Today’s sermon audio can be found on Castbox at 168 “The Added Nothing” Galatians 2:6-10.

Our text for July 12 was Galatians 2:6-10. We read 2:1-10 for context. Our first reading was Acts 14:1-7. We read Acts 14:1-7 because this chapter of Acts is where Luke covers Paul’s first visit to South Galatian churches. If one holds to the South Galatian churches as the recipients of the letter to the Galatians then these churches in Acts 14 are the recipients.

Paul testifies about his second visit to Jerusalem in Galatians 2:1-10. Fourteen years after his conversion Paul had returned a second time to Jerusalem to privately present his gospel to James and Cephas and John. God had told Paul to do so. Paul went up to Jerusalem in order to make sure [he] was not running … in vain.. By this clause Paul did not mean that he doubted his gospel or his calling. Instead Paul meant that false brothers were attempting to nullify the grace of God (see Galatians 2:21). If Paul’s converts believed the lies of the false brothers that would in fact nullify the grace of God. That would be the opposite of Paul’s mission. Paul started narrating the main line of his testimony in 2:1-2. Then he mentioned a related incident about circumcision in 2:3-5. Now in 2:6 he resumes the main line of his testimony.

1Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. … 6And from those who seemed to be influential …

Galatians 2:1-2, 6, ESV

Sermon Outline

"They Added Nothing" Galatians 2:6-10

  1. They Added Nothing to Me (2:6)
  2. On the Contrary (2:7-8)
  3. They Perceived the Grace (2:9)
  4. Remember the Poor (2:10)
  5. What Shall I Do (Luke 10:25-29)

Scripture References: Acts 14:1-7; Galatians 2:6-10; Luke 10:25-29; Leviticus 18:5;

1. They Added Nothing to Me (2:6)

6And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.

Galatians 2:6, ESV

Paul is being very careful with his words in verses 6-10. The underlying syntax is challenging. But Paul is making careful distinctions explicitly or implicitly.

Here in verse 6 Paul gets to an important assertion about this meeting fourteen years after his conversion. The seemingly influential Jerusalem apostles did not add anything to Paul. No doubt Paul’s opponents in Antioch, in Galatia, in Jerusalem, and elsewhere all tended to undermine Paul by saying something like “Paul’s gospel is OK as far as it goes; but Paul has missed something.”.

‘6And from those who seemed to be influential’.
Paul had already mentioned those who seem influential (in verse 2). We learn in verse 9 that Paul is referring to James and Cephas and John. Why did Paul write those who seem influential instead of those who were influential? I suspect that the false brothers overemphasized the authority of the Jerusalem apostles to lessen the influence of Paul. The Jerusalem apostles did have authority but so did Paul. And both the Jerusalem apostles and Paul were in fact influential. So Paul acknowledges the stature of the three pillars while also maintaining a balance that put Paul himself on an equal footing with them.

‘(what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)’.
Paul was unconcerned about the stature of the three pillars of the Jerusalem church. Evidently Paul’s opponents, unlike God, showed partiality by favoring the three pillars over Paul. God was equally gracious to the pillars and to Paul.

‘—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.’.
In verse 6 Paul for the second and third times uses the phrase those who seemed influential. This repetition strongly suggests that the stature or influence of the pillars was misused by the false brothers in Galatia and elsewhere. The important assertion that Paul made was that the pillars added nothing to him. By this assertion Paul means that the pillars did not find any reason to add to or alter Paul’s gospel and Paul’s ministry. By making this assertion Paul refuted a key argument of the false brothers. The Jerusalem apostles found no reason to be critical of Paul and his ministry. So the false brothers were wrong about that claim.

2. On the Contrary (2:7-8)

7On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles),

Galatians 2:7-8, ESV

‘7On the contrary,’.
Verse 7 should probably be translated ‘But on the contrary’. There is an adversative conjunction in the underlying text that many English translations ignore. Paul uses this phrase to make a strong contrast with the end of the previous verse (—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.). The Jerusalem apostles, instead of adding to, subtracting from, or altering Paul’s gospel and ministry, instead reacted as follows.

‘when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised,’.
The Jerusalem apostles perceived that God had entrusted Paul with preaching the gospel to Gentiles. Paul himself had come to that conclusion on the road to Damascus fourteen years earlier.

‘just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised’.
Both Paul and the Jerusalem apostles recognized that Peter was the spiritual leader of the Jerusalem-based effort to preach the gospel to the Jewish people. And now the Jerusalem apostles recognized that Paul was the spiritual leader of the Antioch-based effort to preach the gospel to the nonJewish people. Perhaps Paul here uses the words uncircumcised and circumcised to emphasize the perversion of the gospel by the false brothers.

‘8(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised’.
This parenthetical clause explains how the Jerusalem apostles came to perceive that God had entrusted Paul with his ministry to the Gentiles. The phrase he who worked refers to God. Paul explicitly labels Peter’s ministry as apostolic.

