Life of Peter 7
Notes
Transcript
Text: Galatians 2:11–16
Kathleen Peterson tells the story about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation on a young Bostonian being considered for employment. The Boston investment house could not say enough about the young man. His father, they wrote, was a Cabot; his mother was a Lowell. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls, Peabodys, and other of Boston's first families. His recommendation was given without hesitation. Several days later, the Chicago bank sent a note saying the information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: "We are not contemplating using the young man for breeding purposes. Just for work."
Neither is God a respecter of persons but accepts those from every family, nation, and race who fear Him and work for His kingdom (Acts 10:34-35).
Kathleen Peterson.
Galatians was written to a number of churches in the region of Galatia, where Paul had traveled on one of his missionary journeys.
Christianity began as a Jewish Messianic movement in Jerusalem, but, its’ message was for all humanity.
And so, it quickly spread beyond Israel.
By Paul's time as a missionary, there were as many non-Jews as there were Jewish people in the churches, and this sparked a huge debate that we know about from the book of Acts chapter 15.
Historically, the Israel were the people of God, and they were set apart by the practices commanded in the Torah, like circumcision of males, eating kosher, observing the Sabbath.
And, there were many Jewish Christians who believed that, for all of these non-Jews to truly become a part of God's family, they needed to obey the laws of the Torah.
And so, some of these Jewish Christians ended up coming to the Galatian churches.
They were undermining Paul, and demanding circumcision of all these male non-Jewish Christians, and so, many of them were.
And when Paul found out, he was brokenhearted and angry, and this letter is the result.
He first challenges the Galatians, with his summary of the gospel message about the crucified Messiah.
He then argues, that this gospel is what creates the new multi- -ethnic Family of Jesus and Abraham, and then he shows how this gospel is
what truly transforms people by the presence and power of the Spirit.
He opens, by expressing his bewilderment that the Galatians have embraced a different gospel; it is the one promoted by these Christians who badmouth Paul, and demand circumcision.
So Paul first defends the authenticity of his message,and authority as an apostle. He was commissioned by the Risen Jesus Himself to go to the non-Jewish world; remember the story from the book of Acts.
Paul says it was only later, that he went to Jerusalem to consult the other apostles like Peter and James, and when he told them he was not requiring non-Jewish Christians to be circumcised or eat kosher, they were in full support.
But this tension ran deeper, Peter had come to Antioch to visit and see all of these non-Jewish Christians, and he was eating and mingling with them.
But, when some of these Jerusalem opposition groups showed up in Antioch, Peter caved under their pressure;
This is the reason for Paul’s public rebuke of the apostle Peter (11–13)
(Now when Peter had come to Antioch: Peter approved of Paul’s gospel and ministry when Paul came to Jerusalem (Galatians 2:9)
He withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision: Though Peter was previously in agreement with welcoming Gentiles into the church without bringing them under the Law of Moses, when Peter came to Antioch (Paul’s home church), it was another story. He refused to associate with Gentile Christians once certain Jewish believers from Jerusalem came.
Peter knew they would be offended at his fellowship with Gentiles who had not come under the Law of Moses. In their eyes, these uncircumcised Gentiles were not really Christians at all. Therefore, to please them and to avoid a conflict, Peter treated these Gentile Christians as if they were not Christians at all.
Wait a second Peter knew that God did not require Gentiles to come under the Law of Moses for salvation.
What about his vision in Acts 10:10-16 - The Holy Spirit is upon the Gentiles…
He learned this by the agreement of the other leaders of the church in Acts 11:1–18.
“I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed:” This shows how serious the matter was to Paul. He had a public confrontation with Peter over the issue
“Fear” Paul lets us in on what was going on in the mind of Peter. This explains why Peter did this, even when he knew that God welcomed Gentiles into the church without placing them under the Law of Moses. Out of fear, Peter acted against what he knew was right.
Exposition:
Scripture calls this the Fear of man, a very similar concept is called “respecter of persons. This quality is defined as allowing the strength or esteem of another to change whether we do what is right or not.
Solomon warned that when we start trying to live our lives to make others we think we are something we are not we have set ourselves a trap.
The fear of man bringeth a snare:
But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
This phrase was used about those who could cause you harm.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
This phrase was used to describe trying to impress others.
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Demonstrating care about others possessions or power is described as having respect of persons. This phrase is cousin to the fear of men because if something is right it is right no matter who it is strong or rich - weak or poor.
In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India.
The cast system is a cruel form of government which keeps people locked into rank based on where they were born in the economic bracket. Gandhi hated it and worked to over come it.
