Passage: Galatians 2:11-21 Speaker: Pastor Lukus Counterman Series: Gospel Rooted Living
Speaker: Lukus Counterman - Without a doubt, Galatians 2:11-21 is one of the most intense and dramatic episodes in the entire New Testament. Peter and Paul, two leading apostles of Jesus Christ, are toe to toe in public conflict. Both were Christian men who knew what it was to be forgiven through Christ. Both were convinced that justification was through faith and not works of the law. Both were specially called and commissioned to spread the gospel. But one of them was not living in step with the truth of the gospel. It was Peter – he believed the essence of the gospel, but was not expressing the correct applications of the gospel in his conduct. For that reason, Paul opposes Peter to his face and rebukes him for his hypocrisy. If Paul had not taken his stand against Peter that day, either the whole church would have drifted into Judaism and stagnated, or there would have been a permanent rift between Gentile and Jewish Christendom. Paul’s commendable courage on that occasion in resisting Peter preserved the truth of the gospel and the unified brotherhood of a multi-racial church.