Galatians
2:11-21 NIV
11 When Cephas came to Antioch,
I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For
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 Cephas 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?
15 “We who are Jews by birth
and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified
by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our
faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in[a] Christ and not by the works
of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17 “But if, in seeking to be
justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that
mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild
what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19 “For through the law I died
to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified
with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in
the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could
be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”[b]
We know Peter was bold and faithful. He made many
mistakes, he always came back to Jesus and was willing to learn. After Jesus' death,
Peter was one of the first to speak boldly about Jesus being the risen savior. Peter
was also the first to say that many Jewish laws towards food should be abandoned
and all food were made clean.
However, after meeting with some people from James'
group, Peter started to shun Gentiles and promoted circumcision as well as many
other Jewish customs.
We are called to love others to bring joy to God
and not to receive acceptance from others. We do good works to please God and not
to gain grace or salvation.
Paul confronts Peter for changing the message
to please others. Those Christians who were promoting Jewish traditions and salvation
through actions were preaching a message very different from what Paul preached
and what Peter originally preached.
We need to be careful not to tolerate sin and
yet we cannot despise others because they are sinners. We still need to associate
with those who are not saved. We still need to love those who are sinners.
As Christians, we should not return to sin. This
is a problem. We cannot allow salvation to work in us and return to our old lives.
Justification of faith is a call to freedom from sin.
We may be influenced by our old traditions and
beliefs, but we must allow for grace to work in us. We cannot judge others because
of their differences. We are accepted by God because He loves us and it has nothing
with what we have done.
Are we allowing God's grace to break down barriers
and allow us to love others?
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