ACC ~ Galatians 2 v11 - 14

OVERVIEW:

Peter, now called Cephas (JEROME) found himself in a debate with Paul (CHRYSOSTOM) because Peter himself was being wrongly condemned (JEROME) after the people “came from James” (THEODORET). Paul’s rebuke is repeated here to edify the Galatians (MARIUS VICTORINUS). Peter’s fear has wholesome grounds. Insincerity is wrong (AUGUSTINE), at least if it is practiced for the wrong reason (MARIUS VICTORINUS). It is doubtful that an apostle should ever make use of it (AUGUSTINE). Grace is available where the law is unavailing (CASSIODORUS). The reprimand, publicly delivered to be more effective (AUGUSTINE), is made on behalf of Gentiles (CHRYSOSTOM), whose duty is to keep the law in spirit (AUGUSTINE).

2:11a | Opposing Peter at Antioch

WHY PETER IS NOW CALLED CEPHAS. JEROME: It is not that Peter and Cephas signify different things, but what we would call in Latin and Greek petra (“stone”) the Hebrews and Syrians both, because of the affinity of their languages, call cephas. … Nor is it surprising that Luke was silent on this matter, when there are many other things that Paul claims to have suffered which Luke omits with the freedom of a historian. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.2.11.

2:11b | Standing Condemned

WHETHER THEY REALLY DISAGREED. CHRYSOSTOM: Many of those who read this passage of the letter superficially believe that Paul rebuked the hypocrisy of Peter. But it is not so—it is not so, far from it! For we shall find that there was here a deep though hidden understanding between Paul and Peter for the good of those who listen. … How could one who risked his life before such a multitude have ever played the hypocrite? … Paul does not now say this to condemn Peter, but in the same spirit as when he said those who are “reputed to be something,” he now says this too. … The apostles, as I said before, consented to circumcision in Jerusalem, because it was not possible to tear them away from the law all at once. But when they came to Antioch they did not henceforth observe anything of the kind but lived indifferently with believers of Gentile origin. Peter also did this. But when people came from Judea and saw him preaching there in this way, he gave up this practice, fearing to disturb them, and changed his ways. He had a twofold purpose, to avoid scandalizing the Jews and to give Paul a plausible reason to confront him. For if Peter himself, having included circumcision in his preaching in Jerusalem, had changed in Antioch, those of Jewish origin would have surmised that he did this from fear of Paul, and his disciples would have condemned his excessive complacence. … And so Paul rebukes and Peter voluntarily gives way. It is like the master who when upbraided keeps silent, so that his disciples might more easily change their ways. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 2.11-12.

2:12a | Eating with the Gentiles

WHY THIS PUZZLING STORY HAD TO BE TOLD. MARIUS VICTORINUS: Perhaps indeed he would at this point have kept silent about the sin that he says he reproved in Peter, for it was enough that Peter had been corrected by popular reproof and Paul’s open accusation. But it is profitable and extremely requisite for this letter. He has two reasons for relating the incident. First, his own gospel was not reproved, and he himself, when he reproved Peter, heard no reproof from Peter. Next, this too, as I said, was extremely pertinent: it is because the Galatians thought that they needed to add to the principles of the gospel to obtain life … that this letter is being written to them. Hence it is very good to tell the story, because it is this very fault that was reproved by Paul in Peter and by the people also. In this way it follows that the Galatians too are sinning. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.2.12-13.

THE IMPLICATION OF EATING WITH THE GENTILES. THEODORET: While active in Judea the holy apostles were forced to live according to the law on account of the weakness of the believers from Jewish backgrounds, for they held fast to the regulations of the law. But when they shifted to the cities of the Gentiles they had no need of such an accommodation but lived according to the freedom of the gospel. This is what the godly Peter did when he arrived in Antioch. He ate freely with the Gentiles. But when some of the Jews came he separated from the Gentiles, so that he might not give those who came from the Jews any pretext for doing harm. This is the meaning of “fearing those of the circumcision.” For he who did not fear the whole host of the Jews did not succumb to fear of men, but he did not wish to furnish them with a pretext for scandal. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.12-13.

2:12b | Fearing the Circumcision Party

PETER’S FEAR. MARIUS VICTORINUS: But in what way was Peter sinning? He had not adopted this ruse to bring in the Jews, meeting them on their own terms (which Paul himself had done and glories in having done, meeting the Jews on their own terms but for their profit). Rather, the sin of Peter lay in the fact that he withdrew, through fear of those who were of the circumcision. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.2.12-13.

APPROPRIATE FEAR OF APOSTASY. CHRYSOSTOM: He was not afraid of his own endangerment; for one who had no fear at the beginning would have all the less at that time. Rather, he feared their apostasy. Just as Paul himself says to the Galatians, “I am afraid I have labored over you in vain.” HOMILY ON GALATIANS 2.11-12.

