Galatians Reading (#4)

Take a few minutes to catch up and pray that God would bless you through the reading of His word.

Read Galatians 2:11-14

[2:11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Observation:

• What did Paul do when Cephas came to Antioch (v 11)? How does Paul describe him at the end of v 11?
• What was Peter doing “before” (v 12)?
  • What did he do when certain men came from James?
  • What motivated him to do it?
  • Who followed him in his actions (v 13)?
• What did Paul see (v 14)?
  • Before whom did he confront Cephas?
  • What question did Paul ask him?

Interpretation:

• This is a short passage, but there’s a lot going on. Summarize the story in your own words.
• Cephas is another name for Peter. 
  • What was his significance in the early church?
  • What was his relationship with Gentiles like (see Acts 10)?
• What was the significance of the men who came from James? What did they want the Gentile Christians at Antioch to do?
• Why does Paul say that Peter was guilty of hypocrisy (v 13)?
  • How had he been living like a Gentile (v 14)?
  • Who are the Jews mentioned in v 13?
  • Why might they (and Barnabas) have been tempted to follow along with what Peter was doing?
• In what way was their conduct “not in step with the truth of the gospel” (v 14)? 
  • Is Paul being overdramatic here? After all, how does your choice of with whom you share a meal have anything to do with the gospel?
  • What laws do we have to keep before we are loved and accepted by God? What laws should we have to keep before we are loved and accepted by other Christians?

Application:

• For Paul, the gospel was at stake in the way people in the church treated each other. 
  • You may not require circumcision before you eat with other people in the church, but do you have anything else that people must do before they could really be someone that you love and accept?
  • Are there any people (or kinds of people) in the church that you avoid? 
• How could our church do a better job of showing the truth and power of gospel by the way that we love and accept one another?
• How could you grow in love for others in the church that you might find difficult to love?

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