Galatians 2:3-5

3 But [all went well!] even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled [as some had anticipated] to be circumcised, although he was a Greek.

Think of why this was written. There must have been a huge push to have people get circumcised by the religious leaders in Jerusalem. What these leaders were doing was running back to the Law. The Law sounds far more religious then grace ever does to many people. These leaders were trying to bring people again to the bondage to their own actions. Grace was being watered down by the leaders of the Church, because human works look and sound more godly. So Paul was telling the Galatians here that the efforts of the leaders had failed. He was writing this because these same leaders were trying to get the Galatians to follow the Law. They were trying to steal the peace that the Galatians had found.

    

4 [My precaution was] because of false brethren who had been secretly smuggled in [to the Christian brotherhood]; they had slipped in to spy on our liberty and the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might again bring us into bondage [under the Law of Moses].

5 To them we did not yield submission even for a moment, that the truth of the Gospel might continue to be [preserved] for you [in its purity].

So why was this happening in the church at Jerusalem? It was happening because our Father was allowing them to become weak. Paul was being used to grow a strong and powerful church outside of Israel, that was placing all of its trust in the power of our Father. Yet the church in Israel was being allowed to weaken as they trusted in themselves. Our Father was withdrawing His knowledge and wisdom from the Jews to fulfill what Jesus had proclaimed. 

Truly I declare to you, all these [evil, calamitous times] will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murdering the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a mother fowl gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate (abandoned and left destitute of God's help).  Matthew 25:36-38

We read a lot about James, Jesus’ brother in the New Testament. James took on a major leadership role in the church at Jerusalem, yet Jesus never appointed him one of the original twelve. We will study later that Paul seems to have had a definite problem with James and his reliance on Jewish traditions and laws. This is what was making the church weak, people were going back to themselves. They were trusting in works and their abilities to persuade God. They were trusting in their part to play and not on our Father controlling every part of their lives. These teachings are something other than the Gospel of the Kingdom and those who preach it are cursed to fail. Jesus knew what was coming and He clearly told the people that they were going to be abandoned and become desolate because they would trust in themselves.