“Jan 5, 2024 - The Impact of Hypocrisy”

Thursday, January 04, 2024

The Impact of Hypocrisy

Reading:  Galatians 2:11-14
    
     After Paul’s successful meeting with the apostles in Jerusalem, it is a little surprising to read that “when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned”(Gal 2:11).  The church in Antioch was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, both of whom would have looked up to Peter (Cephas) as a vital link to Jesus.  Peter was also the first one to preach the gospel to Gentiles (see Acts 10-11) and championed their inclusion in the church.  Yet now he and Paul are no longer at peace.  “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.  And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy”(Gal 2:12-13).  Peter would happily eat with the Gentile Christians (perhaps even sharing their non-kosher food), but when some intimidating Jewish Christians arrived, he stopped and only ate with other Jews.  This change sparks Paul’s rebuke.
    
    Part of the problem is that Jews refusing to eat with Gentiles was a part of their old life, when they believed that such associations would make them ritually unclean.  Paul publicly scolds Peter:  “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?’”(Gal 2:14).  The gospel has freed Peter to live in a new way—“like a Gentile”—yet his actions are requiring Gentiles to live like Jews by maintaining the racial distinctions of the Mosaic Law.  

    Paul does not mince words here.  Peter, though one of Jesus’ right-hand men, is a hypocrite.  His hypocrisy stems from his fear of people (Gal 2:12), leads the rest of the Jewish believers astray (Gal 2:12), and undoubtedly devastates his Gentile brothers.  Hypocrisy can drive people away from the faith and encourage others toward similar behavior.  The issue is not that we must be perfect, but that we must admit when we are “not in step with the truth of the gospel” and change.  The stakes are high.

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One Thing to Think About:  How have I seen hypocrisy affect others?  How has it affected me?

One Thing to Pray For:   The courage to change when I see inconsistency in my life
 

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