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NASB | Galatians 2:11 ¶ But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Galatians 2:11 ¶ Now when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him face to face [about his conduct there], because he stood condemned [by his own actions]. |
Bible Question:
I was just doing my daily reading and came across some rather harsh words from one Apostle to another. It seems curious the Holy Spirit allowed to Peter to make this mistake, especially after his special revelation in Acts 10. Is God trying to proclaim something special by allowing such a confrontation to become known throughout the Christian world? Notice Paul's buddy, Barnabas even gets swirled into this controversy. What's the Lord's ultimate purpose in telling this story? Yes, this is a repeat of my previous post. Since I wasn't getting any responses, I thought I would repost since I finally learned how to post a question properly. Do forgive and tell me what you think. I'm quoting the whole story from Paul for your reference. Gal 2:11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. God bless you all, Inquisitor |
Bible Answer: Dear Inquisitor, The odd notions of amicability in modern culture seem to preclude simply stating the truth. If you search the Scriptures you will find that they not only called a spade a spade, they named names(e.g. 1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 4:14; 3 John 12; Revelation 2:6). Relative to this particular incident in Galatians (v2:11; cf , these points come immediately to mind: 1. The Apostles would be the first to affirm that we are all fallible (Ecclesiastes 7:20). 2. Often our Lord must render correction more than once for any given failing. Yet He is patient and generous (James 1:5), correcting those He loves (Hebrews 12:6; Revelation 3:19). 3. The most powerful adjunct to our pedagogy is how we live (1 Thessalonians 1:6). 4. A leader's behavior is open to public scrutiny. Consequently, the correction of that behavior must be a public thing. This is a particularly the case in the church (Matthew 5:20; Titus 1:9). 5. Galatians 6:1 appears to contradict what Paul said in v2:11. However, note well that there is a distinction between ministers of the church and laity (see Matthew 18:15-19). When the laity deal with failing in one another, it would ordinarily begin in private discussion. 6. We serve a thrice holy Lord. The purity of the church is all of our business: "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:18-20 NASB) Contrast this with the handling of the things we see today (e.g., Roman Catholic sex abuse, Kenneth Copeland, Jimmy Swaggert, Jim Bakker, etc.) In Him, Doc |