5) Galatians 2:3-5
But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. (Galatians 2:3-5, ESV Bible)
False Brothers
Why was Titus there? What did Titus have to do with it? Was Titus a guinea pig? Was he the token Gentile? Galatians 2:4 explains why Paul brought Titus along to the meeting. Titus was part of the discussion, Paul said:
"Because of false brothers secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery" (Galatians 2:4).
This verse requires some unpacking. It's hard to put the pieces back together. Who were these false brothers? In what sense were they false? In what sense had they been brought in? Into where did they slip? What was the freedom in Messiah Yeshua on which they spied? Who is the "we"? Who is it that they sought to subject to slavery? What did Paul mean by slavery? All of these questions need to be answered before we can make sense of Galatians 2:4, but unfortunately we cannot have definitive answers to all of these questions. We can only make a few halting guesses based upon some vague inferences.
In his book The Irony of Galatians, Jewish scholar Mark Nanos does not assume that the "false brothers" were believers in Yeshua. We have seen elsewhere that "brothers," in Pauline literature, can refer to the Jewish people in general. Nanos does not suggest that the "false brothers" are "false Jews," but that they are non- Yeshua-believing Jews. According to Nanos, Paul called them false brothers not to suggest that their brotherhood as Jews is false but rather their motives were false.
Daniel Lancaster disagree with Nanos. He thinks in this context, Paul used "brothers" to refer to fellow believers, and "false brothers" was Paul's way of dismissing their sincerity as believers. Nanos does raise an interesting suggestion on the passage though. Nanos retranslates the Greek word translated as "to spy out" in the phrase "who slipped in to spy our freedom," as "to investigate." So it is not that they were spies, so to speak, but rather, investigators, investigating what they considered to be a problem for Judaism.
Nanos suggests that they were investigating on behalf of some administrative authority. Suffice it to say that they had concerns about Paul, about his message, and about his work among the Gentiles.
Into where did they slip and do this investigating? We do not know. Nanos suggests they might have slipped into the meeting with the apostles. Lancaster would suggest that they slipped into the fellowship of the Antioch community. We have already seen traffic between the Jerusalem and the Antioch communities of believers, and when Gentiles first began joining the faith in Antioch, the apostles in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to "investigate."
Based on this information, I suggest that the so-called "false brothers" were actually believers sent from the Jerusalem community who had travelled to Antioch and become familiar with the situation there. They had gotten to know the people and the message that Paul was preaching. All the while, they were investigating the situation to report back to Jerusalem. Paul, Barnabas, and the other Antioch believers were unaware that the brothers from Jerusalem were there to investigate the Gentile phenomenon in Antioch or as Paul puts it, the "freedom that we have in the Messiah Yeshua.”
Freedom in Messiah
What was this freedom of which Paul spoke? It starts with circumcision and the concept that Gentiles, like Titus, were free from the mitzvah of circumcision. They did not need to become proselytes.
The Torah required a Jewish man to be circumcised and to circumcise his son on the eighth day:
And God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised." (Genesis 17:9-10)
One might have thought that this rule applied only to a baby eight days old and that an uncircumcised adult was not required to undergo circumcision so long as he circumcised his sons. That's why it says, "Every male among you." One might have thought that the law applied only to the physical descendants of Abraham, his literal, biological children. That's why it says, "Every male among you.”
You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and vou. (Genesis 17:11)
Circumcision is one of several commandments that the Torah identifies as a "sign." It was a sign of the covenant with Abraham. In the days of the apostles, Judaism did not consider the sign commandments as incumbent upon non-Jews because non-Jews were not part of the covenant. The Jewish people did not pressure the average Gentile to undergo circumcision. In the case of God-fearing Gentile believers, however, that was another matter entirely. Paul's Gentile believers claimed to have a position in the people of God and a share in God's covenants of promise. Therefore, logically they should also keep the sign commandments connected with those covenants.
That's how the logic goes. It is logical, but that was not what Paul taught. He taught that they need not keep the sign of circumcision.
According to the Torah, a man who neglected circumcision was liable for punishment. Genesis 17 requires circumcision of every male, whether born in Abraham's house (which would be Abraham's own sons and the sons of his servants and maidservants) or bought with money (which would be any foreigner brought into Abraham's household). This is a clear and certain rule. An uncircumcised male in Abraham's family or household was to be cut off from his people. The rabbis differentiate between being cut off by the hands of men and cut off by the hands of Heaven. Cut off by the hands of men means excision from the community or capital punishment, depending on the crime and situation. Cut off by Heaven means premature death--a death sentence from God.
The Torah presents an example of the latter in the case of Moses, who had not circumcised his son Gershon. The angel of the LORD appeared to him and his wife and was going to put Moses to death. The angel would have cut Moses off at the hands of Heaven if not for the quick intervention of Tzipporah, who circumcised the child. (Gershon was no longer eight days old, but the mitzvah to circumcise the child still stood.)
These texts indicate that the circumcision question was a serious matter, and it merited investigation. The so-called "false brothers" investigating in Antioch, I believe, were disturbed to see the "freedom in the Messiah Yeshua" that Paul proclaimed when they understood that it meant freedom from circumcision and free association between the circumcised and the uncircumcised.
Putting it Together
Who are these false brothers? Believing Jews from Jerusalem.
In what sense are they false? Either in the sense that Paul did not regard their allegiance to Messiah as sincere or in the sense that they did not disclose their motivations to him.
In what sense had they been secretly brought in? They had slipped into the fellowship of the community of believers in Antioch to investigate.
They brought their complaint and concern against Titus (and the Gentile situation in Antioch) to the apostolic authorities in Jerusalem.What was the freedom in Messiah Yeshua on which they were spying? They investigated reports of God-fearing Gentile believers neglecting the sign commandments, or at the very least, not taking on the sign of circumcision.
Who is the "we" in Galatians 2:4? Paul refers to himself and Barnabas and the message they proclaimed among the God-fearing believers in Antioch.
Who is it that the "false brothers" sought to subject to slavery, and what does Paul mean by slavery? They sought to require the Gentile believers to keep the sign commandments, at a minimum, the sign of circumcision, which entailed not just circumcision literally, but full, legal conversion to Judaism.
At some point, the false brothers had brought the results of their investigations in Antioch to the attention of the elders, the very men with whom Paul sought a private audience.
Results of the Meeting
Paul brought Titus with him to the meeting, and he presented his case for why he thought that Titus could remain as Titus the God-Fearer and did not need to take on the sign of the covenant with Abraham. The so-called "false brothers" may also have been present at that meeting because Paul says:
"To them we did not vield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you" (Galatians 2:5).
Paul refused to yield "so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved" for the Galatians and for Gentile believers everywhere. When he says, "We did not yield in submission even for a moment," Mark Nanos suggests that the "we" includes James, Peter, John, and the rest of the apostles. They sided with Paul, and together they did not yield to the pressure regarding Titus. Paul announces the verdict in Galatians 2:3:
"But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek."
That is to say, Paul learned that he had not run his race in vain. Instead, he received the apostolic endorsement that he had been seeking. They considered his case, listened to his presentation, weighed his argument, scrutinized his gospel, and they endorsed it. They gave Paul and his gospel the apostolic stamp of approval.
Paul's epistle to the Galatians is largely an explanation of the argument he presented at that meeting. It presents his gospel regarding Gentiles and their freedom in the Messiah.
Referneces
This lesson was curated from teachings from First Fruits of Zion “Holy Epistle to the Galatians.”