Galatians 2.11-14
“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Paul now describes a defining moment in the early church. Indeed, it is one of the most dramatic, tension-filled events in scripture. It is an open, public clash between Peter and Paul, the two leading apostles.
The locale has changed from Jerusalem to Antioch, the chief city of Syria and Asia, where the Gentile mission began and where the disciples were first called ‘Christians’. When Paul visited Jerusalem, Peter (along with James and John) gave him the right hand of fellowship (verse 10). When Peter visited Antioch, Paul rebuked him publicly because Peter had withdrawn and separated himself from Gentile Christian believers and would no longer eat with them. It was not that Peter denied the gospel, for Paul has made it very clear that he and the Jerusalem apostles were unified in their understanding of the gospel.
The problem was with Peter’s behavior toward the Gentile believers in Antioch.
When Peter came to the church in Antioch, he ate with Gentile Christians. He had overcome his old Jewish traditions and bias, and did not consider himself in any way defiled or contaminated by contact with uncircumcised Gentile Christians. Peter welcomed the Gentile believers to eat with him, and he ate with them. The meals referred to are probably daily meals, as well as the Lord’s Supper.
Then, a group of Jewish Christians arrived in Antioch from Jerusalem, and “they belonged to the party of the Pharisees” (Acts 15: 5). The Galatians passage says they came ‘from James’, the leader of the Jerusalem church. This does not mean that they had his authority (in Acts 15: 24 James says they did not have his authority), but rather that they claimed to have it. They were Judaizers who were simply posing as apostolic delegates.
On arrival in Antioch they began to preach: ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’ (Acts 15: 1). Apparently they went even further and declared it was wrong for circumcised Jewish believers to take meals with uncircumcised Gentile believers, even though the Gentile Christians had believed in Jesus and been baptized. These Judaizers were successful in persuading Peter, who had previously eaten with the Gentile Christians, to withdraw from them and separate himself.
Why did Peter do this? Why would he capitulate to the Judaizers and act with prejudice and discrimination toward Gentile Christians in Antioch? Why would he threaten the unity and fellowship of the church in Antioch … and the growing church, as well?
Keep in mind that only a short while previously, Peter had been given a direct, special revelation from God regarding Gentiles (see Acts 10 & 11). He had been on the rooftop of a house in Joppa when he saw a vision of a sheet let down from heaven by its four corners, containing an assortment of unclean creatures (birds, beasts and reptiles). He then heard a voice saying to him: ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ When he objected, the voice went on: ‘What God has cleansed, you must not call common.’ The vision was repeated three times for emphasis.
The vision confirmed that he must accompany the Gentile messengers who had come from the centurion Cornelius and enter his house, even though this was unlawful for him as a Jew. In the sermon that he preached to Cornelius’ household he said: ‘Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality.’ When the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles who believed, Peter agreed that they must receive Christian baptism and be welcomed into the Christian church.
With this context, are we now to think that Peter had forgotten the vision at Joppa and the conversion of the Gentile household of Cornelius? Or that Peter now rejected the revelation that God had given him? There is no suggestion in Galatians 2 that Peter had changed his mind. Why then did he withdraw from fellowship with Gentile believers in Antioch?
The answer: Peer pressure. Strong social influence from the Judaizers. Ethnic prejudice.
