The Great Pretender - Galatians 2:11-14

Way back in the 1950’s a singing group named The Platters had a hit song called The Great Pretender.  The first verse goes like this:

Oh yes, I'm the great pretender, Pretending I'm doing well.

My need is such, I pretend too much, I'm lonely but no one can tell.

The apostle Peter could have sung that song with a couple of minor changes:

Oh yes, I’m the great pretender, Pretending I’m just like a Gentile.

My need is such, I pretend too much, I’m a hypocrite and Paul can tell!

That is Paul’s charge against Peter in Galatians, chapter 2: He’s a pretender, a fake, a hypocrite.  Let’s look at the text:

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 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. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, 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?” (Galatians 2:11-14 ESV)

Seventeen times in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus refers to the Pharisees as hypocrites.  He doesn’t hesitate to pronounce woes upon them and warns the disciples of the evil of hypocrisy.  And now the apostle Peter is guilty of this very serious sin.

Verse 11 - But when Cephas came to Antioch - "But" is used to contrast the previous paragraph with this one.  Paul is saying, "When Barnabas and Titus and I went to Jerusalem, the apostles found me to be a genuine preacher of the true Gospel without any observance of circumcision among the Gentiles.  But when Peter came to Antioch . . . "  Now the shoe is on the other foot.  Peter is on Paul's turf, so to speak, which is mostly Gentile turf.

I withstood him to his face - "The apostles gave me the right hand of fellowship when I went to them in Jerusalem with this question of circumcision for salvation.  But when Peter came to Antioch, I confronted him."  This places Peter in a far different light than what the Judaizers presented to the Galatians.  The Judaizers want the Galatians to believe Peter and the other apostles are far superior, that only they have the true gospel which includes becoming Jewish.  Therefore Paul and his gospel are sub-standard.  Here is John Calvin’s take on it:

“The false apostles [i.e. the Judaizers], who had deceived the Galatians, endeavored to obtain favor by pretending that they had received a commission from the Apostles.  Their chief influence arose from insinuating the belief that they represented the Apostles, and delivered their message.  To Paul, on the other hand, they refused the name and authority of an Apostle.  They objected that he had not been chosen by our Lord as one of the twelve; that he had never been acknowledged as such by the college of the Apostles; that he did not receive his doctrine from Christ, or even from the Apostles themselves.  All this tended not only to lower Paul’s authority, but to rank him with the ordinary members of the church, and therefore to place him far below those persons who had made these insinuations.”

But in fact, much to the chagrin of the Judaizers, Paul rebukes Peter and stands in opposition to him for his sinful conduct.  Peter isn’t the great super-apostle the Judaizers have made him out to be.

because he stood condemned - "I passed my examination by the apostles with flying colors, but Peter brought himself under conviction because he was guilty.  And I called him on it!"   So what had he done?

Verse 12 - For before certain men came from James - Apparently James was the primary apostolic leader in the Jerusalem church at that time.  The "Senior Pastor", so to speak, or the head elder amongst the elders of the predominantly Jewish mega-church of Jerusalem which consisted of thousands of believers.

he was eating with the Gentiles - Peter had felt free to do the very thing he believed was unlawful in Acts 10 before he went to the house of Cornelius.  But God revealed to him that the Jewish rules and restrictions towards the Gentiles were now obsolete: "What God has made clean do not call common"  and, "And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean." Acts 10:15 & 28.  So Peter comes to Antioch and actually enjoys the freedom of fellowshipping with Gentile brethren.  This is a changed man.  He understands the grace of God toward the Gentiles now.

but when they came - the Jews from the church in Jerusalem, whom Peter may have known,

he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party - I don't believe these men who came from James were necessarily convinced that circumcision was part of salvation and traveled to Antioch with an agenda.  They were just Jews from the Jerusalem church who continued to live a Jewish lifestyle like all the Jewish believers in Jerusalem.

The alternate reading in the ESV may communicate more precisely who these men were: "those of the circumcision", i.e. Jews.  So Paul may simply be saying when fellow Jews came to Antioch from Jerusalem, Peter became nervous regarding his own un-Jewish behavior with the Gentile Christians and started acting Jewish again by separating from "Gentiles" in order to appeal to these men from James.  This, Paul says, is blatant hypocrisy.  Much is at stake.