So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he go worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned, “If Christians have caste differences also, “ he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” That usher’s prejudice not only betrayed Jesus but also turned a person away from trusting Him as Savior. (Source Unknown)
It was this fear of men that led Peter to behave like a Hypocrite. Paul calls him out on this.
Dissimulation … carried away with their hypocrisy: The word hypocrite, in the original language of the New Testament, means “one who puts on a mask,” referring to an actor. 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 certain men from James, they acted like they were not Christians at all.
It is easy to criticize Peter; but every person knows what it means to do something that you know is wrong. Everyone knows what it feels like to go against what you know very well is right. Everyone knows what it feels like when social pressure pushes you towards compromise in some way.
We find ourselves practicing hypocrisy in a few forms...
Either judging someone more harshly that the Bible would allow.
I am require to give you grace and mercy for the sin that you commit knowing that Christ is the one that will judge you and that I can trust his discipleship.
Participating in Sin that you condemn in Others.
We are to keep our lives clean and this can lead to higher and higher standards like in the life of Jesus the Pharisees would get out their herbs and grains and turn in a tenth for a tithe. But secretly they were abusive to Gods people.
This was the kind of behavior that dominated Peter’s life before he was transformed by the power of God.
This was like Peter telling Jesus not to go to the cross,
Peter taking his eyes off of Jesus and sinking when walking on the water
Peter cutting off the ear of the servant of the High Priest when soldiers came to arrest Jesus.
We see that the flesh was still present in Peter. Salvation and the filling of the Holy Spirit did not made Peter perfect; the old Peter was still there, just seen less often.
We might be surprised that Peter compromised even though he knew better; but we are only surprised if we don’t believe what God says about the weakness and corruption of our flesh.
Fearing those who were of the circumcision: We don’t know what it was about these certain men from James that made Peter afraid.
Perhaps they were men of strong personality.
Perhaps they were men of great prestige and influence.
Perhaps they made threats of one kind or another.
Whatever it was, the desire to cater to these legalistic Jewish Christians was so strong that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. When these men from James came, even Barnabas treated the Gentile Christians as if they were not Christians at all.
It was this fear of men which with Peter led Barnabas and the other jews.
This was amazing. Barnabas was Paul’s trusted friend and associate.
Barnabas stood beside Paul when he first met the apostles (Acts 9:27).
Barnabas sought out Paul and brought him to Antioch to help with the ministry there (Acts 11:25).
Acts 11:24 says of Barnabas, he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
Yet, Barnabas also failed at this critical test.
The rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him: This shows that the matter was bigger than just Peter and Barnabas.
Peter first made the compromise of acting as if the Gentile Christians were not Christians at all.
Then Barnabas followed him.
Then the rest of the Jews at the church in Antioch followed Peter and Barnabas.
I said to Peter before them all: What a scene this must have been! There they were, at the Antioch Christian potluck. The Gentile Christians had just been asked to leave, or were told to sit in their own section away from the real Christians. They also weren’t allowed to share the same food that the real Christians ate.
Peter—the honored guest—went along with all this.
Barnabas—the man who led many of the Gentiles to Jesus—went along with all this.
The rest of the Jews in the church at Antioch went along with all this.
Paul would not stand for it. - Because this was a public affront to the Gentile Christians and because it was a public denial of the truth of the gospel, Paul confronted Peter in a public way.
Why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? Perhaps Peter and the others might say, “We’re not making them live as Jews.” But of course they were; because their message was, “Unless you live as Jews, you aren’t saved.” This did in fact compel Gentiles to live as Jews.
Paul reminds Peter that they are justified before God by the work of Jesus, not by their keeping of the law (15–16)
That we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law: This was a clear emphasis. “Peter, we were not justified by being under the Law of Moses, but by faith in Jesus.” By refusing fellowship with Gentile Christians, Peter said in his actions that we are—in part—considered right before God by the works of the law.
For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified: Here, Paul emphasized the point in the strongest way possible. No flesh—not Gentile, not Jewish, not anyone—will be considered right before God by the works of the law.
The point is clear:
people are justified only through trusting in what God did for them through Jesus, not by what they do for themselves.
At the heart of Paul's gospel is this claim: that when people trust in the Messiah Jesus, what is true of Him becomes true of them: His life, death and resurrection become theirs;
or, in his words:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
We recognize that this is the beauty of Pauls confrontation. That is that Peter can find forgiveness and that even his works wrong or not were determinate of his final destination.