John Gill Commentary Galatians 2

Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem ,
&c.] That is, either after it pleased God to call him by his grace, and reveal his Son in him; or rather after he had been at Jerusalem to see Peter, with whom he stayed fifteen days, and then went into Syria and Cilicia; so that it was seventeen years after his conversion that he took this journey to Jerusalem he here speaks of; and he seems to refer to the time when he and Barnabas went from the church at Antioch to the apostles and elders about the question, whether circumcision was necessary to salvation, (Acts 15:1Acts 15:2)

which entirely agrees with the account the apostle here gives of this journey, and which he went not alone, but with Barnabas: and took Titus with me also ;
Barnabas is mentioned in Luke's account as going with him at this time, but Titus is not;

who, though he was not sent by the church, yet the apostle might judge it proper and prudent to take him with him, who was converted by him, was a minister of the Gospel, and continued uncircumcised; and the rather he might choose to have him along with him, partly that he might be confirmed in the faith the apostle had taught him; and partly that he might be a living testimony of the agreement between the apostle's principles and practice; and that having him and Barnabas, he might have a competent number of witnesses to testify to the doctrines he preached, the miracles he wrought, and the success that attended him among the Gentiles; and to relate, upon their return, what passed between him and the elders at Jerusalem; for by the mouth of two or three witnesses everything is established.

And I went up by revelation
He was not sent for by the apostles at Jerusalem, nor did he go of himself, nor only by the vote of thechurch at Antioch, but by a divine revelation; not a revelation made to the church, or by the prophets there,but by God himself to him; he had a secret impulse from the Spirit of God, and a private intimation givenhim, that it was the will of God he should go up at this time; which is no ways inconsistent with his beingsent by the church, but served as a confirmation to him, that what they determined was right, and accordingto the mind of God:

and communicated unto them that Gospel, which I preach among the
Gentiles ;
that self-same Gospel, which he had preached, and still continued to preach to the Gentiles; relating to freeand full remission of sin by the blood of Christ, justification by his righteousness without the works of thelaw, and freedom from all the rituals and bondage of the Mosaic dispensation: for as the Gospel he preachedwas all of a piece, uniform and consistent, so he did not preach one sort of doctrine to the Gentiles, andanother to the Jews; but the very self-same truths which were the subject of his ministry in the Gentileworld, which were a crucified Christ, and salvation alone by him, these he communicated, laid before, andexposed unto the consideration of the elders and apostles at Jerusalem; not with a view either to give orreceive instructions, but to compare their sentiments and principles together; that so it might appear thatthere was an entire harmony and agreement between them;

and this he did not publicly, to the whole church, at least at first, and especially the article of Christianliberty, which respects the freedom of the believing Jews, from the yoke of the law; for as yet they were notable to bear this doctrine; they could pretty readily agree that the Gentiles were not obliged to it, butcould not think themselves free from it; wherefore the apostle, in great prudence, did not avouch this in thepublic audience:

but privately to them which were of reputation ;
or "who seemed to be", i.e. somewhat, very considerable persons; not in their own opinion, or appearanceonly, but in reality, they seemed to be, and were pillars in the house of God; particularly he means James,Cephas, and John, then in great esteem with the saints, and deservedly honoured and respected by them, theybeing faithful labourers in the word and doctrine; so the Jewish doctors ^F1 call men of greatesteem, (Mybwvx) , who "seem to be", or "are accounted of", a word to which thephrase here used answers: these were spiritual men, capable of judging of all spiritual things; men of fullage, whose senses were exercised to discern between truth and error; and were very proper persons for theapostle to lay the scheme of his ministry before, and the various truths he insisted on in it: these he met"privately", or "separately", and "singly", as it may be rendered; he either conversed with the apostlesalone, and all together, in some private house; or separately, one by one, in their own houses, and therefreely and familiarly discoursed with them about the several doctrines of the Gospel; and particularly this,of freedom from the law: his end in it was, as he says,

lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain :
which is said, not with regard to himself, as if he had entertained any doubt of the doctrines he hadpreached, and needed any confirmation in them from them; for he was fully assured of the truth of them, andassured others of the same; or that he questioned the agreement of the apostles with him; or that his faithat all depended on their authority; but with regard to others, and his usefulness among them. The falseteachers had insinuated that his doctrine was different from that of the apostles in Jerusalem, and soendeavoured to pervert the Gospel he preached, and overthrow the faith of those that heard him; and couldthis have been made to appear, it would in all likelihood have rendered, in a great measure, his past laboursin vain, and have prevented his future usefulness: some read these words as an interrogation, "do I in anymanner run, or have I run in vain?" no; from the account he laid before the church, the elders, and apostles,both in private and in public, (Acts 15:4Acts 15:12) it clearly appeared what success attended hisministry, how many seals he had of it, what numbers of souls were converted under it, and how many churcheswere planted by his means; for by "running" here is not meant the Christian course he ran, in common withother believers, which lies in the exercise of grace, and the discharge of duty; but the course of hisministry, which he performed with great activity, application, diligence, and constancy, until he hadfinished it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Vid. Sol. Ben Melech in Psal. xl 17.

