Galatians 2:5

To whom. That is, to the Judaizers and their demand that Titus be circumcised.

Gave place by subjection. Or, “submitted.” The very question now troubling the churches of Galatia had arisen at Jerusalem with respect to Titus. But the apostles apparently refused to support the demand of the Judaizers that Titus be circumcised. Thus, in attempting to force circumcision upon the Galatians, it was the Judaizers — not Paul — who stood opposed to the position of the apostles.

The truth. To have yielded to the Judaizers — either at Jerusalem or in Galatia — would have been to deny the great principle of justification by faith. It was in no sense an exhibition of stubbornness on Paul’s part; rather it was a determined stand against an attempt to pervert the gospel by substituting justification by the works of the law for the cardinal truth of the gospel — justification by faith.