How to Know Peace: A Walk Through Galatians (Part 4)

A Walk Through Galatians (What happens in Failure?)

Part 4: Chapter 2 versus 11-21 ( Peter’s Failure!)

The Bible is a historical account of God redeeming his people for his glory. But, it doesn’t leave out the dirtiness of relationships, the hardships of life, or even the failure of God’s people. We do not normally expect to see such transparency: Or at least, I am not used to seeing it. People tend to minimize or hide their flaws and failures. They amplify their strengths and successes, especially when someone is trying to get your vote and mine.

Like, let’s say, the American political system where you have each candidate highlighting each of their successes and accomplishments. They disregard their views or opinions of the past, to win your vote, while completely ignoring their failures and faults. Then they drag each other through the mud, slandering one another much to their enjoyment. The Bible does just the opposite. Today is going to be one of those stories of failure, but keep in mind that we know how the story ends.

Personal Failure

But I won’t act as though I’m any better. I’m not even sure I should be here in front of you all. There is nothing special about me. I can give numerous accounts of my failures. And I could tell of my disappointments, life tragedies, and broken relationships. I can tell of heartaches, distressing situations, betrayals of trust, or poor choices that I have made.

Hang around me long enough, and you will probably hear some of them. And I’m sure just about each and every one of you can do the same, on some account. But do you know what I need to remind myself of, even with all my failure, and the mess that I am? There is Someone out there that loves us despite all our failures. He has a use for us, and wants me and you to spend eternity with him.

Personal Results of Salvation, Despite my Failure

I can’t help but try to tell everyone about him. Romans 10:14-15 says, ¹⁴ But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? ¹⁵ And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody about Jesus.

I’m reading from the NLT. If you want to turn to Galatians 2:11-21, you can follow along with whatever translation is your preferred choice. I also would like to give my sources credit they deserve. The NLT Life Application Study Bible, A Layman’s Look at the Epistle to the Galatian Churches, and the Bibleref app. Thank you.

(Read Galatians 2: 11-21) Peter’s Failure

Galatians 2:11-21 ¹¹ But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. ¹² 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. ¹³ As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

Confrontation

¹⁴ 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? ¹⁵ “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

¹⁹ For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. ²⁰ My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

(Read Galatians 2:11)

¹¹ But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. (It was a serious failure!) After Paul and Barnabas (and Titus, if you remember from last time) went to Jerusalem, they had full support from the apostles. Peter and John and the leader of the church in Jerusalem (James) fully approved of the Good News they preached.

At some point Paul and Barnabas went back to Antioch, and Peter also made his way there. God does not give this sequence in an exact timeline. But we will see that what happened was not out of character for Peter. Especially when he was in a situation of accountability, or extreme pressure. Peter, once known as Simon, experienced failure a couple different times even when He was with Jesus in the Gospels. Probably the most recognized is Peter’s denial of knowing Jesus. Matthew 26: 69-75, Mark 14: 66-72, Luke 22: 54-65, and John 18: 25-27.

Read Galatians 2:12-13 (Failure spread to others)

¹² 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. ¹³ As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. Peter arrived in Antioch after the Jerusalem council in 48-50 AD as documented in Acts 15.

(We went over that, in part three of “A Walk Through Galatians”.) That was where Paul and Barnabas got full approval from Peter, John, and James for the Good News they preached, that salvation is by grace, through faith, in Christ, and it was for everybody, and the original apostles accepted Barnabas and Paul as co-workers. There was no legitimate cause for Peter’s failure.

Peter’s Failure: Hypocrisy

Peter had no problem when he arrived in Antioch. He even shared meals and sat with the other Gentile believers at first. But some Jewish men from Jerusalem (connected to James) who still promoted circumcision and the law, came to Antioch. Peter then separated himself from the Gentile believers for whatever reason. Paul said it was due to fear. Some speculate that it was also to protect James’s prominent position he held in Jerusalem. But, Paul went and confronted Peter for his actions. Peter was implicitly supporting their claim that Christ alone was not sufficient for salvation. His failures had even caused Barnabas and others to question things and to separate themselves from the Gentiles.

Peter had to know that what he was doing wrong. James 4:17 says, ¹⁷ Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

This confrontation with Peter, that Paul is describing, reminded me of something I have heard of: A passage I find comfort in, during my walk with Jesus, and the war that rages inside me. It comforts me to know that Paul also struggled with failure, and the exact war that’s going on inside me.

The two Natures

Romans 7:14-25 ¹⁴ So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. ¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. ²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Other Interpretation

While I was studying this confrontation between Paul and Peter, it reminded me that I have heard that some people believe Paul was only talking about himself before he believed and accepted Christ in these verses. I don’t believe that is what Paul is describing here. Hearing that this is what some believe Paul is describing, it would lead me to assume they think that after Paul had trusted in Christ, he didn’t sin anymore. I guess they call it “sinless perfectionism”.

People seem to believe this view because of the chapter breaks added later. They fail to see the letter of Romans as a whole. The chapters and verse numbers we have in our bibles today are there to help us with locating and memorization of passages, They didn’t exist before. If Paul really was just describing who he was before salvation, then I’m done for. But as I said, through my studies and the understanding that God has given me, that is not the case. I think, “How can those people go and put that burden on anyone by teaching that? Much less themselves?” I pray every day that the struggle with my old nature would just end, but the more I pray for it to end, the more I see my need for Jesus!

