Galatians 2:4

And that because of false brethren.

False brethren

I. The Church of God when at its best has wicked men and hypocrites in it. In Adam’s family there was Cain; in Christ’s family, Judas; in the earliest Church, false brethren. The sheep may be sometimes without the fold; the wolves therein. A perfect Church is an impossible dream.

II. False brethren creep into the Church. Christ is the door of the Church, and His true sheep enter by Him-false brethren climb in another way. They “creep in.”

1. Hence they maintain a certain resemblance to the true.

2. Hence the precise origin of error cannot be detected. The time when the ship sinks we often observe, but the time when it first drew water we do not. (W. Perkins.)

Paul and the false brethren

I. A fierce opposition made by some erroneous Christians against a great apostle and a prime authority in the Church.

II. The cause of this opposition; the violent and unreasonable demands made to him to confirm the practice of a thing as necessary which in itself was not so.

III. The methods taken in this opposition: slandering Paul’s doctrine, and detracting from his authority for withstanding their demands.

IV. The wholesome method of the apostle: not to give place in the least.

V. The end and design of the apostle: the preservation of the gospel in truth and purity. (R. South, D. D.)

The conference interrupted by false brethren:--

The interview took place, but not as Paul had desired and expected

He could not come to an understanding with the principal personages without the interference of others, whose presence could have been well dispensed with, and who came to “spy out.” They were suspicious; some plot was In process; they must be on their guard against novelties, and prevent any resolution being earned by which the Church might be compromised. The debate waxed warm, for these intruders made peremptory demands; the contest was protracted, tOT Paul hints that he had to withstand long and steadily; he boasts that he did not yield for an instant, which proves that the struggle was not over in a moment, and was not confined to an objection modestly made and easily removed. (E. Reuss, D. D.)

Spying

I. Hypocrites spy into the persons and lives of men that they may find some fault to disgrace them (Matthew 7:4).

II. Sceptics pry into the Scriptures that they may discover discrepancies.

III. Hearers often spy out sermon and worship that they may find something to cavil at.

IV. Enemies spy out religion to find the easiest means of overthrowing it. Application: Devote the eye of your mind to a better use.

1. To your sins (Lamentations 3:40).

2. To your spiritual enemies. (W. Perkins.)

Moral Jesuits

I. Their character. False brethren.

II. Their methods.

1. Surreptitious invasion of privacy.

2. Indefatigable espionage.

III. Their objects.

1. To circumscribe Christian liberty.

2. To gain spiritual ascendency over the conscience.

3. To reduce to ritualistic bondage.

False brethren

I. Their character--they have the name and the form--but not the spirit of Christ--the spirit of liberty.

II. Their craft--they creep into the Church--by the wrong door--unawares, because disguised.

III. Their object--to spy out what they can--to do mischief. (J. Lyth.)

Liberty in Christ Jesus

Christianity is no provincialism; it is the world’s highway. (Jeremy Taylor.)

Christian liberty

Spiritual liberty consists in freedom from the curse of the moral law; from me servitude of the ritual; from the love, power, and guilt of sin; from the dominion of Satan; from the corruption of the world; from the fear of death and the wrath to come. (C. Buck.)

Liberty in Christ Jesus

In those ill times when there were slaves across the Atlantic, a lady went down to one of the ships, accompanied by her negro servant. The lady remarked to the captain that if she were to go to England and take this black woman with her, she would be free as soon as she landed. The captain replied, “Madam, she is free already. The moment she came on board a British vessel she was free.” When the negro woman knew this, do you think she went on shore with her mistress? By no means. She chose to keep her liberty. She was free on board and a slave on land. How slight the change of place; but how great the difference involved; marvel not that faith involves such great things. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christian liberty

I. Our liberty, which is in Christ Jesus, includes our freedom from the exactions and impositions of men in religion. Now observe, we say, “in religion;” because we do not here refer to civil things. No, my brethren, where religion is concerned, Jesus is the King in Zion. He is our Lawgiver.

II. We observe, “Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,” includes a freedom from the bondage of corruption. I was thinking, in my retirement this morning, what a number of tyrants does every sinner serve! What a tyrant is Satan! What a tyrant is the world!--they who have faith indeed “overcome the world”; but all others are overcome by it. What a tyrant is sin! “He that committeth sin,” says the apostle, “is the servant of sin.” Is he free who is under the dominion of pride and revenge and envy and malice? We are upholden by His free Spirit, and we can say with David, “We will walk at liberty, for we seek Thy precepts.”

III. We said, “Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,” includes a freedom from the condemnation of the law. “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”

IV. We said, “Our liberty, which is in Christ Jesus,” includes a freedom of access to God. He is the greatest and the best of Beings. In His presence is “fulness of joy”; at His right hand are” pleasures for evermore.”

V. We said, “Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,” is a freedom to partake Of and enjoy the good things of nature and Providence. We have thus endeavoured to exemplify “our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus.” How shall we improve it? The improvement will include four admonitions.

1. “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage.”

2. Do not abuse your liberty. There is nothing too good to he abused. Beware of the Antinomian scheme--Oh, he is freed from the law; therefore he has nothing to do with it. But Paul had to do with it. Paul said, “I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man.” Though he turned away from it as a covenant of works, he viewed it as a rule of life. Remember, your liberty is not a liberty to sin. There is another abuse of this liberty, that is, of placing all who profess Christianity upon the same level in society, as if, because we are all one in Christ Jesus (for so we are), that the rich and the poor, the master and the servant, the ruler and the ruled, were all the same, in a civil condition. God Himself maintains the gradations and distinctions of life, and the duties and obligations resulting from them; and I never knew any violation of these distinctions but it was attended with injury, not only with regard to those above, but even to those below their level.

3. Improve this liberty. In one sense you cannot; its provisions surpass all expression and conception. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” But we mean we should make use of it and improve it.

4. Recommend this liberty to others; only see that you exemplify yourselves what you recommend, otherwise you may be more injurious than beneficial, as some are by their talking on religious subjects--otherwise you may draw forth the proverb, “Physician, heal thyself;” or the retort, “Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” (W. Jay.)

Courage in defiance of Christian liberty

I. The liberty assailed. It was a liberty in Christ. This liberty meant being exempt from the requirements of the ceremonial law.

II. This liberty was threatened by false brethren. They were traitors.

III. This attempt upon the liberty of the Church was firmly and courageously resisted.

1. Paul firmly adhered to the truth of the gospel. “Truth precise, unaccommodating, abandons nothing that belongs to itself, admits nothing that is inconsistent with it.”--Bengel.

2. The refusal to submit was absolute. He would not give way by subjection, no, not for an hour. “In things indifferent we may well, out of love, yield something of our liberty to the good of the weak. But where men would press these upon us as necessary to salvation, and our yielding would have the appearance of bringing the truth of the gospel into jeopardy, we should never yield.”--Starke.

We may renounce our liberty for love’s sake, but we must not let ourselves be robbed of it for the truth of the gospel’s sake. We must cling to that which is abiding. “The law is something transient, the gospel is permanent.” Lessons:

1. In the best state of the Christian Church, false brethren may creep in.

2. “False brethren are the most dangerous enemies to liberty. Weak brethren disturb it; false brethren undermine and destroy it.”

3. To preserve the truth should be the first duty of Christians. (R. Nicholls.)

False brethren

A Scotch Churchman was once reproached by a member of a small sect with the blots in the lives of many of his brethren of past days. He answered, “When your chimney has smoked as long as ours there will be some soot in it.” (Anthony Bathe.)