Re:Verse passage – Galatians 2:11-21 (day three)
“When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.”
The account Paul relates here foreshadows his statement later in this epistle that life with Christ transcends the categorical divisions that have defined civilizations and societies and groups and families. Peter [Cephas] made the politically expedient decision to distance himself from the gentiles while Jews were present. But Peter’s maneuvering amounted to a denial of Christ’s way every bit as vehement as his denial of his friend on the night before the cross. Paul confronted a man who was heading right back into yet another denial of Christ. If ethnic group still separates from ethnic group, if men still lord it over women, if the powerful still enslave the weak — if these distinctions still define the way one person regards another — the church has nothing left to say.
(Credit to Aaron Hufty for pointing out to me the consistent pattern in Peter’s behavior)
Powerful! Thx Bryan