Thinking Thursday

[Gal 2:11-16 ESV] 11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 

Not eternally condemned, but he was guilty of being a bad example in the upcoming instance Paul is about to describe.

12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.

In other words, Peter was acting two-faced.  One way with one group, another way with a different group. 

13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 

As a leader, Peter influenced others behavior...in this case, wrongly.  Leaders are human too and can mess up.

14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" 

It takes a brave person to confront wrong behavior and point out inconsistency but it is "loving" to want a fellow Christian's walk to be honest and full of integrity.

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Paul argues it is faith and being justified by Christ himself not by works.  We can forget that sometimes when in our minds we think "a Christian's behavior looks like this and not like that."