Galatians 2:4a
"And that because of false brethren unawares brought in,..." Now these false brethren didn't sneak in, but rather the leaders no doubt had something to do with it because they were brought in. Now that's why we're sticklers for every word. Now if that word brought wasn't in there then we could say, Peter wasn't aware of these people, but we think he may have been. Somebody was influential in bringing these people into this great counsel meeting of the Jewish believers at Jerusalem to confront Paul and Barnabas and Titus, but primarily Paul and Barnabas.
Galatians 2:4a
"And that because of false brethren unawares..." Now there is another scripture that uses that same word unawares, and let's look at it for a moment. It's in the little Book of Jude. So when false teachers and teaching slips into a congregation or a denomination, it's nothing new. The writers of Scriptures were already aware of it. Just as we pointed out earlier when quoting from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Jude 1:3,4
"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4. For there are certain men (not a lot of them, but enough of them) crept in unawares, (as false teachers will never come into your Church, and say, "OK folks I'm going to give you a little leaven or poison to go along with the good stuff." So what does he do? He comes in perfectly sanctioned, he's got all the credentials, but he's a false teacher. This has been a warning from day one.) who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Does that sound familiar? Sure it does. And yet the gullible just can't see the difference. And that's what they are, they're gullible, by being bewitched. Oh, these men may sound like they have all the answers, they may be polished, they may be like an Apollos. They may have all the knowledge that makes them look like what they really are not - just an uneducated cow man, but they are false teachers, and they are leading people astray. Now coming back to Galatians and we'll see that same word and they're using the same mode of operation. They will bring false teachers in without the whole congregation knowing who they are. And look what they do.
Galatians 2:4
"And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily (or secretly under stealth) to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that thy might bring us into bondage." Now what do you suppose Paul is talking about when he says "Liberty?" Well, that he was no longer under the demands of the Mosaic yoke of Law. They were set at liberty the corral was broken down they're set free from that. Now we don't want to get risqué, but we've got to face facts as to how life was back in those days. Not every home had a private shower and bath, so most people had to go to public baths. Well, when these false brethren would go to these baths and there was an uncircumcised Gentile such as Titus, do you think they're blind? Why they could pick that out in a moment. So the whole idea here is that these Hebrews were going to slip in and spy on Paul and Barnabas, especially with their relationship with Titus who was a Gentile, to check them out and make sure that they were practicing the eating and circumcision rites. Are they eating kosher food, and it was all done to just submarine the apostle and sink him? That's all they have on their mind, they want to sink the Apostle Paul. They want him to be absolutely put out of business rather than go out to the Gentiles with the message that he's been preaching. They could not get it into their thick hearts the revelation of Christ.They were religious zealots and bond by their forms of religious legalism. Now reading on:
Galatians 2:4b
"...that they (these Judaizers, although most are Kingdom believers in Christ as the Messiah) might bring us into bondage:" They actually wanted Paul to say, "OK fellows you win, you win, I'll go back to my congregations and I'll just tell them, OK folks I've had it all wrong. I'm sorry I've been teaching you wrong, I guess we're going to have to give in. Go ahead and practice your circumcision and all the other ritual’s, if that's what you want to do. Go ahead and keep the dietary laws, keep the Law of Moses, get boxed into dead works, for after all I was wrong." But you see that's not Paul! Now let's read on in verse 5. Now the real Paul stands up:
Galatians 2:5
"To whom (that is the leaders of the Jerusalem congregation) we gave place by subjection, (do you know what that means? Pressure. Paul was under extreme pressure from those Jerusalem leaders to get rid of this idea that your converts don't have to keep the Levitical Law of Moses and accept its priesthood) no, not for an hour; (Paul didn't weaken one bit, why?) that the truth of the gospel might continue with you."
Now he's writing to Gentiles and some Hebrew converts, remember so he's writing to us. He's rehearsing what he went through. And what was the purpose he fought so hard for us? So that Gentiles could continue to literally revel in the Grace of God without being weighed down with all of the burdens of Law-keeping and placed under its yoke of bondage and sin. Now we want to remember that any kind of religion is a burden. That's why most of your Oriental religions, in particular their whole format for keeping people under their thumb, is superstition. They keep people scared to death that if they don't do exactly what their religion commands then they're in trouble. Bring it into any kind of a legalistic system and it's the same way they keep people under their thumb, and that's not freedom. Let's look at that in Galatians chapter 5:1 And this is what he's talking about and fighting so hard for us that we would never have to give up a verse like this.
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