"But when Peter came to
Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very
wrong." (Galatians 2:11)
Wait. What? When we left off
in the last post, we could almost hear the 1960s peace music playing
and see the rainbows. Now they're fighting? What happened between
verses 10 and 11 that led us to this point? What did Peter, a "pillar
of the church" do?
To understand that, you need
to know a few things about Peter first. Peter was one of Jesus's
original twelve disciples. He was also Jewish. It wasn't until a
scene in Acts 10:9-16 that Peter let go of the old Jewish customs. He
had a dream (or a vision), sent from God, that showed him he no
longer had to worry about what he was eating. Read Leviticus 11, and
you'll see there was a long list of things they weren't to eat! This
also indicated that he no longer had to worry about who ate at his
table. Before Jesus, Jewish people weren't permitted to eat with
non-Jewish people. It wasn't done. It was one of their laws. After
Jesus, that all changed.
"When he first arrived,
he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But
afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with
the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people
who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other
Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was
led astray by their hypocrisy." (Galatians 2:12-13)
Before "some friends of
James came," Peter had been seen with many Gentile believers. He
had accepted them as fellow believers without question. After those
"friends" showed up- and keep in mind that James was also
Jewish so it's likely that those friends were people trying to force
Jewish customs on Christians- Peter was snubbing them. His actions
created this chain reaction among the believers that Paul knew wasn't
okay. You see, the mistakes that we make don't just affect us. They
affect all those around us too. It's an added negative effect of sin.
"When I saw that they
were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter
in front of all the others, 'Since you, a Jew by birth, have
discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you
now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?
'You and I are Jews by
birth, not "sinners" like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a
person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by
obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we
might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not
because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right
with God by obeying the law.'" (Galatians 2:14-16)
Wow. That took guts. Paul
spoke the truth in love here. There's a big difference between
speaking the truth in love and throwing it in someone's face. Paul
called Peter out in love here. He reminded Peter of their united
purpose, of who he truly was. He urged him not to be bullied into
following the old customs that Jesus died to free him from. Because,
as Paul said, "no one will ever be made right with God by
obeying the law." This is a great reminder for us too. We can't
do anything to be accepted by God. Our "good works" will
never be enough. All that God asks us to do is believe and accept
Jesus's gift to us. He died on the cross in our place. He took on our
sins upon himself so that we could be made right with God. Nothing we
do will ever compare to that gift!
" But suppose we seek
to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are
found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean
Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if
I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried
to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped
trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God."
(Galatians 2:17-19)
Paul is really speaking to
other Jewish people who are still afraid to go all in for Christ.
This is a great reminder. We are only made right through Jesus.
Furthermore, following the old laws, going back to the "old way"
isn't going to fix anything. Paul doesn't want to see anyone tempted
to fall back into old habits here. He wants them to stop feeling
guilty and trying to do enough. They can't do enough.
I found this passage from
the Bible Gateway Commentary particularly interesting and want to
share it here: "If we feel that Paul was unnecessarily harsh or
rude for rebuking Peter in public, we need to recall that the freedom
of all Gentile Christians and the whole future of the Gentile mission
was at stake. What if Peter's separation had set a precedent for the
future so that all Gentile Christians really were required to become
Jews? From a human perspective, such a precedent would have spelled
the end of the Gentile church."
Can you imagine if Paul had
said nothing? Christianity as we know it might not exist. It might be
totally and completely, irreversibly different.
Paul ends this section of
his letter to the Galatians like this: "My old self has been
crucified with Christ.[e] It is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace
of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right
with God, then there was no need for Christ to die." (Galatians
2: 20-21)
Oh that we could all
remember this each and every day. We are to be living our lives with
God at the wheel (anyone remember that Carrie Underwood song? No?
Just me? Okay, then...moving on). We need to be so in tune and close
to Jesus that we know what he is wanting us to do. How do we do that?
Through lots of prayer, studying the Bible, reading the Bible,
listening to trusted leaders, and listening for God's voice!
Praying for you all today!
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