Galatians 2:11 Commentary

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Galatians 2:11

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This next event must however have caused Paul great anguish. To have to withstand Peter publicly like this was certainly not something he did lightly. How could it be a good thing to publicly show a beloved brother in Christ to be wrong? Here was one apostle having to oppose another head-on. It was very likely to upset people, and what would be the outcome? What if Peter did not admit that he was in the wrong? This would cause a public split between the apostles which the Judaizers would take advantage of to further hurt Paul. He had to be absolutely certain that he was right. What if this was not a matter of principle but simply a case of concession to the weaker conscience? But Paul was sure, and he did see the issue clearly, and he knew that he was right. This was a matter of greater importance than the peace between two apostles. This was a matter which, if not corrected, would affect the purity of the gospel and cause great harm to the church and the future expansion of Christ’s kingdom. Paul did allow himself to be put off even by the pain and shame that he would bring upon Peter by this public admonition; he only considered the safeguarding of the truth. Paul is showing the Galatians that he had stood at one time as the only human instrument that God could use for the protection of the truth. It is implicit in this account that Peter afterwards admitted his fault, and, painful though it was, agreed that he had been quite wrong and had betrayed the gospel by his actions. Far from Paul obtaining his gospel from Peter, there had been a time when Paul had seen the issue of grace much more clearly than Peter. The Galatians must therefore acknowledge that Paul’s apostleship was not inferior to that of any other apostle.

Application

There are times of crisis when we must speak out or great damage is done to God’s cause. We must be ready as Paul was here to stand alone. This cannot be done unless we have thought through issues in advance and formed deep convictions. Stubbornness and refusal to change our minds is no substitute for discernment and clear understanding of doctrine. Those who take a stand are likely to be accused of fostering disunity, and they will be shaken unless they are clear in their own minds.

Questions

Since this takes place after the meeting of Galatians 2:1-10 and since it describes a fall of Peter that seems impossible after the events of Acts 15, some have doubted that Galatians 2:1-10 does indeed refer to the same meeting as Acts 15. How could Peter have known that God put no difference between Jew and Gentile and that both are saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and be party to the letter sent out that admitted that troublers had gone out from Jerusalem and which laid no further requirements on the Gentiles than those listed in Acts 15:29; how could he then behave as described in Galatians 2:11-21? However it is no less amazing that he should fall like this after the vision of Acts 10:10-16, or after the events described in Galatians 2:1-10 regardless of which meeting in Acts they relate to. In order to explain this we must note that Peter had shown himself changeable on previous occasions, and that the matter which arose in Antioch was not a direct repeat of the question that had been settled in Jerusalem about Gentile circumcision. Peter may have understood that the Gentiles are saved without needing to keep the law, but here was a subtly different question: How should Jews live in relation to Gentiles? Was that first generation of Jewish Christians permitted to continue to live according to the Mosaic ceremonial law as long as they did not see it as necessary for salvation? What happened if they went further and required Gentiles to do the same?

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Galatians 2:11 Commentary and Bible Study