Galatians 2:3 – Titus as test case

But not even Titus, who is with me, being a Greek, is compelled to be circumcised.

Paul had deliberately taken Titus to Jerusalem (2:1). A test case, because Titus was a Greek, i.e. a ‘goy’, a non-Jew (cf. 1 Cor.1:22,24). In Antioch men had entered from Judea who taught that in order to be saved one must be circumcised (Acts 15:1). It was this claim that prompted the meeting as described in Acts 15. The apostles in Jerusalem now had to take a stand on this matter. In fact, that became clear even before the meeting had even started. Would the leaders in Jerusalem also force Titus to be circumcised?

The “false brethren” who were active in Galatia with their so-called “gospel” liked to invoke “the gospel of the circumcision” entrusted to Peter and his followers (2:7). But wrongly. For while it is true that “the gospel of the circumcision” is different from “the gospel of the uncircumcision,” even the apostles in Jerusalem were unanimous that the nations are free from the law of Moses (Acts 15:10). ,11, 19,20). And so they did not want to trouble Titus with the circumcision. Thus Titus became a walking demonstration of “freedom in Christ Jesus” (2:4).

Delen: