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Peter Stood Condemned (Galatians 2)
Peter Stood Condemned (Galatians 2)
Peter. The Rock. The one who confessed that Jesus was the son of God. The one who vowed that even if all the other disciples abandoned Jesus, he would NEVER forsake Him.
Immediately after the confession that Jesus is the Son of God, Peter takes issue with Jesus and begins to correct Him.
The apostle who in fact DID deny Jesus, not once, but three times in one night.
The apostle who was privileged to be recorded as preaching the first couple of sermons concerning the resurrection and glorification of Jesus.
The same apostle that had a vision and the instruction of God that all men could be saved through Jesus. What God has called clean, do not call unclean!
Peter, the apostle who opened the door to the Gentiles by preaching to and granting (commanding!) Cornelius and his household to be baptized into Christ (Acts 10).
The same Peter that participated in the meeting of Acts 15 about the believing Gentiles and if they had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses in order to be saved by Jesus. His statement there:
7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 "And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. 10 "Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? (Acts 15:7-10).
NOW, in Galatians 2, he backtracks on this. NOW, because of the false teachers and their prejudice against Gentiles, Peter draws a line of fellowship and will no longer eat with them. [In the first-century world, ‘eating with’ was a matter of social acceptance].
This was a different gospel than what he (and Paul and the other apostles!) had preached. Now WHAT? He messed up big time and has been called on publicly!
Peter accepted this reproof and later referred to Paul as his ‘beloved brother’ (2Pet. 3:15-16). He was faithful in his apostleship the rest of his life and died a martyr’s death.
Two points. First, such failure of faith can happen to us even as it did to Peter.
Second, such mistakes in life do not have to be the end of things. Even as Peter was reproved and corrected his living, so we can repent and turn again unto the Lord. In the end, Peter was found faithful unto the Lord. Will this be true of you?
Hugh DeLong
