When the apostles were listed, Peter was usually mentioned first (Matt. 10:2; Mark 3:16; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13). Here, however, James was mentioned first. This indicates that at that time Peter was not the foremost leading one in the church; rather, it was James, the brother of the Lord (Gal. 1:19). This is confirmed by Acts 15:13-21, where James, not Peter, was the authority who gave the final, decisive word in the conference held in Jerusalem. It must have been because of Peter's weakness in not holding the truth of the gospel, as illustrated by Paul in vv. 11-14, that James came to the forefront to take the lead among the apostles. Hence, both in v. 12 and in Acts 21:18 James was considered the representative of the church in Jerusalem and of the apostles. This is strong proof that Peter was not always the foremost leader in the church. Furthermore, this implies that leadership in the church is not organizational and perpetual; rather, it is spiritual and fluctuates according to the spiritual condition of the leading ones. This strongly rebuts Catholicism in its assertion that Peter was the only successor of Christ in the administration of the church.

This indicates that in his move for the Lord's testimony, Paul did not care for the observance of the law.

Not only Paul's gospel but even his going up to Jerusalem were according to the Lord's revelation, not according to any organization or system. Paul's move and activity were according to the Lord's instant leading. This again indicates that his preaching of the gospel was not according to man's teaching but according to the Lord's direct revelation.

As recorded in Acts 15, this was after a number of churches had been raised up in the Gentile world through Paul's ministry (see Acts 13, Acts 14). This indicates that Paul's preaching of the gospel to raise up the Gentile churches had nothing to do with the believers in Jerusalem and Judea.

Not the doctrine or the teaching of the gospel but the reality of the gospel.

Slavery under the law.

Freedom from the bondage of the law. This freedom in Christ Jesus includes
1) release from the bondage of the law, implying liberation from obligation to the law and its ordinances, practices, and regulations;
2) full satisfaction, with a rich, supporting supply;
3) the enjoyment of true rest, without being under the heavy burden to keep the law;
4) the full enjoyment of the living Christ.

The Judaizers, who perverted the gospel of Christ by secretly bringing the observances of the law into the church and troubled the genuine brothers in Christ (Gal. 1:7).

Judaism was built upon the God-given law with its three pillars: circumcision, the Sabbath, and the holy dietary regulations. All three were ordained by God (Gen. 17:9-14; Exo. 20:8-11; Lev. 11) as shadows of things to come (Col. 2:16-17). Circumcision was a shadow of the crucifixion of Christ in its putting off of the flesh, as signified in baptism (Col. 2:11-12). The Sabbath was a type of Christ as the rest for His people (Matt. 11:28-30). The holy diet symbolized persons who are clean and persons who are unclean, those whom God's holy people should contact and those they should not contact (Acts 10:11-16, 34-35). Once Christ had come, all these shadows should have been terminated. Hence, the observance of the Sabbath was abolished by the Lord Jesus in His ministry (Matt. 12:1-12), the holy dietary regulations were annulled by the Spirit in Peter's ministry (Acts 10:9-20), and circumcision was counted as nothing in the revelation received by Paul in his ministry (Gal. 5:6; 6:15). Furthermore, the law, the base of Judaism, has been terminated and replaced by Christ (Rom. 10:4; Gal. 2:16). Thus, Judaism in its entirety is finished.

I.e., eat, live, and fellowship with the Gentiles.

Lit., Judaize; i.e., live like the Jews, not eating or fellowshipping with the Gentiles.

Lit., faith of Jesus Christ. See note Rom. 3:22¹. Faith in Jesus Christ denotes an organic union with Him through believing. This is related to the believers' appreciation of the person of the Son of God as the most precious One. The believers are infused with the preciousness of Christ through the gospel preached to them. This Christ becomes in them the faith by which they believe and the capacity to believe through their appreciation of Him. This faith creates an organic union in which they and Christ are one.

Flesh here denotes fallen man, who has become flesh (Gen. 6:3). No fallen man will be justified out of the works of law.

One who ministers sin to people, or who serves sin to people.

Lit., May it not happen! So throughout the Epistle.

I.e., return to Judaism. This refers to Peter's returning to the Judaic observance of not eating with Gentiles.

