A Study in Galatians
Being Real (Galatians 1:10-2:14)
In the passage for this lesson from the book of Galatians we see that Paul kind of giving his credentials for his apostleship. Then he give an account of him dealing with Peter after Peter had come to Antioch.
What happened in Antioch with Peter was that Peter understood how that the gospel had been given to the Gentiles, remember that he preached to Cornelius in Acts 10 and gave account of this in Acts 11. So he was eating with the Gentiles from Antioch, but when the Jews from Jerusalem came he withdrew from the Gentiles and separated himself. Paul confronted him regarding this hypocrisy.
From this we will take our lesion on being real. Many times we may do the same thing, we may act one way in the presence of one group and another way in the presence of another group of people. For instance at work or school we are one person and then at home or church we act differently. These things should the same no matter where we are. If we are saved we should act that way no matter where we go or who is present. Below we will look at some ways for us to be real or genuine from the text for this lesson.
Things we can do to help us be real:
1) Know who you are (Galatians 1:11-24)
- In these verses Paul gives the account of how he received what he was to preach from God. Note that it is not based upon what man told or taught him.
- To be real we must first have a genuine relationship with God and his word so that we can know who we are and have it based on the word of God and not others.
2) Do not get caught up in the “Hype” of others (Galatians 2:1-10)
- Note in these verses especially verse 6 Paul is not swayed by those who seem to be “esteemed” by others.
- We are given a warning in 2 Corinthians 10:12 regarding this kind of thing.
3) Please God and not Man (Galatians 1:10)
- The temptation will always be there to please others, no one likes being alone or thought of as an outcast or weird by everyone else. But we must remember if what we are doing is pleasing God and right according to his word we must stick with it even if those around us do not.
A Study in Galatians
Being Real (Galatians 1:10-2:14)
1) What is going on in this passage regarding Paul and Peter?
2) What is our lesson going to be from this passage?
3) What are some things that we can do in order to be real or genuine?