GALATIANS 2:1\u201321<\/b><\/p>\n
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong<\/i><\/p>\n
(Galatians 2:11)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Sometime after Paul\u2019s visit to Jerusalem, Peter came to Antioch. Paul tells us that initially Peter sat at table with the Gentile converts and ate with them, but later on some Judaizers pressured Peter to practice Jewish segregation. Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles and withdrew from them. Other Jewish converts followed Peter\u2019s example. Finally Paul stood up to challenge Peter\u2019 inconsistency.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s going on here? First of all, the Old Testament never taught any kind of social separation between Jew and Gentile, and especially not between Jew and God-fearing Gentile. It was a perversion of the Jewish tradition to teach that devout Jews should avoid contact with Gentiles. Thus, what Peter was doing did not even have Old Testament support; it was grounded in heretical Jewish teachings. God Himself had taught Peter regarding this in Acts 10\u201311 (as we saw in our lesson for February 18).<\/p>\n
Second, Peter clearly knew the truth and was teaching it, as Paul said in Galatians 2:14. Peter was \u201cliving like a Gentile\u201d by no longer offering sacrifices at the temple and no longer observing the laws of uncleanness. Yet, in order to please the heretical Judaizers, Peter was wavering in his practice. Perhaps Peter thought it was all right to do this in order to \u201cbe all things to all men.\u201d Perhaps he thought as the apostle to the Jews he ought to make this accommodation, while leaving Paul free to minister to the Gentiles.<\/p>\n
Third, whatever Peter was thinking, he was wrong. It is crucial to our understanding of the Gospel message that Christ is the savior, and that all believers are equal in and before Christ. There are not two churches. There are not two communion tables. Any attempt to divide the church at the level of practice carries with it the implication that Christ is divided. Thus, what was at stake in Peter\u2019s behavior was nothing less than the Gospel itself.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Paul points out that what starts as an \u201cinnocent Jewish custom\u201d of separate eating can only end in the returning to the Old Testament law and a rejection of the work of Christ (2:15\u201321). Peter was playing into the hands of the Judaizers, and the end result would be the destruction of the gospel.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Joshua 1\u20133<\/p>\n
Luke 1:57\u201380<\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n
Joshua 4\u20138<\/p>\n
Luke 2<\/p>\n
Myron Augsburger\u2019s book Caring Enough to Confront<\/i> proves that confronting, when done biblically, is a virtuous act. When confronting Peter, Paul had the greater good of the church in mind. Accept the responsibility to care and confront, and to take care when confronted. In both cases, seek the triumph of truth in love.<\/p>\n
For further study: Matthew 5:21\u201324; 18:15\u201317<\/i><\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GALATIANS 2:1\u201321 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong (Galatians 2:11). Sometime after Paul\u2019s visit to Jerusalem, Peter came to Antioch. Paul tells us that initially Peter sat at table with the Gentile converts and ate with them, but later on some Judaizers pressured … Continue reading “A CRISIS IN ANTIOCH”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}