I.e., counted loss, counted as dung (Phil. 3:7-8). Referring to Peter's abandoning of the Judaistic practice of not eating with the Gentiles.

Not the physical life nor the soulish life but the spiritual and divine life.

In contrast to the way we live the physical and soulish life, we live the divine life not by sight nor by feeling. The divine life, the spiritual life in our spirit, is lived by the exercise of faith, which is stimulated by the presence of the life-giving Spirit.

Cf. note Gal. 2:16^1b.

The title Christ denotes mainly Christ's mission, which is to carry out God's plan; the Son of God denotes Christ's person, which is for the imparting of God's life into us. Hence, the faith in which we live God's life is of the Son of God, the life-imparting One.

The Son of God loved us and purposely gave Himself up for us that He might impart the divine life into us.

The grace of God is that Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, has imparted the divine life into us through the life-giving Spirit. Not to live by this Spirit is to nullify the grace of God.

Christ died for us that in Him we may have righteousness, through which we may receive the divine life (Rom. 5:18, 21). This righteousness is not through law but through the death of Christ.

Or, without cause. If righteousness is through law, Christ has died without cause. However, righteousness is through Christ's death, and Christ's death has separated us from law.

I.e., from the church in Jerusalem. This is another indication that at that time James, not Peter, was the first among the apostles in Jerusalem.

This was contrary to the customary practice of the Jews in their keeping of the observances of the law.

This proves that at that time Peter was very weak in the pure Christian faith. In Acts 10 he had received an exceedingly clear vision from the heavens concerning fellowship with the Gentiles, and he took the lead to practice it. What weakness and backsliding to shrink from eating with Gentile believers out of fear of those of the circumcision! It is no wonder that he lost the leadership among the apostles.

When the leading one backslid, the rest easily followed.

That Peter, the leading apostle, practiced hypocrisy in relation to the truth of the gospel is almost incredible.

The law requires us, as sinners, to die, and according to that requirement Christ died for us and with us. Hence, through law we have died in Christ and with Christ.

I.e., the obligation under the law, the relationship to the law, was terminated.

I.e., be obligated to God in the divine life. In Christ's death our relationship with the law has been terminated; in His resurrection we are responsible to God in the resurrection life.

This explains how it is that through law we have died to law. When Christ was crucified, according to God's economy we were included in Him. This is an accomplished fact.

No longer I does not indicate an exchanged life, a life in which Christ comes in and we go out, for later in this verse Paul said, "I live." As regenerated people, we have both the old "I," which has been crucified (Rom. 6:6), concerning which Paul said, "No longer I," and a new "I," concerning which Paul said, "I live." The old, terminated "I" was without divinity; the new "I" has God as life added to it. The new "I" came into being when the old "I" was resurrected and God was added to it. On the one hand, Paul had been terminated, but on the other hand, a resurrected Paul, one who was regenerated with God as his life, still lived. Furthermore, although Paul said, "No longer I," he also said, "It is Christ who lives in me," for it was Christ who lived, but it was in Paul that He lived. The two, Christ and Paul, had one life and one living.

We have died in Christ through His death, but now He lives in us through His resurrection. His living in us is entirely by His being the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This point is fully developed in all the following chapters, where the Spirit is presented and emphasized as the very One whom we have received as life and in whom we should live.

The "I," the natural person, inclines to keep the law that it might be perfect (Phil. 3:6), but God wants us to live Christ that God might be expressed in us through Him (Phil. 1:20-21). Hence, God's economy is that the "I" be crucified in Christ's death and that Christ live in us in His resurrection. To keep the law is to exalt it above all things in our life; to live Christ is to make Him the center and everything in our life. The law was used by God for a period of time to keep His chosen people in custody for Christ (Gal. 3:23) and eventually to conduct them to Christ (Gal. 3:24) that they might receive Him as life and live Him to be God's expression. Because Christ has come, the function of the law has been terminated, and Christ must replace the law in our lives for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose.

Barnabas participated in Paul's first ministry journey to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and to raise up the Gentile churches. Even one who had so much fellowship with the Gentile believers was carried away in Peter's hypocrisy. What a negative influence Peter exerted on others! Surely he deserved to lose his leadership.

Lit., walking straight-footedly.