January 12 Click on verses for Full Scripture

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Today's Pathway: Galatians 2:11-13 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

Paul has been defending his apostolic authority to the Galatians because of the infiltration of their churches by the Judaizers. Previously he showed that he had received his doctrine directly from the Lord and not from the other apostles. Then yesterday we saw that he and the leaders of the Jerusalem believers met together and agreed that their doctrine was the same and they had the same apostic authority. Today he gives a third reason that his authority should be accepted. At some point following his meeting with Peter, James, and John, he was in Antioch and Peter was there as well. He states that during that time he had to stand up to Peter face to face because of the error that Peter was involved in. Before dealing with the specifics of the incident, it should be noted that if Paul had enough spiritual authority to rebuke a well-respected apostle like Peter, then he certainly carried as much apostolic authority as Peter did. This is further proof of the validity of his ministry and yet another reason that the Galatians should be rejecting the lies of the Judaizers concerning him.

The incident itself is very interesting. Kenneth Wuest gives some background as to what was taking place. He wrote,

"The particular Mosaic legislation (which was not specifically spelled out in the Law, but was more of a rabbinical rule) to which Paul referred here had to do with the eating of certain foods. While one purpose of the giving of this legislation permitting the eating of certain foods and the prohibition regarding other foods was a dietary one to promote the physical well-being of the Jews, another was that of keeping the Jews a separate people from the Gentiles, thus preserving clean the channel which God was using to bring salvation to the earth. The forbidden foods were found on the tables of the Gentiles. Hence a Jew could never accept a dinner invitation of a Gentile. This was one of the factors which kept the nation Israel apart from the Gentile world. When Peter came to Antioch, he saw Jews and Gentiles eating together and joined their fellowship. When certain Jews from the Jerusalem church came as representatives of James and saw Peter eating with the Gentiles, they contended that he was going against Levitical legislation. They brought pressure to bear upon Peter, and he discontinued his practice of eating with the Gentiles. This caused the Jews in the church at Antioch to cease eating with the Gentiles, and brought about a division in the church."

Verse 13 shows another principle that we have seen before. As soon as Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles, the other Jewish believers in Antioch followed his lead and did the same thing. Even Barnabas, who had helped to plant churches among the Gentiles with Paul, succumbed to the pressure and "dissembled" with Peter. How difficult this must have been for Paul to see! The word "dissembled" means, "to act like a hypocrite". Peter had stopped keeping these Jewish rituals himself, but now he acted as if he did keep them so he could "get along with" these men from Jerusalem. By his actions, he implied that Gentiles believers must keep the law when he himself did not. David Guzik added,

"In this case Peter, Barnabas, and the rest of the Jewish Christians in Antioch knew that these Gentile believers were really Christians. Yet, because of the pressure from the men from James, they acted like they were not Christians at all."

Don't let the pressure from others cause you to be a hypocrite. Always do what's right, regardless of what others may think or do.