Paul Spoke the Truth in Love to Peter

The Feast of St. Peter & St. Paul

June 29, 2014

Galatians 2:11

Paul Spoke the Truth in Love to Peter

In the name of Jesus.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

Galatians 2:11

I.

Who is Cephas? Why was he condemned? And why did Paul oppose him?

First of all, Cephas is another name for Peter. Cephas means rock and referred to Peter's rock-solid confession of Christ, the Son of the living God, recorded in Matthew 16. Cephas is Peter.

Secondly, Peter stood condemned because he was giving into peer pressure.

That is why Paul opposed Peter. Because he cared about Peter and the Church, Paul wanted to help Peter see the truth. The truth is that Christ is enough for our salvation.

II.

Let's go back and find out why Peter had caved into peer pressure. In Acts 10 Jesus had told Peter in a vision that Christians of the New Testament were not tied to the rules of the Old Testament. Peter himself explained later,

“I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a visionary state, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. Then I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat!’

‘No, Lord!’ I said. ‘For nothing common or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth!’ But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call common.’ Now this happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into heaven.

Acts 11:5-10

At first Peter had courageously defended this message from Christ Jesus with boldness against those who were saying,

“Unless you are circumcised . . . you cannot be saved!”

Acts 15:1

Peter preached a beautiful sermon.

“Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them by giving the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.”

Acts 15:7-11

Peter smashed the thought that sinners can add to the grace of Jesus. He pointed out that no Jew had ever kept the Law; why double-down on our goodness that's never good enough?

But Peter gave into the powerful temptation to worry. At some later date Peter had quietly slide back into eating kosher. This reversal of behavior had gone public. Those who demanded circumcision for salvation were delighted by Peter's flip-flop and surely pointed out Peter's kosher table to weak Gentile believers, "If Peter eats kosher, shouldn't you?"

III.

Peter needed to be sorted out and Paul stepped up. He opposed Peter to his face not out of ego nor in anger, but out of love. He genuinely cared about Peter and for the truth. Paul loved it that Christ is enough for salvation. Getting circumcised doesn't add to God's grace nor does refusing to eat bacon.

But when [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.

Galatians 2:11-12

Paul saw what was happening. Peter was going along to get along. Peter didn't want to rock the boat, so out of love Paul had to capsize his canoe.

When I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told [Peter] in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Galatians 2:14

Paul was rebuking Peter for giving the impression that there's more to forgiveness than Jesus. There may have been those who called Paul a trouble-maker. Others might have been concerned that his rebuke of Peter would make the Church look bad.

But Paul spoke the truth in love. He wasn't a trouble-maker; he was a believer who was united in the pure Gospel of Christ alone. And he knew that a faithful Church with faithful pastors don't allow the tail to wag the dog―we must not allow concerns about our image to dictate our speaking.

We speak Jesus Christ. Others within and outside of the Church will try to add to Jesus and push Him aside. But by grace we stand firm and speak the true Christ in love.

Paul spoke and he was blessed and so was Peter. Thanks be to Jesus for using the apostles and us to bring peace to others by sometimes rocking the boat.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.