You may notice that Paul is coming across as very passionate in Galatians - and very upset! Why? What has motivated him to write this letter and what has moved him to a posture of righteous indignation?
In the writing of Galatians, Paul is contending for the Gospel - the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ for all: men and women, slave and free. Jew and Gentile. Unfortunately, this kind of change is hard to accept, even for those who were "pillars of the church" among the first generation of Christians.
Paul strongly believes that it is faith in Christ which justifies, not observance of the law (vs. 16). Yet old habits die hard, and Paul recounts his memories of a) first being accepted by the other apostles, along with agreement of his message of grace for the Gentiles and then later b) a time when Peter and even Barnabas fell back into the old way of thinking that being a Gentile meant you were not "good enough." Peter, feeling pressure from other Jewish Christians, apparently sent by James, wavered between enjoying table fellowship with Gentile Christians and separating himself in observance of the law.
Paul, never a shrinking violet, confronts him openly for this hypocrisy ("to his face" vs. 11). What's at stake, however, is more than Peter's personal integrity; it is the very understanding of the gospel's openness to Gentiles. Paul is adamant that we do not have to become Jews first in order to receive Christ. God will take us just as we are. It is not by the law that we are justified, my friends, but by faith in Jesus Christ! And that is a principle worth standing up for, even to the leaders of the early church!
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