Friday 19/7/13

Galatians 2:11-14 NET

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong.   Until certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision.   And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy.  But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

What should we do when we see believers not acting consistently with the Gospel? Even the high profile like Peter and Barnabas? We must confront them to preserve the truth of the Gospel. We are to fear God not men, God's Word rather than worldly wisdom.

Here Paul opposed Peter first to the face, then in front of many people. Peter and Barnabas once had done correctly in fellowshiping with the Gentiles. However, they feared some Jews from the church of Jerusalem (represented by James), stopped the fellowship, then demanded the Gentiles to follow the custom of the Jews. So Paul fearlessly opposed and corrected them to preserve the truth of the Gospel.

Nevertheless, this correction must be done with discreet, strongly based on the Bible and lots of prayer. It also must be done first in private, then with the elder meeting. Public rebuke is just the last resort. It is not to bring someone down, but to bring a brother back to the way of God.