26). The Apostle James, a brother in the flesh of the Lord Jesus, was highly regarded for his piety. However, he took the lead to compromise the church with Judaism. This is recorded in Acts 21, which speaks of Paul’s last visit to Jerusalem. Paul went to Jerusalem with the intention of doing something to clear up the compromising situation there.
As Acts 21:20 indicates, James did not give Paul the opportunity to do anything. Although James and the other elders in Jerusalem glorified God for what He had done among the Gentiles through Paul’s ministry, they nevertheless said to him, “You observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and all are zealous for the law” (v. 20). This word indicates how the Jewish believers in Jerusalem still kept the law of Moses, still remained in the Old Testament dispensation, and still were strongly under the Judaic influence, mixing God’s New Testament economy with the out-of-date economy of the Old Testament.
Referring to the thousands of Jews who believed and were zealous for the law, James went on to say to Paul, “They have been instructed concerning you that you are teaching all the Jews throughout the nations apostasy from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs” (v. 21). To leave the law of Moses, not to circumcise, and not to walk according to the customs of dead letters are really according to God’s New Testament economy. But these were considered by the unbelieving Jews and even by the Jewish believers in Christ to be apostasy from God’s Old Testament dispensation. But it certainly is not apostasy to put aside the Old Testament economy.
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