Yesterday we read about Peter refusing to eat with the Greek Christians in Antioch, and how Paul called him a hypocrite because, before the group came from Jerusalem, Peter had been eating with the Greeks. There is some history to this for Peter, so today we’ll go back to Acts 10 to read about an incident that occurred before this conflict.

Read Acts Chapter 10.

Questions:

1. How does the story of Peter and Cornelius help put the Galatians issue into perspective for you?
2. If Peter had already received this revelation from God about no longer separating from Gentiles, why do you think he might have separated from them in Antioch?
3. Based on what we’ve read so far (Gal 1-2, Act 10, Acts 15), what would you say was the purpose of “The Law” or Torah?

Read Galatians 2:11-21

Questions:

1. What key practice that caused this argument to arise between Peter and Paul? Why do you think this would have been a problem for Paul?
2. What similarities or parallels can you find between this passage (2:11-21) and the first part of the chapter (2:1-10)?
3. How does Paul’s story about confronting Peter illustrate his conclusions in 17-20?

Today we’ll be continuing our Galatians study through our weekly Sunday evening gathering and common meal. If you aren’t able to join us, you can gather with others on your own and practice our simple liturgy or something similar:

• Begin by gathering around the communion table and reading Galatians 2:15-16
• Receive communion together, meditating on how the Lord’s supper demonstrates our faith in Christ.
• Have a short time of open prayer for placing more of our trust in the work of Christ for our lives.
• Eat together
• After dinner, gather together to read through Galatians 2:11-21 and discuss the story of Paul’s confrontation with Peter.

Yesterday we read about the first council at Jerusalem, and read about James speaking up from Amos 9:11-12. Today, let’s read that passage in it’s context. Read the whole chapter of Amos 9.

Questions:

1. What is this chapter about? What is being described?
2. How does the chapter make a shift from judgment to hope towards the end?
3. Why do you think James pointed to this prophecy in order to validate the decision to allow gentile believers to free free from Jewish laws? In other words, how does his use of this prophecy make sense?

Today, read Galatians 2:1-10 alongside Acts 15:1-35.

Questions:

• How does the Acts 15 passage clarify the controversy of Galatians for you?
• After Acts 15, what would you say is the “freedom” Paul is referring to in Gal 2:4? What is it freedom from, exactly? What isn’t it freedom from?

Yesterday we read that Paul was upset about the Galatians turning away from the gospel he preached to “another gospel.” Today, lets hear the gospel Paul preached in his own words. Read Acts 17:16-34.

Questions:

1.What is different about Paul’s gospel to the Athenians than other versions of the gospel you’ve heard? Specifically, what does he emphasize that you haven’t heard emphasized before, and what does he omit that you have typically heard emphasized?

2. If you heard the gospel articulated exactly this way in a public place today, do you think it would be criticized by some Christians? If so, why?

3. Read earlier in this chapter, Acts 17:1-9. In this passage the local Jews from Thessalonica are upset about Paul’s gospel, and summarize it as “There is another King, one called Jesus” (v7). Do you think this is a fair summary of what Paul says to the Athenians in 17:22-31? If so how, and if not, why?

3. Setting aside your previous concepts of the gospel, how would you summarize Paul’s gospel from Acts 17 in one sentence?

Read the opening of Paul’s letter to the Galatians again today (Gal 1:1-2:10).

1. 1. What seems to be the reason for Paul’s letter?
2. 2. What passages strike you as clues to the differences between Paul’s gospel and “the other gospel” he’s coming against?
3. 3. What questions, if any, do you have about this passage?

Last night we had a great discussion about what it means to be a community of faith and what some of our challenges might be. This week I’d like to use this website as a way to anchor that ongoing discussion.

This will be the only major post this week. I’ll add a few brief quotes and links over the next few days that hopefully with stir the pot a bit, but for the most part this is the critical discussion we need to have in depth.

Last night I suggested that community life together is where discipleship actually occurs most powerfully. I would add that it’s only in our community relationships with one another that we encounter biblical “salvation.” If you want to dig in a little right now, here are some key biblical narratives for gaining a vision of how the people of God are to live out salvation concretely in community:

Read Isaiah 61 and do the following exercises:

• Compare Isaiah 61 to the Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 4:14-20. What do you think Jesus is trying to say in Matthew and Luke? How is that different than your previous ideas about the beatitudes?
• If Jesus were to come today, do you think he would be bringing the message of the kingdom to the same groups (the poor, the mourners, the blind, the lame, etc.), or are there new groups present today that Jesus would be pointing out as “blessed” by the coming of the kingdom? If so, who?
• Yesterday we read Clarence Jordan’s mid-century “southern” version of the beatitudes. Take some time to craft your own version of the beatitudes in language that you think might make sense to people today and have the same kind of impact.

The kind of “gift-community” we discussed in Part 4 would be remarkable in a world of greed, isolation, aggression, and loneliness. It would be conspicuously Godly or “Holy.” In fact, that’s the point. Ultimately, we are becoming eikons of God designed to both imitate Him and become a dwelling in which He lives by His Spirit (Eph 3:22). But what does it mean, practically speaking, to be God’s eikons? What does that look like?

Again, Jesus gives us the answer.