The Message Is Greater Than the Messenger

Galatians 2:11-16

Jody Robertson

August 16:11-16

In Galatians 1:8,9, Paul is very clear. The Gospel message of Jesus suffering and dying for us and rising again in complete victory is set. It does not change. So, when Peter stopped eating with Gentiles, Paul emphatically stated that his behavior sent a message of a false gospel. Yet in Matthew 16:13-18, Peter was right when he declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Incidentally, in 1 Peter 2:1-7, Peter makes it clear that the rock, or stone, is Jesus Christ, not Peter, who is building His church of whom He is the head.) In Acts 15, we read of a large meeting in Jerusalem to address whether all believers had to be circumcised. At that meeting, Peter boldly proclaimed that Gentiles could come to Christ without being circumcised.

In Acts 2:46, we read that the early believers, clearly Jews and Gentiles, daily enjoyed eating together. But now, Peter is refusing to eat with people who were not circumcised. His behavior sent a message that he was superior to them and that they were inferior. Some Jews had come to the Galatian Church. Peter was afraid of what those people would think of him if they saw him eat with the uncircumcised. He was more concerned about looking right than being right. Worse, he was influencing others to take the same wrong path. (verse13)

Peter’s actions were hurting others. It was creating negative attitudes. It could create bitterness in some. Therefore, Paul could not just talk to Peter alone about his behavior. He also needed to address the others being influenced by Peter’s behavior.

The good news is found in verse 16 of our text. We are saved and justified by faith, not works. The word justified is accurately understood to mean “just as if” I had never sinned. Because of our sin, we owe a debt we could never pay. Jesus paid that debt for us on the cross. Max Lucado tells the story of a little girl who broke something in a store. She could not pay for the damage. But her father could and did. Then it was just as if she had not broken anything. That is a picture of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.

Elton