A Confrontation Between Paul and Peter: Galatians 2:11-21

Welcome to Episode 4 of Series 1 in our study of Galatians on Word Online. Some of you will have been listening to the earlier episodes and you will be following the story that Paul is explaining here at the beginning of Galatians. Maybe you are just looking at this particular episode. If you are, I would really encourage you to listen to the earlier ones.

Recap and Background

In Series 1 we have been following Paul’s personal story: his conversion; his history; his engagement with the gospel; his preaching of the gospel; his coming to the Galatian churches. The whole story is summarised in these early two chapters. We need to remind ourselves of a few foundational things that have happened which bring us to this particular point.

First of all, the Galatians were a group of churches that Paul planted in the Roman province of Galatia. He is writing a circular letter that will be passed from one church to another. He planted these churches in his first missionary journey from Antioch. He was accompanied by Barnabas. He went to a number of cities in an area which today we would call Southern Turkey. Miraculously, he was able to see the conversion of many people and the planting of about six different churches. He even managed to institute elders and pastors in those churches before he left them and returned back to Antioch.

Now he is writing to these churches and, as I have indicated in the earlier episodes, he is writing because of a crisis. Things have gone very badly wrong since Paul was there. He is writing a year or two after having visited. In the meantime, people came from Jerusalem who were Jewish believers in Jesus who challenged Paul’s teaching of the gospel, and contradicted him, saying that the people there needed to follow the Jewish rules and regulations in order to become Christians. I have explained fully in earlier episodes what they said and the impact that it had. Paul was very concerned about this development.

Let us pause for a moment and think about this amazing first missionary journey. Paul had been called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ some years before and it had taken quite a long time for him to get involved in church planting in new areas. But, as soon as he got involved, miracles started to happen. We need to remember that in these places where he planted churches, there had been outstanding and remarkable events. In the last two episodes, I described a couple of those events. One was the gathering of a whole city around the synagogue to hear Paul preach because of the impact of his earlier messages. Another one was where an occultist who was contradicting him was challenged by Paul and suddenly went blind for a temporary period. This helped Paul in his evangelism. Another one that happened is found in Acts 14, while he was in Lystra, one of these six places in Galatia where he planted a church.

‘In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.’

Acts 14:8-10, NIV

This is an outstanding miracle, just like the miracles of Jesus. Paul is showing great authority through signs, wonders and miracles that he performed, in order to underline the truth of his message. After that amazing miracle in Lystra, there is an indication that many people became believers having seen the miracle. This is the kind of ministry that Paul had been conducting in the Galatian cities and then he formed the churches there, which he is now trying to protect because he is very concerned about what has been happening with false teaching coming in.

That false teaching, as I have mentioned in previous episodes, emphasised the need for Gentiles to follow Jewish rules from the Law of Moses. There were four main rules that people were concerned about: following the food laws of the Jews which prevented people eating many foodstuffs that were regularly eaten in Gentile society; obeying the Sabbath; circumcising men; and following the religious festivals of Judaism. As soon as you introduce these regulations you divide up the Christian community and you create confusion because people question if it wasn’t enough to believe in Jesus, and why do they have to follow all these regulations? This is the battle that Paul is fighting.

In order to explain the background to the Galatians he has been telling the story of his conversion, explaining very clearly that he was called by Jesus Christ to be an Apostle, a senior representative of Jesus, with the authority to preach the gospel and the authority to proclaim the truth. They should not be questioning his authority which was the same authority as Peter and the Twelve, who came before him. He described meeting with Peter and the Apostles in Jerusalem and coming to an agreement with them that they were preaching the same, law-free gospel; the gospel that does not require you to follow Jewish rules and regulations in order to be saved and to be a member of the Christian church.

Before Paul went to preach the gospel in the Galatian area, he had been in the city of Antioch with Barnabas, which was the mother church of the Gentile mission. From there, Paul and Barnabas were sent out to the Galatian area and the six churches were planted during that mission. At Antioch, Paul had experienced real difficulties because, as he was building this church with Barnabas, people had come and contradicted his message at Antioch as well. They had said that it was necessary to follow the Law of Moses, to go back to the Old Testament and for the Gentiles to become Jews in order to become Christians. Paul had been up to Peter in Jerusalem, and they had resolved the issue that that was not the case, and the gospel was a law-free gospel.

