Paul Chides Peter For Hypocrisy

The fellowship meal was anything but,
When Jews from James to Antioch arrived;
Jew and Gentile mingling was abruptly cut;
Separate tables were quickly contrived!
Even Peter, who had baptized Gentiles,
And justified it to Jewish brothers,
Drew away to rejoin Hebrew exiles,
Nursing race bias along with the others!
But Paul chided him, in front of church,
For hypocrisy; all Christians are one,
Whatever the race, that live on the earth,
So said the Savior, Jesus, God’s own Son!
Peter should have led believing others,
Not Pastor James, one of Jesus’ brothers!

Antioch, at this time, was a large city in Pisidia, located in present-day Turkey. There was a good-sized church there, a majority of which were Gentile believers. This was approximately 25 years after the crucifiction of Jesus. During the 38 years between Jesus’ death and resurrection ant the sacking of Jerusalem by Titus of Rome, the church at Jerusalem comprised mostly of Jews, considered itself leader and authoritative in matters of doctrine and policy over other churches. Councils were held there in which rules were decided and sent out to the churches for guidance. Since most of the disciples and apostles of Jesus were in Jerusalem, these rules were considered authentic. The Pastor of the Jerusalem church for most of this time was James, a brother of Jesus; he was not James, the apostle. Most of their decisions centered on what converted Gentiles had to do to become members, such as being circumcised and observing other Judaic practices. Paul, who was previously known as Saul, was called especially by Jesus to be an apostle to the Gentiles, and he was a fierce champion of salvation by God’s free grace, and not by good works. He fought the Judaizers and succeeded in keeping the old Jewish customs from being included in the process. He wrote:

“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles, and when they arrived, he began to draw back and separated himself from the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.” (Galatians 2:11-13)

Paul insisted on the equality of all believers, which, of course, was taught by Jesus. He was chiefly responsible for setting the theology of Christianity straight; I think Jesus called him for that purpose, because He knew the uneducated apostles would fail in getting it accurate. If the Jerusalem church had had its way, the gospel of Christianity would have never been free of Judaistic trappings. By the way, Peter bore no grudge against Paul; he and the other apostles accepted him as authoritative on doctrinal matters. After all, half of the New Testament was written by Paul. Perhaps Pastor James did not wholeheartedly support Paul; in fact, some believe that he had a hand in having Paul arrested later, and eventually martyred. He accomplished what Christ called him to do, anyway.