“But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?”
Galatians 2:11-14 NLT
Peter had a problem. Consistent with the Peter seen in the Gospels, he tended to back down from his convictions when a potential conflict arose. This was Ana tea where Paul and Peter clashed. While both men denied Christ initially, when Paul did so out of conviction rather than fear of judgement from his peers. Now that Paul was a part of the ministry alongside Peter, it was important that they serve Christ well together. While Paul was a true zealot, Peter was a closeted coward. A confrontation between the two was inevitable as Peter was a pillar of the church. Here we can learn something from Paul. Paul’s way of handling this conflict wasn’t to ridicule Peter or try to usurp him, but rather to call him to proper leadership. It was direct and corrective. In this case, due to the public nature of the misstep, it was also public. Paul teaches us that admonishment isn’t always soft and when it comes to the gospel, doesn’t always respect rank more than mission. It should be noted that Peter later tells us that he views Paul’s words as Scripture. Between them there was no love loss. This is because, though Peter was being weak in his mission to advance the Gospel, Paul held him accountable without hurting the mission more. This is a picture of how conflict should work. It should be direct, corrective and reconciliatory without tearing down. Sometimes, it must even be public. In Either case, their is to be a mutual love and respect.
JOSH McGARY. COM 