Peter Visits Antioch

In this episode, something very surprising happens. Paul and Barnabas were in the city of Antioch, 700 kilometres north of Jerusalem. The church are mostly Gentiles. There are many hundreds of people in the church and it appears that Peter decided to make a visit. They were building up their mission in partnership and Peter wanted to make a visit.

Paul here describes to the Galatians something very surprising that happened when Peter made this visit. In Antioch there were a large number of Jews who were members of the church and a much larger number of Gentiles. They were mixing together fairly harmoniously. The church was growing. We see from the record in Acts 11, that it was a constantly growing church and God was blessing it in many ways.

Peter arrived from Jerusalem for the first time. He had never been before. This was a relatively new church and he came to see what was going on.

‘When Cephas (or Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For 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 belong 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 Cephas (or Peter) in front of them all. “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”’

Galatians 2:11-14, NIV

Here we have an unexpected conflict between two leading Apostles. Paul was quite willing to describe this incident in a letter to the Galatians. He was not hiding the fact that there was a disagreement and a problem that arose in Antioch. The circumstances are these: Paul and Barnabas were building up this great church, this multi-ethnic and multi-cultural church; people were enjoying mixing together and knowing the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter arrived and was welcomed by them, no doubt with great honour and dignity because he was considered to be the senior Apostle in Jerusalem. He mixed freely amongst the Jews and the Gentiles there. Everything was fine until some other people followed him from Jerusalem to make a visit who still held the view, as some Jews did then, that in order to become a Christian, Gentiles need to follow Jewish regulations, especially the food laws which are the ones that are in discussion here. The regulations put on the Jews in the Old Testament, for example in Leviticus 11, prevented them eating many foods - many sea fish and pork and other foods - that were commonly eaten by the Gentiles. So they ate separately. Paul was encouraging the church in Antioch to eat together and to share food and hospitality freely and not to mind particularly what food it was they were eating. Everybody had been going along with this until this group came up from Jerusalem that did not agree with this freedom.

Then tension arose in the church in Antioch and the new group started creating a sense of separation and trying to draw members of the church into their group. They started to socialise separately and eat separately, and probably having Church meetings separately. These were the strict ones; these were the ones following all the rules and regulations. A division was coming in the church.

Peter didn’t plan this, but he happened to be there at that time. To Paul’s horror, Peter started meeting with this group. It appears he was quite afraid of them and quite worried about their influence; he wanted to be on side with them. Peter then started separating himself socially from the vast majority of the church who were Gentiles, and then even Barnabas was getting confused and joining in with this group. This caused tremendous stress for Paul. He couldn’t believe what was happening!

He and Peter had previously met twice and had agreed, after careful discussion, that it was not necessary for Gentiles to obey the Law of Moses and all these regulations and they must preach the gospel free of all these restrictions. Peter had previously said yes that that was true but when he came into this situation, it showed that his convictions were not fully formed so that he could guide the church into this freedom.

There was an actual public confrontation between two Apostles. Can you imagine that in the church? I am surprised that Paul was happy to express this in a letter and it now comes down to us, and millions of people have read this story since then. But it is helpful for us in a way isn’t it? We see the depth of what was going on there. There was a massive spiritual battle going on for the nature of the gospel in the first century. The gospel comes apart from the Law of Moses: it is not dependent on the Old Testament laws; it doesn’t require the fulfilment of the Old Testament laws. It comes as a free gift. Christ has paid the price. So people may enter into salvation without feeling they have to earn that salvation by fulfilling certain rules and regulations. A confrontation took place. Paul challenged Peter directly. Interestingly enough, we don’t hear what Peter’s response is, but we can assume, I think for certain, that Peter realised that he was stepping back into an old way of thinking and agreed with Paul.

Paul shares this because it is part of the background to the very same issue that the Galatian churches are facing.

Spiritual Contamination?

‘We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of 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 the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a law breaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.’

Galatians 2:15-19, NIV

Behind the Jewish desire to obey these rules and regulations, is a desire for holiness. Holiness is ‘separation to God’, together with a fear of being contaminated. That is really something quite important in this story. In a religious context, people often have a great fear of being spiritually, morally, or even physically contaminated by uncleanness. The Jews had a long history of fearing that contamination and so they always wanted to keep themselves separate – socially and spiritually. Paul challenges this here, ‘If we Jews find ourselves amongst the sinners, the Gentiles, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin?’ Are we not being contaminated by their sin? Absolutely not! Sin has been dealt with at the cross. We are not contaminating each other by mixing together socially. The cross has cleansed us from sin. It is the power of the cross that means you don’t need these rules and regulations.

