According to Paul there was a time when Peter and others were not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel:  the truth that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus alone that we are saved and not by any outward act we perform.

Antioch was the place where the first Gentile church was established. There non-Jews heard the good news about the Lord Jesus, believed that good news and turned to Him (Acts 11:19-21).  As the gospel was preached no one was told that they needed to be circumcised and become a Jew in order to be a real Christian. So, when Peter first arrived in Antioch, he ate with the Gentile believers. It was evidence that he treated them as equal members of God’s family.  But then certain men arrived from Jerusalem. They taught that Gentile Christians had to be circumcised if they were to be accepted as true brothers in God’s family. Out of fear of this “circumcision group” Peter began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentile believers. Other followed his example, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

If Peter and Barnabas could step out of line with the truth of the gospel, so can any of us. What happened to them is provided by God as a warning for us – however long we may have been Christians, however faithfully we may have walked in the past. When we step out of line, it will usually affect the way we treat others Christians.

Fear of the opinions of others caused Peter to step out of line.  Fear of the opinion of others will always lead to compromise.  Peter’s fear resulted in hypocrisy in him and in others:  Their actions did not match what they professed to believe.  And his actions led to others sharing in his hypocrisy.  All of us are examples to others, whether we wish to be or not.  The challenge is, are we good or bad examples?  Our example cannot be neutral.  Either we are examples of acting in line with the truth of the gospel or we are examples of acting out of line.  Either we will help people to walk along the path of truth or we will be leading them astray.

Paul’s words reveal how serious Peter’s actions were.  They had to be confronted and because his actions were having such public consequences Paul confronted them publicly.  Scripture teaches that as the Word of Christ dwells in us we are to teach and admonish one other (Colossians 3:16)  Clearly this needs to be done prayerfully, humbly, graciously, gently, face to face and on the basis of God’s Word.  It must be done remembering the warning of the Lord Jesus that we need to remove the plank in our own eye before we remove the speck in our own.  But how grateful we should be for those who have had the courage to admonish us from God’s Word when we are acting out of line with the truth of the gospel.

The truth is that every day brings the temptation to deviate from the truth of the gospel.  Peter’s example warns of the effect our personal deviation can have on others.  Paul’s example reminds us of the blessing of fellowship with others who will help us to test our behaviour against the plumb-line of the gospel.  May we help one another to act in line with the truth of the gospel.

Jonathan Prime - April 2008