2:13a | Acting Insincerely

PETER’S AMBIVALENCE. AUGUSTINE: Paul never fell into any pretense, for he everywhere observed a principle which seemed fitting both to Gentile and to Jewish churches, that he should nowhere take away a custom whose observation did not prevent the receiving of God’s kingdom. … Peter, however, when he came to Antioch, was rebuked by Paul not because he observed the Jewish custom in which he was born and reared, although he did not observe it among the Gentiles, but because he wanted to impose it on the Gentiles. This happened after seeing certain persons come from James—that is, from Judea, since James was the head of the church in Jerusalem. It was therefore in fear of those who still thought that salvation resided in these observances that Peter separated himself from the Gentiles and pretended to consent in imposing those burdens of servitude on the Gentiles. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 15 [1B.2.11-16].

2:13b | Barnabas Carried Away by Their Insincerity

EVEN BARNABAS. MARIUS VICTORINUS: What then should we understand by “their insincerity”? Even Peter and Barnabas and the other Jews had not truly gone to the length of living their lives according to Jewish practice. They even pretended to do so as an ad hoc measure, because of the fears of those around them. And therefore, he says, even Barnabas acquiesced in their insincerity. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.2.12-13.

2:14a | The Truth of the Gospel

THE IMPLICATION OF THE CHARGE. AUGUSTINE: Those who wish to defend Peter from error and from the depravity of life into which he had fallen overturn the very way of religion in which lies the salvation of all. This shatters and diminishes the authority of the Scriptures. They do not see that in this defense they are implicitly charging the apostle Paul not only with the crime of lying but even with perjury in the very teaching of piety, that is, in the letter in which Paul proclaims the gospel. It is for this reason he says, before narrating these things [in 1:20], “What I write to you, understand before God that I do not lie. ” ON LYING 43.

2:14b | Rebuking Peter Openly

BEFORE THEM ALL. AUGUSTINE: That he rebuked him “before all” was necessary, in order that everyone might be bettered by his rebuke. For it was not expedient to correct in secret an error that was doing public harm. It should be added that in his steadfastness and charity Peter, to whom the Lord had said three times, “Do you love me? Feed my sheep,” was very ready to bear this rebuke from a junior shepherd for the salvation of the flock. For the one who was being rebuked was himself more remarkable and more difficult to imitate than the one rebuking. For it is easier to see what one should correct in others than to see what ought to be corrected in oneself. It is easier to correct others by admonishing and rebuking than to be corrected readily even by yourself, let alone by another, still less if you add another and “before all.” EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 15 [1B.2.11-16].

2:14c | Born a Jew, Living Like a Gentile

THE SUBSTANCE OF THE REPROACH. PSEUDO-AUGUSTINE: The apostle Peter would not have been rebuked if he had separated himself from the Gentiles for fear of giving scandal to the Jews. But what was rebuked in the apostle Peter was that, when he previously had been living in Gentile fashion with believers, he started to teach that the Gentiles ought to follow Jewish practice because he was overcome by fear upon the arrival of Jews from James. Therefore it was said to him, “If you, being a Jew, live in Gentile fashion, why do you force the Gentiles to follow Jewish practice?” For he had introduced doubt about discipleship in the gospel, which is a crime, since he was destroying what he had built. Thus it is that the apostle Paul calls this “insincerity. “ QUESTIONS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT, APPENDIX 60.2.

GRACE IS AVAILABLE WHERE THE LAW IS UNAVAILING. CASSIODORUS: He says this so that Hebrews no less than Gentiles may be compelled to accept the grace of faith, not the impositions of the law, which no one could fulfill. SUMMARY OF GALATIANS 3.2.6.

2:14d | Compelling Gentiles to Live Like Jews

THE PALATABLE WAY THE REBUKE WAS PHRASED. CHRYSOSTOM: What is Paul’s design? To preempt suspicion in his reproach. For if Paul had said, “You do wrong in observing the law,” those from Judea would have reproached him, as one who insulted the teacher. But now, rebuking Peter on account of his own disciples—those of Gentile origin I mean—Paul makes his argument palatable. And not in this way only, but by declining to reproach everyone and making the whole reproof fall on the apostle [Peter] alone. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 2.14.

GRACE ENABLES THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW. AUGUSTINE: So that one might fulfill the works of the law, his infirmity being assisted not by his own merit but by the grace of God, they were not to demand from the Gentiles a fleshly observation of the law but were to understand that through the same grace of God they were able to fulfill the spiritual works of the law. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 15 [1B.2.11-16].