Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
Spies work for the enemy and gather intel in order to plan a concerted effort or attack against the ones they spy on. I love watching a good spy movie. What is interesting is to try and figure out who the spy is, or whether or not they will be found out. Spies try to camouflage their allegiance to the enemy and get along with those they are spying on. They will at times share just enough truth to entice others to believe them and their false-front.
Paul will discuss the issue later in Galatians, but these “spies” were on a mission to force the Gentiles to obey the Jewish laws, like circumcision and whether or not they should eat certain types of meat. Their aim was to remove the freedom they had to love others in their culture and replace it with a barrage of rules by which they gain nothing but the praise of man.
It appears by this verse that even some of the church leaders had given ground to these “spies” and Paul needed to meet with the other apostles and leaders to make sure they saw what he did, a works-based faith.
We can see this in churches today too. Some church-goers try to run with a rules-based gospel or a “righteous by comparison”-type gospel. And they of course try to force this upon others. It is a sneaky form of evil perpetrated by people who are not following Jesus.
We are called to be like the Berean Jews: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” (Acts 17:11-12)
They tested the message of Paul to see if it was consistent with the rest of scripture. And in doing so, they no doubt became experts in understanding God’s Word. And this is the way Paul was able to call out the heresy of forcing Greek Christians to follow Jewish customs like circumcision.
Lord, may we be eager students of your Word. May we not just read it or have a cursory knowledge of it; instead, may we digest it and integrate it into our hearts!
