Galatians 2:1 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.

NIV: Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.

NASB: Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.

CSB: Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.

NLT: Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too.

KJV: Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

NKJV: Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me.

Paul is continuing to make his case to the Galatian believers that the Judaizers are wrong. This group, who insisted that Gentile converts needed to obey Old Testament law in order to be saved, were attempting to discredit Paul's authority. In the previous chapter, Paul's main point was that he had, in fact, been made a full apostle by Jesus Christ Himself without the influence of the other apostles. Now Paul will explain that, after some time passed, the other apostles agreed with him that the Gentiles—like all people—are saved through faith alone and not through following the law of Moses.

Paul begins by recalling a trip he made to Jerusalem with Barnabas, a Jewish Christian, and Titus, a Greek (Gentile) Christian. This trip seems to fit best with a trip described in Acts 11:27–30. At that time, Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem with money that was gathered up to meet the needs of the people in Judea who were suffering through a famine.

This trip likely happed fourteen years after Paul's conversion and eleven years after he went back to Jerusalem to meet with Peter for the first time.

Galatians 2:1–10 describes an important meeting in Jerusalem between Paul and the other apostles. Paul is pleased to learn they preach the same gospel of God's grace through faith in Christ that he does. They agree that Gentiles should not be made to follow the law, and they endorse Paul's God-given calling to preach to the Gentiles. Peter, James, and John offer to him and Barnabas, his partner in ministry, the right hand of fellowship, a symbol of their support, approval, and unity with them.

Paul holds a crucial meeting with the other apostles. Do they preach, as he does, that salvation can only be found through faith in Christ and not by following the law? He learns that they do, though ''false brothers'' in their midst are opposed to this gospel of God's grace. After receiving official approval from Peter and the others, Paul later opposes Peter for publicly trying to distance himself from Gentile Christians out of fear of how others might respond. Paul declares that justification comes only through faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.

In Galatians 1, Paul defended himself in order to defend the trustworthiness of his message. He made the case that he was a legitimate apostle. He shows in Galatians 2 that the other apostles stand with him in teaching the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ. He describes a moment in which he rebuked Peter for hypocrisy and then makes the case that only faith in Christ can bring justification for any person in the eyes of God. The works of the law can never make anyone righteous, or Christ would not have had to die.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.