Galatians 2:11-14
August 25, 2005
Paul Rebukes Peter
2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong. 2:12 Until certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. 2:13 And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy. 2:14 But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Proverbs 27:17 says that
As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens his friend.
I believe that the Galatians passage is an example of how this happens in real life as Christians hold each other accountable. Peter was caught in a personal conflict between his Jewish upbringing and the new (to him) freedom given to him by the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul valued Peter’s leadership in the young church enough to point out his inconsistent behavior. So far as we know, Peter acknowledged the truth of Paul’s rebuke, and both men continued as strong leaders among the new believers. -sdg-
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