Peter's hypocrisy was in front of everyone, so Paul opposed him to his face (v 11) before everyone (before them all - v14).  This is an occasion for public rebuke.  Peter was not sinning against anyone in particular, but against the entire fellowship collectively.  There was no need to adhere to the disciplinary prescription of Matthew 18 where we are instructed first to confront someone one on one, in private, who has sinned against us personally.  But this situation does correspond to Paul's instructions in Galatians 6:1-5 and this recounting of his confrontation with Peter probably moved him to write what he did in chapter 6:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2 ESV)

This public rebuke of Peter by Paul should serve as a warning to all church leaders who either put themselves forward as pastors or elders or deacons, or who are legitimately called of God for leadership in the church as was the case with Peter and all the apostles.  Even the apostles were subject to the discipline of the rest of the church when they sinned.  No one is above correction for sin in the Body of Christ.  A minister of the gospel is never above being confronted for his sin, and if his sin is public that confrontation must be made in public.

James reinforces Paul’s actions toward Peter with these words: 1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. (James 3:1-2 ESV)  Peter is certainly not a perfect man.  All the apostles stumbled in many ways.  We all do.  But those who are apostles and teachers are held to a higher standard because of their influence over others.  This was what compounded Peter's sin . . .  (see notes on v 13)

Verse 13 - And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him - This demonstrates the degree of influence the apostles had in the church, and Peter in particular.  It appears he was held in very high esteem amongst the disciples/apostles his entire life.  He is among those whom Paul said seemed influential and who seemed to be pillars (vs. 2, 5, & 9) in the Jerusalem church.  And they were.  So Peter, through the power of his position and  influence, unwittingly led his fellow Jews into the sin of hypocrisy because he feared they might condemn him for eating with Gentiles!

This was another one of those lost teaching moments.  Rather than take the opportunity to teach these men of the freedom we have in Christ by his example, which Peter had already subscribed to when Paul and Barnabas and Titus came to Jerusalem--Peter’s weak will, his fear of men, and his power of influence caused him to lead his brethren in the wrong direction.  He, by his hypocrisy, unintentionally promoted division within the church at Antioch.  He was actually doing what the Judaizers were trying to do: divide the people of God.

The fear of men has led many good men astray.  How cognizant should we be of this heinous propensity to honor men more than God!  To compromise the truth for the sake of popularity!  How vitally important it is that our lives reflect our doctrinal convictions!  That we maintain integrity between our walk and our talk.  Otherwise we fall to the sin of hypocrisy.

Peter was ashamed of this glorious gospel which he and Paul and all the apostles had already agreed upon as being the only true gospel message.  But Paul testifies in Romans 1:16 . . .

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16 ESV)

“I am not ashamed to be counted as a fellow believer among the Gentile Christians because we both have been saved by the very same gospel message.  I am not ashamed of a gospel that brings salvation to Gentile and Jew alike.”

But Peter held such a powerful sway over the Jews that day So that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy - If there was any other Jew whom you would expect to know better than to sin against his Gentile brethren in this way, it would be Barnabas!  He is the one who has been by Paul's side for over a decade.  Barnabas helped lead the charge in Jerusalem AGAINST this kind of bigotry and discrimination towards the Gentiles.  But the power of persuasion which Peter and the visiting Jews possessed was so strong that even Barnabas fell.  Everybody was doing it!

This is yet more evidence of the doctrine of Total Fickleness.  How fickle we Christians are!  No wonder Jesus refers to us as sheep.  But unlike normal sheep who know and only follow one shepherd, we are often led astray by any so-called "shepherd" that comes along with a semi-plausible line of thinking.  Such was the case with the Galatians.  What did Paul say to them in chapter 1, verse 6?

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

And this is precisely why we hold the Bereans of Acts 17 in such high esteem.  They are everything the Galatians were not:

10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night (from Thessalonica where they were nearly killed) to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed . . . (Acts 17:10-12a)

“Many of them therefore believed!“  They believed because what was being preached by Paul and Silas was in complete agreement with what the Scriptures teach.  The Jews in the city of Berea had a high view of Scripture and subjected everything they heard preached to what God had written.  Obviously, not all the Jews were so noble.

