DISAGREEMENT AND FEAR

When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 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. —Galatians 2:11, 12

It is generally believed that the church council in Jerusalem, described in Acts 15, took place in 49 A.D., and it seems that the letter to the Galatians was written in the lead-up to that meeting. In a sense, Paul was describing the core disagreement that was to be addressed and resolved by the Jerusalem meeting: How Jewish did Gentile believers in Jesus need to become in order to be welcomed and accepted into the church? This question was made all the more urgent by the evangelistic and church-planting success that Paul and Barnabas reported from their first missionary journey through Asia Minor, which included the region of Galatia. Paul’s report of his rebuke of Peter (Cephas is the Syriac version of the name given to him by Jesus; see John 1:42) demonstrated the personal dynamics that are often included in that kind of disagreement. We can imagine what the in-person argument was like as two strong-willed, outspoken, and sincere apostles expressed their points of view. At the same time, Paul and Barnabas were also arguing with “the circumcision group” who had arrived in Antioch: “This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them” (Acts 15:2).

But Paul particularly called out Peter’s fear of standing up for the Gentile believers, pointing out that he had been eating with Gentiles until those critics arrived in the city. It was a strong challenge, but it seemed to have an effect.

When the council met in Jerusalem, Peter spoke boldly for the inclusion and welcome of Gentiles into the church community: “[God] made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).