But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek
There was such an agreement between the apostle, and his fellow apostles at Jerusalem, even about this article of the necessity of circumcision, and other rituals of the law of Moses, to salvation; that Titus, whom he brought along with him, an intimate companion of his in his travels, a fellow labourer with him in the ministry, and now upon the spot, though he was a Gentile, an uncircumcised person, yet even not he

was compelled to be circumcised :
the elders did not urge it, or insist upon it, as proper and necessary; they looked upon it as a thing indifferent, left him to his liberty, and made use of no forcible methods to oblige him to it; yea, were of opinion, as Peter and James in the synod declared, that such a yoke ought not to be put upon the necks of the disciples, and that those who turned to God from among the Gentiles, should not be troubled with these things.

And that because of false brethren
This is the reason why the elders did not insist upon the circumcision of Titus, why he did not submit to it, and why the apostle would not admit of it: had it been left as a thing indifferent, or had it been moved for in order to satisfy some weak minds, it might have been complied with, as in the case of Timothy; but these men insisted upon it as necessary to salvation; they were sly, artful, designing men; could they have gained their point in such an instance; could they have got such a precedent at such a time, when this matter was canvassing, they would have made great use of it in the Gentile churches, for which reason it was by no means judged proper and expedient.

These men are described as "false brethren": they had the name, but not the grace, which entitles to the character of "brethren"; they called themselves Christians, but were in reality Jews: at the head of these, Cerinthus, that arch-heretic, is said^F2 to be. They are further described as such,

who were unawares brought in, who came in privily ;
into the churches, and into the ministry, into private houses, where the apostles were; or rather into the public synod, where they were convened together about this article of the necessity of circumcision to salvation. Their views, aims, and ends were,

to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus ;
by which is meant, not a liberty to sin, which is no Christian liberty, is contrary to Christ, to the Spirit of Christ, to the principle of grace in believers, and to the doctrines of the Gospel; but a liberty from sin; not the being of it, but the dominion and damning power of it: that branch of Christian liberty the apostle here chiefly designs is a freedom from the law, both the moral law, as in the hands of Moses, and as a covenant of works, though not from obedience to it as in the hands of Christ, and as a rule of walk and conversation; but from obeying it, in order to obtain life, righteousness, and salvation by it, and from the curse and condemnation of it; and chiefly the ceremonial law, circumcision, and all the other rituals of it, and the free use of all things indifferent, provided the glory of God, and the peace of weak believers, are secured.

This liberty is said to be had "in Christ", because Christ is the author of it; it is that with which Christ makes his people free, and such as are made free by him are free indeed. It is what they come to enjoy by being in him; for by having union to him, they come to partake of all the blessings of grace which come by him, and this among the rest.

Now the design of these false teachers getting in privily among the apostles, elders, and brethren, was to make their remarks upon this liberty, to object to it, and, if possible, to break in upon it, and destroy it, and so gain another point, which follows:

that they might bring us into bondage ;
to the moral law, by directing souls to seek for justification and salvation by the works of it, which necessarily induces a spirit of bondage, genders to a state of bondage and involves in it; and to the ceremonial law, by engaging to an observance of circumcision, that yoke of bondage, and of day, months, times, and years, and other beggarly elements, which naturally lead on to such a state.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Epiphan. contr. Haeres. l. 1. Tom. 2. Haeres. 28.

To whom we gave place by subjection
Meaning not the apostles, elders, and brethren at Jerusalem, who did not insist upon the observance of the rituals of the law as necessary, but were one and all of opinion that the Gentiles should be free from them; but the false teachers with whom they combated, and would not yield in the least unto, so as to be brought into subjection to their impositions, nor suffer others to yield unto them:

no, not for an hour ;
for the least space of time, knowing what advantages and improvements would be made of it, should they allow of the use of these things as necessary for any short time, though it should be agreed then to drop them. This is a way of speaking used by the Jews, when they would express their steady adherence to any principle or practice; of which take the following instance from Gamaliel ^F3 :

``it happened to Rabban Gamaliel, that he read the first night he was married; his disciples said to him, master, have you not taught us, that the bridegroom is free from reading the Shema, i.e. "hear, O Israel" the first night? he replied to them, I will not hearken to you to cause to cease from me the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, (txa hev wlypa) , "even one hour".''

The reason why the apostle, and others with him, were so resolute and pertinacious in this matter was, that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you ;
with the Galatians in particular, and with all the Gentiles in general, which otherwise would have been in danger of being entirely removed from them, at least of being adulterated and mixed with the Mosaic rites, and the inventions of men; whereas the apostle's desire was, that, the Gospel might be continued with them genuine, sincere, and unmixed, in opposition to the shadows of the law, and the false doctrines of men.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: Misn. Beracot, c. 2. sect. 5.