‘worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles),’.
Paul does not explicitly label his own ministry as apostolic. We probably shouldn’t try to read too much into that omission. Paul assuredly believed he was an apostle. And by these words he is showing that he and Peter are on an equal level of responsibility and authority in their respective ministerial focuses.

3. They Perceived the Grace (2:9)

9and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

Galatians 2:9, ESV

‘9and when James and Cephas and John,’.
In verse 9 Paul names the seemingly influential leaders he met with in Jerusalem. James is certainly the brother of Jesus. Cephas is certainly Peter. John is also very likely to be the disciple Jesus loved.

‘who seemed to be pillars,’.
Paul, for the fourth time, uses the verb seemed with the characterization of influence that he associates the the three leaders of the Jerusalem church (also 2:2, 2:6 twice). As we said of verse 6, the repeated use of this verb strongly suggests that the stature or influence of the pillars was misused by the false brothers in Galatia and elsewhere. Certainly the three men were important and foundational leaders of the Jerusalem church. Paul recognized that but by his words cautions us not to put our leaders on a pedestal. The basic problem was not with the three but with the second-hand misrepresentation of their doctrines in order to distort the gospel. The false brothers were misrepresenting both James and Paul.

‘perceived the grace that was given to me,’.
The pillars became convinced by Paul’s testimony. God had given grace to Paul to reach the lost Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire. Probably the three recognized that Paul was indeed the apostle to the Gentiles.

‘they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me,’.
In verse 7 Paul identifies two singular leaders, Peter and himself. In verse 9 Paul designates the broader leadership. The word they indicates the three pillars who together lead the ministry of reaching Jewish people. The pillars recognize both Paul and Barnabas. They do so by shaking hands with Paul and Barnabas. This gesture often symbolized “friendship and/or agreement” in those days [Moo 2013]. Paul makes this symbolism obvious by adding the words of fellowship to it.

‘that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.’.
This clause tells us what was agreed to by the handshakes. Paul and Barnabas were to continue to primarily preach the gospel to the Gentiles. James and Cephas and John were to continue to primarily preach the gospel to the circumcised (to the Jews). No doubt there was a mutual understanding that each group would also occasionally preach the gospel to the people the other group was responsible for.

4. Remember the Poor (2:10)

10Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Galatians 2:10, ESV

‘10Only,’.
I would not take the word only to mean that Paul here admits that the false brothers were correct about his independence or authority in any way. Instead, I would take the word only to mean that the pillars made only one request of Paul.

‘they asked us to remember the poor,’.
That request was for Paul and Barnabas to remember the poor. I take the words the poor to indicate the impoverished Jewish Christians who lived in Judea. Some scholars take the words to mean the entire Jewish Christian community in Judea.

All sources that I looked at agree that the pillars were referring to Jewish Christians who live in Judea. So the phrase which seems very broad does have implied geographic, ethnic, and religious limitations. But I would not be opposed to making a generalization to remember all of the poor. This generalization would seem to be an appropriate application of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”.

‘the very thing I was eager to do.’.
[Longenecker 1990] translates this clause ‘which is what I have always been eager to do.’. Longenecker’s point is that grammatically the verb eager indicates that Paul had already been remembering the poor before he was asked to do so. Paul had been involved with bringing a gift for famine relief from Antioch to Jerusalem just before this meeting with the pillars. Paul certainly still wanted to do the same kind of thing at the time he wrote this letter. And Paul would continue to be involved in such relief efforts in the future. There is no indication of any kind of subservience of Paul to Jerusalem in verse 10.

5. What Shall I Do (Luke 10:25-29)

25And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Luke 10:25-29, ESV

We considered Luke 10:25ff back in the Fall of 2023. I wanted to return to that passage briefly for our conclusion because it is often misconstrued to promote one sort of legalism or another. Legalism was the basic problem that Paul confronted in his letter to the Galatians. Legalism was also the basic problem that Luther confronted as he attempted to find eternal life.

In Luke 10 a lawyer asked Jesus ‘what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’. The lawyer wants to know what Jesus would say to such a question. The lawyer is talking about salvation here when he speaks of eternal life. The lawyer asks what action should he take to inherit salvation.

Jesus responds by asking the lawyer what answer the Law gives to his question. The lawyer answers correctly that we must love the Lord [our] God and we must love [our] neighbor as [ourself]. Then Jesus says ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’. Jesus is alluding to Leviticus 18:5.

Notice how the lawyer responds to this daunting requirement. The lawyer asks ‘And who is my neighbor?’ because he wants ‘to justify himself’!

No one can ‘justify himself’ because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But this lawyer, like everyone else, needed to become convinced that he could NOT ‘justify himself’.

That need was the primary reason that Jesus then gave us the Parable of the Good Samaritan. No one can love God as he or she ought to. No one can love his or her neighbor as he or she ought to.

The false brothers had not learned this extremely important principle. We must all be so careful of the self-righteousness of legalism. If you truly believe in self-righteousness you nullify the grace of God. If you think you can save yourself you don’t need a savior. But, of course, you cannot save yourself.