Paul introduces the idea that when you become a Christian you die to the Law of Moses. It is no longer part of your life. He has used this idea in other contexts, for example in Romans 7: 1 – 4,

‘the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives. For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ,’

Romans 7:1-4, NIV

You died to the law. It is the past for the Jews; it is not something in their present life. Paul was passionate that his church in Antioch, that Peter was visiting, should not be subdivided into different social groups by rules and regulations and legalism. This is a really important principle for the Church everywhere. Whenever we gather together in the body of Christ, it is very important that people can connect to each other from different ethnic and social backgrounds and that there is not a hierarchy of more important people, more exclusive people because of their wealth, their ethnic background, or their religious background. All these things are secondary and unimportant. Paul is passionate he wants to build communities that are multi-ethnic and if he cannot build, in Antioch, a church where Jews and Gentiles can come together on an equal footing, then he will fail in other places where he is going in the future. When Peter began to compromise on this and a division began in Antioch, Paul challenged it head on and he prevents it from happening.

A New Creation

‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now 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!’

Galatians 2:20-21, NIV

Paul really understood the transforming power of being born again, to become a Christian. He did not consider it to be a small change in your life; a slight improvement; a building up of your sense of identity; a joining of a community; ticking a few boxes of things that you now believed. He didn’t think any of those things were true. It was a fundamental transformation. For him it meant he was no longer under the Law of Moses; his past in Judaism was no longer needed. It meant that he has the power to live a completely new life.

He says, for example, in 2 Corinthians 5:17,

‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, and the new has come.’ He believed in a radical transformation! This is a work of the Holy Spirit and he will explain that more later on in Galatians. In chapter 5, he explains very clearly that the Holy Spirit is the driving force of change within Christians, not rules and regulations. The Holy Spirit himself working within us all the time. The Holy Spirit brings about a new creation. So, for Paul, it is a total transformation to believe in Christ.

Salvation Only Through Jesus Christ

‘I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be attained through the law, Christ died for nothing!’

Galatians 2:21, NIV

In other words, if we could find a way to salvation through human effort, why should we need Jesus’ death on the cross? But the fact is, there is no way to salvation without Christ. Human effort is never enough. In fact, as Paul emphasises time and again, salvation is achieved for us without human effort. We contribute nothing to our salvation, except humbly coming and repenting of our sins, adopting an attitude of faith and belief in Jesus, and committing ourselves to serve him in the future. We bring nothing into our salvation. It is purely the work of God’s grace.

As we come to the end of chapter 2, we come to the end of Series 1 which is based around Paul’s personal story. We have seen, in a number of ways, how he has explained the background of his own life; his conversion; how he came into the ministry that he did; how he related to the other Apostles and how he dealt with this particular issue of legalism in the church in Antioch. This background is really important for the Galatians because it helps them to understand how he is going to deal with the same issue in their churches. He has already dealt with it once in Antioch, and now he is going to deal with it again in Galatians. In Series 2, Paul teaches very clearly and in more depth about some of these themes.

Reflections

How do we handle disagreements? There is a very big disagreement in this episode. Perhaps the first question to ask is, ‘How important is the issue?’ Paul often teaches that we should be gracious and kind and considerate to one another, as we live in community; to deal gently and quietly with minor disagreements is a natural way for Christians to behave. But if there is a disagreement about the gospel, or something fundamental to the faith, then we need to have a direct and sometimes even a forceful discussion, in order to resolve the truth, because there is a lot at stake. That is what Paul did with Peter. However, Paul’s courage was repaid because Paul and Peter remained in fellowship with each other for the rest of their lives. In Peter’s letters, he refers to Paul and things that he wrote, in a warm and affectionate way. They stayed together because they resolved a fundamental issue by honest communication. That is a helpful thought for us.

Unity across cultural divides is something different in our experience to what it was for them. For them it was mostly about how the Jews related to the non-Jewish community. For us, in the world today, that is not usually the issue we are facing. We face the fact that many churches worldwide are increasingly multi-ethnic. We have to learn how we live in community with people from different cultural backgrounds. What we can gain from this episode, is the fact that the Apostles put a lot of effort into helping people of different cultures to work together, and to live together in church communities. That tells us that we should also put a lot of effort into understanding the different cultures of the people in our church communities, in our towns, in our cities, in other churches in our cities. Let us do that, as it applies to us.

Thank you for listening to Series 1. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and I hope I can welcome you back to Series 2.