Galatians 2:11-21 Paul Opposes Peter
(Read Outloud)
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.
Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners'
Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!
If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.
Two men who lived in a small village got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve. So they decided to talk to the town sage. The first man went to the sage’s home and told his version of what happened. When he finished, the sage said, "You’re absolutely right." The next night, the second man called on the sage and told his side of the story. The sage responded, "You’re absolutely right." Afterward, the sage’s wife scolded her husband. "Those men told you two different stories and you told them they were absolutely right. That’s impossible—they can’t both be absolutely right." The sage turned to his wife and said, "You’re absolutely right."
Some people really like to avoid a conflict. I should know because I’m one of them. But conflict is a fact of life, in fact many have made the point that conflict, even within the Church is a sign of life--evidence of the fact that people really care. And avoiding confrontation is often a recipe for even greater conflict and pain.
The important question is, how do we manage conflict appropriately within the fellowship of the church.
The passage we read this morning from Galatians is the record of one of the best known conflicts in the early church and in it I see a model for how we should deal with controversy among believers. First, I’d like us to consider the source of conflict and then we’ll look at the soloution to conflict. First let’s look at the source
The Source of Conflict =Fear
12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
You know what’s really amazing about what happens here between Paul and Peter? It’s that it’s Peter. Peter, who was the first of the Apostles to preach the Gospel to the gentiles. Peter, who had a special revelation from God in a dream, making it clear to him that God had chosen to pour his grace out upon the gentiles making them clean by the blood of Christ. Peter, who stood before the council at Jerusalem and defended the baptism of Gentiles. How could Peter of all people have been snared and caused a conflict over an issue that should have been long settled for him?
There is a principle here that all of us would do well to heed. It is often at the places in our lives we consider strengths that the enemy will trip us up. We become complacent. The Scripture says take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall. Paul tells us that fear was the key to Peter’s downfall. Fear of what? Of being thought less of, of losing influence? I don’t know, but clearly not fear of God, but fear of men.
And so in conflict even today this fear of what others might think is so often at the heart of conflict, motivating the behaviors and the hurtful words that fuel our controversies. And what is the behavior at the source of conflict...Hypocrisy
13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
Francois Fenelon was the court preacher for King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. One Sunday when the king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service, no one else was there but the preacher. King Louis demanded, "What does this mean?" Fenelon replied, "I had published that you would not come to church today, in order that your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king."
Peter was not prentending to serve God for the sake of others but he was pretending that He didn’t associate with the non-law-keeping gentile believers when the law-observant Jews came to visit. Imagin the impact of this behavior on these believers. Yesterday they were OK company but apparently now that the real Christians, the Jewish Christians were here they were persona-non-grata.
What genuinely makes this hypocrisy is the fact that Peter was clearly acting in a way contrary to the belief that he held. It wasn’t that he was siding theologically with the Judaizers, he simply didn’t want them to think less of him. Hypocrisy, it’s hurtful to people, it discredits the cause of Christ.
There is one final thing in the mix of the source of conflict..Legalism
14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs.
The specific issue of controversy here was legalism. The belief that being truly Christian requires adherence to an external set of standards. I’d like to tell you that after Peter and Paul got this issue straightened out between them it ceased to be a problem, but unfortunately that’s not the case.
One young man asked "I am in earnest about forsaking ’the world’ and following Christ. But I am puzzled about worldly things. What is it I must forsake?" . "Colored clothes, for one thing. Get rid of everything in your wardrobe that is not white. Stop sleeping on a soft pillow. Sell your musical instruments and don’t eat any more white bread. You cannot, if you are sincere about obeying Christ, take warm baths or shave your beard. To shave is to lie against Him who created us, to attempt to improve on His Work."
Does this answer sound absurd? It is the answer given in the most celebrated Christian schools of the second century! Elizabeth Elliot asks "Is it possible that the rules that have been adopted by many twentieth-century; Christians will sound as absurd to earnest followers of Christ a few years hence?" (Elizabeth Elliot, The Liberty of Obedience, Nashville, Abingdon, 1968, pp. 45-46.)
Richard Foster, one of the foremost Christian authors on the topic of Spirtual Disciplines asks us to "Consider the story of Hans the tailor. Because of his reputation, an influential entrepreneur visiting the city ordered a tailor-made suit. But when he came to pick up his suit, the customer found that one sleeve twisted that way and the other this way; one shoulder bulged out and the caved in. He pulled and managed to make his body fit. As he returned home on the bus, another passenger noticed his odd appearance and asked if Hans the tailor had the suit. Receiving an affirmative reply, the man remarked, "Amazing! I knew that Hans was a good tailor, but I had no idea he could make a suit fit so perfectly someone as deformed as you."
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