The Book of Galatians -- Episode Four: "Paul Confronts Peter in Antioch" (Galatians 2:11-2:21)

Peter enjoyed table fellowship with Gentiles until men from James pressured him to withdraw from table fellowship with them.  Even Barnabas felt the pressure to distance himself from the unclean–those not circumcised.  He too grew hesitant to eat with Gentiles.
 
Paul knew that if the Judaizers got wind of this, they would claim that Peter’s actions proved that Paul’s gospel was a novelty.  Paul, they could argue, was preaching something new and different from that which the Apostles (and the Jerusalem church) were teaching.

Paul addressed the question of the origin of his gospel in 1:11-2:10.  But when Peter came to Antioch–Paul’s current base of operations–Paul knew he needed to confront the chief apostle in front of all the church.  In this episode (the first part) we will address Paul’s confrontation with Peter.  Having learned of Peter’s hypocritical actions toward the Gentiles, Paul knows Peter’s actions undermine the gospel and will be used to deny the doctrine of justification, which Paul had been preaching.  For Paul, the confrontation with Peter is not personal.  It is about the gospel.  In Galatians 2:16 he puts matters as clearly as words will allow--sinners are justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the law (i.e, personal obedience to God’s commandments as a requirement to be justified).

We move to discuss why many of our contemporaries think that Paul’s doctrine of justification is not about how sinners ‘get saved,” but rather is about identifying who is in the church.  The issue of table fellowship with Gentiles in Galatians 2:11-14, has become a huge point of contention, and is used by advocates of the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) to dismiss Luther and Calvin and those who follow them as badly distorting Paul’s message, making it into a message of how God “saves guilty sinners,” not one of Jewish boasting.

Next, we will take up Paul’s contention in Galatians 2:16 that justification is by faith and not by works, and that those like Peter, who now excludes Gentiles from full fellowship in the church, are undermining the gospel Paul has been preaching.

This episode is packed, so let us take up Galatians 2:11-21, the account of Paul’s confrontation with Peter, and Paul’s clarification of how sinners (Jew and Gentile) are justified before God – “we are justified by faith, and not by works of the law.”

To see show notes, https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/the-blessed-hope-podcast

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/