Follow, Follow....
Galatians 2:11-14 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. [12] 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 belonged to the circumcision group. [13] The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
[14] When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
Conflict is always wrong – sometimes it’s necessary to resolve an issue and then move on. And here, even after Paul’s last visit to Jerusalem, probably the ‘Council of Jerusalem’ (Acts 15), when it seemed that the issue of adopting regulations had been put away, it comes up again. Isn’t it amazing how some problems never seem to go away?
Peter visited the believers In Antioch, a church made up of a mix of Jewish and Gentile Christians. At first they ate with everybody but after some more visitors arrived from Jerusalem – James was probably leading the Church there – there was a division. The Jewish Christians, despite what had been agreed about the law in Jerusalem and what God had divinely revealed to Peter in his dream before visiting Cornelius (Acts 10), started to separate themselves at meal times as the Law required.
Paul was upset for two reasons. First it isn’t just that they got it wrong – it was hypocrisy. The church had agreed on one course of action, but was now doing another. Second it was Peter, the most influential person in the church, who was the leading ‘hypocrite’. He had bowed to the pressure of the ‘circumcision’ group, the false brothers, and acted in a manner he knew wasn’t right in order to get some peace. And because of who he was, his actions influenced others to follow. Paul believed Peter should have known better! There’s a lesson here for us too – are we aware of how we influence those around us? I think many of us would be surprised by how much others look to us and weigh up our actions before deciding on their own. If you don’t believe me, think about the last time you were in a group trying to decide which film to see at the cinema….. If that’s the case then we need to be careful in our actions, to act like Jesus, so we are influencing those around us to honour him. That's more important than a quiet life.
So when Paul gets back to Antioch, because it’s hard to believe that if he’d been around he would have allowed the situation to deteriorate so far, he immediately confronts Peter, as an equal because his Apostolic credentials have been recognised by the whole Church, in order to restore truth to the situation. It’s important to Paul that the Church’s most influential leaders act correctly.
What problems seem to come back again and again? Is it because we aren’t strong enough to deal with the situation? Are there any ways in which we know our beliefs are not influencing our actions? Do we follow people we know are in the wrong? Are we careful about how we influence those around us?
[14] When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
Conflict is always wrong – sometimes it’s necessary to resolve an issue and then move on. And here, even after Paul’s last visit to Jerusalem, probably the ‘Council of Jerusalem’ (Acts 15), when it seemed that the issue of adopting regulations had been put away, it comes up again. Isn’t it amazing how some problems never seem to go away?
Peter visited the believers In Antioch, a church made up of a mix of Jewish and Gentile Christians. At first they ate with everybody but after some more visitors arrived from Jerusalem – James was probably leading the Church there – there was a division. The Jewish Christians, despite what had been agreed about the law in Jerusalem and what God had divinely revealed to Peter in his dream before visiting Cornelius (Acts 10), started to separate themselves at meal times as the Law required.
Paul was upset for two reasons. First it isn’t just that they got it wrong – it was hypocrisy. The church had agreed on one course of action, but was now doing another. Second it was Peter, the most influential person in the church, who was the leading ‘hypocrite’. He had bowed to the pressure of the ‘circumcision’ group, the false brothers, and acted in a manner he knew wasn’t right in order to get some peace. And because of who he was, his actions influenced others to follow. Paul believed Peter should have known better! There’s a lesson here for us too – are we aware of how we influence those around us? I think many of us would be surprised by how much others look to us and weigh up our actions before deciding on their own. If you don’t believe me, think about the last time you were in a group trying to decide which film to see at the cinema….. If that’s the case then we need to be careful in our actions, to act like Jesus, so we are influencing those around us to honour him. That's more important than a quiet life.
So when Paul gets back to Antioch, because it’s hard to believe that if he’d been around he would have allowed the situation to deteriorate so far, he immediately confronts Peter, as an equal because his Apostolic credentials have been recognised by the whole Church, in order to restore truth to the situation. It’s important to Paul that the Church’s most influential leaders act correctly.
What problems seem to come back again and again? Is it because we aren’t strong enough to deal with the situation? Are there any ways in which we know our beliefs are not influencing our actions? Do we follow people we know are in the wrong? Are we careful about how we influence those around us?
posted by Gordon at
8:04 am
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