What God Says

We know the truth about anyone who says they have no sin, or that they don’t sin. They are claiming they have no failure! We can look to 1 John 1:8 ⁸ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. I have yet to personally meet one person that holds this view, so I don’t know how prominent this position is, but I guess they are out there. But I do wonder what they think of Peter during this confrontation in Galatians 2:11-21 in regards to James 4:17?

All I can tell you is this fact, Romans 8:1 ¹ So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And when I do fall, (and I inevitably will) I know that Jesus is there defending me in my failure, for in 1 John 2:1 says ¹ My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

(Read Galatians 2: 14)

Paul, Peter, and Barnabas were all Jews. (I say “were,” because for those of us who have put our faith in Christ, there is no distinction, and to hold on to those labels does nothing to benefit us.) Colossians 3:11 says, ¹¹ In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. And it’s also in Galatians 3:28, but we will get there eventually.

Historical Context

But for context of the confrontation between Paul and Peter, we should know that there was a culture barrier between Jews and Gentiles, and of Jewish customs at the time. Peter lets us in on this detail on the customs of the time, after God sent him a vision and had him go to Cornelius’s place, in Acts 10:28. ²⁸ Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.

So, Paul publicly confronted Peter. Peter being a leader of the church, was acting like a hypocrite, and not being true to the Good News. Paul knew he had to put a stop to it before his actions damaged the church, so he opposed him to his face. Any one of us is prone to make a mistake, even the best of leaders, and we should rely on each other to get us back on track.

(Read Galatians 2: 15-16)

¹⁵ “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

Both Paul and Peter were all too well aware of the Old Testament law and the sacrificial system, but that Jesus had changed everything. Paul is not saying the law is bad, for in Romans 7:12 Paul says, ¹² But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. Paul is instead saying the law can never make us right with God, and for it to make us right with God we would have to follow it perfectly, and not one of us is perfect, except for Jesus. He is the human that came to be the kind of human that none of us could ever be.

And through trust in His finished work at the Cross, in His death and resurrection, he offers us forgiveness and eternal life by his grace. John 3:16-18 ¹⁶ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.

(Read Galatians 2: 17-19)

¹⁷ But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. ¹⁹ For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God.

I want to recommend for anyone who is listening, that you read Romans 5:12-21. We will just be highlighting a few verses here. Paul studied the Old Testament scriptures, and he understood that the law can’t save us. Sin has infected us all, as shown in Romans 5:12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. And in this way Sin has separated us from God. We are unable to keep God’s laws perfectly: Fortunately, God made a way to deliver us through an act of love by Jesus Christ and not by our own efforts.

Romans 5:18 ¹⁸ Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Knowing this truth, we must guard against the temptation of thinking that acts of service, good deeds, or any other effort that you can think of can be a substitute for faith.

(Read Galatians 2:20-21)

²⁰ My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

When we are crucified with Christ, it means we surrender to Jesus every aspect of our sinful lives–our goals, plans, desires, ideas, and even relationships. We treat these things as though they died with Jesus at the cross. Then we live a life of surrender to the Author of life. Because Jesus came back to life, and He now lives in us by the Holy Spirit, filling up all the empty places that we have given to Him, which all our old pursuits could never really fill. Our self-centered way of life ends, and our new Christ-centered way of life begins. It does not mean we will be free from failure.

To be honest, letting go of these desires, goals, plans, and relationships is hard, and failure is common. But I know that whatever God has in store for me will be far greater than I can even understand or imagine right now, or maybe even ever will on this side of life. But I can continue to trust God, who loves us and has a greater understanding than I can ever see myself having.

How have our old selves been crucified with Christ? It was when Christ was crucified for our sin. Through faith, we trust that His death paid for our own personal sin. In this way, we are crucified with Him.

How God Sees Us, Regardless of Our Failure

Legally, God sees us as if we died with Christ, because Jesus took the penalty for all our sins when he died. Paul says in Colossians 2:13-15 ¹³ You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Relationally, we have become one with Christ, and His experiences are ours. Our Christian lives begin when we are joined with him: We die to our old life and begin a new life. Romans 6:5 says ⁵ Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. The focus of Christianity is not on death but on life. Because we have been crucified with Christ we have also been raised with Him, receiving a new resurrection life as He did, we have a new power, a new vision, and a new community, and we have been reconciled with God, despite our failures. We are no longer alone, because Christ lives in us. He is our power for living and our hope for the future.

The Danger of False Teachers

False believers today can still be a danger for us, and they are a danger to anyone not in Christ. They act as if Jesus did not have to die, by replacing Jewish legalism with their own form of Christian legalism, by believing they can earn God’s favor by what they do. Such teaching denies our own continuing failure. They do not trust completely in Christ’s work on the cross. By struggling to believe in God’s power to change them, they do not rest in God’s power to save them.

It is only because of Him that anything good comes from me. It is only because of Him, that the things that need to be changed can change. And it is only because of Him that I am saved. If we could be saved by “being good,” then Christ did not have to die. The Cross is the only way to salvation.

Please follow me to Acts 4:11-12 as this comes to an end ¹¹ For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ ¹² There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Did you find it? Your name, is it there? Yeah, I didn’t see mine either. Praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.