Church was scheduled to start at 11am, but the homeless man arrived at 10:30am and took a seat in the back of the church. He was wearing a baseball hat, hoodie sweatshirt, and torn jeans. His shoes were severely worn and his clothes were dirty. He also had a very long unkept beard. It was clear he was homeless.
People from church began arriving and noticed the homeless man but ignored him. When 11am arrived the pastor was not at church! Pastor Stout was missing. People started asking, “Have you seen him?” His wife, Joyce, was there. So the church members asked her. “Have you seen Pastor Stout?” She responded, “He’s here somewhere.”
At 11:05am the homeless man stood up, walked to the front of the church, took off his baseball hat and removed his fake beard, and guess who it was? Pastor Stout![1]
That story (which is true and was told to me by a woman that was at church that day) causes us to ask ourselves: do we treat everyone the same way regardless of their looks, race, economic status, or family?
Paul had to confront Peter because Peter was acting differently in front of different groups of people. He was treating people differently because of their race.
Paul writes about this confrontation in Galatians 2:11, “But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” In Galatians 2:12 Paul describes the problem, “For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he [Peter] used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he [Peter] began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision [the Jews].”
Peter had arrived in Antioch and was enjoying food and fellowship with the Gentile Christians, but when James’ Jewish Christian friends arrive in Antioch, Peter “began to withdraw” himself from the Gentiles and meets with the Jews, James’ friends. The text says Peter held himself “aloof” or “separate” (NIV). It was like he was better than the Gentiles now. But why would he do this?
It says that Peter was “fearing the party of the circumcision.” Peter was afraid of what the Jewish men would think of him for eating with the sinner Gentiles.
Paul describes why this was a problem in Galatians 2:13, “The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.” This was a problem for two reasons. Peter was acting different depending on what group of people he was around. Hypocrisy is “the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more laudable beliefs than is the case” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary). Faith in Christ makes us equal in God’s eyes, therefore there is no place for hypocrisy in God’s kingdom.
The real tragedy is that Peter is not the only one who errors here. His actions cause others to error as well. Paul reveals to us that, “The rest of the Jews joined him” (v. 13) in his hypocrisy. So much “that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy” (v. 13). Barnabas was a Jew but became a Christian and actively worked with Paul to bring the gospel message to the Gentiles, but Barnabas has followed Peter and abandoned fellowship with the Gentiles.
I wish we knew how Peter responded. We don’t know what he did. But most commentaries on this passage state that he likely admitted he was wrong and brought the two groups together (based on the book of Acts and what he wrote in 1 & 2 Peter later).
As believers in Christ we must treat each other as equals because we all share the same faith in the same savior: Jesus Christ.
[1] Glen Stout still serves as Senior Pastor at New Life Church in Exeter, CA.