But Evangelicals act the same way:  "Oh yes!  We believe the Bible.  But the Bible most definitely does not teach election and predestination to salvation!"  "Oh yes!  We believe the Bible.  But the Bible definitely doesn't teach a literal, eternal hell!"  “Oh yes!  We believe the Bible.  But the Bible certainly doesn't teach that Jesus is God!"  "Oh yes!  We believe the Bible.  But the Bible certainly doesn't teach inerrancy and infallibility!"

Bereans are in short supply these days!  Well, let's show a little bit of Berean nobleness and take a look at what the Scriptures actually say, and not depend upon what we think the Bible must say because surely God and the Bible would agree with everything I think is true.

Verse 14 - But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel - Or, when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel (HCSB).  Or, When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel (NIV).  Orthopodeo - "straight feet".  Walking straight as opposed to walking crooked.  When we don't lean on our own understanding but trust wholeheartedly in the Lord, He will make straight our paths.  His way is the straight way (Proverbs 3:5-6).

And there is a direct connection between how we live and what we believe.  Look at what he says: “their conduct was not in step with the truth” Unless we live according to what we believe, we are hypocrites.  And you don’t even need to have the truth to be a hypocrite.  If you say one thing and do another, you’re a hypocrite.  But for the believer, when he actually has the truth and is hypocritical, that leads other people into error which is far worse than simply being inconsistent.

Peter and the other Jews on this occasion were a case study in not trusting in the Lord wholeheartedly.  Because of Peter's fear of men (which is reminiscent of his three betrayals of the Lord), he deviates from the path, he departs from the straight, sound doctrine of salvation by faith apart from works.  He departs from the very thing he received by direct revelation from God, that God has declared all men to be recipients of saving grace, not only Israel.  And consequently he leads others astray into hypocrisy and bigotry.

I said to Cephas before them all - because he was the ring leader . . .

"If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" - Possibly the most grave characteristic of hypocrisy is that it multiplies sinfulness.  It causes others to contradict their own so-called convictions and leads to grievous doctrinal error.

So now, not only is Peter guilty of hypocrisy and bigotry, but so is even Barnabas and all the rest of the Jews.

What did Jesus say to the Pharisees?  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:15).

The Pharisees were dangerous not only because they were hypocrites, but because they exported hypocrisy to the Gentiles by telling them they could be saved by becoming Jewish and by keeping the Law like they did.  The only problem is, they didn’t keep the law themselves.  And now the Judaizers have taken up that torch of hypocrisy from the Pharisees.

A number of you are students.  You regularly travel in circles where there is little or no sympathy for the Christian faith.  In fact, our university here is rather intolerant of Christian beliefs, as is virtually every institution of higher learning.  Is your conduct among them in step with the truth?

Several of our men are soldiers.  It is no secret that our military is not concerned with the Bible or what it says.  And now that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has been repealed, that military environment will quickly become far more ungodly than it has been to this point.  Is your conduct among them in step with the truth?

Others of you work in secular environments where virtually any display of faith in Christ is frowned upon.  People lose their jobs for talking about Christ in the workplace.  Is your conduct among them in step with the truth?

Peter was among fellow believers when he fell hard into this sinful attitude of hypocrisy!  And if the perceived pressure of his Jewish brethren was too much for him to handle within the context of the church, . . . how hard is it going to be for us who live in an antagonistic culture to rise above the fear of men and not be ashamed of the gospel we say we believe?

I am not saying we all should become street preachers and hand out tracts in the break room or else we’re cowards and Jesus will be ashamed of us on the day of judgment.  What I am saying is that when the pressure comes (and it comes all the time) to conform to the thinking of an unbelieving world, when they provoke us to compromise our convictions about good and evil, when they try to goad us into deviating from the narrow path so that we might be perceived by others to be tolerant, and open minded, and progressive, and well-educated, and scientifically astute, and generally “with it” . . .

When that pressure comes, what will you do?  What will you say?  Are you more afraid of the opinions of men than the holiness of God?  Is God’s grace sufficient to grant you enough backbone to stand your ground even if it means suffering the persecution of ridicule from amongst your peers?  Do you love the Lord Jesus enough, and are you not ashamed of the gospel to such a degree as to risk the ultimate insult of being “not cool”?

Will you compromise when all the cool girls think you’re a prude because your shorts are longer than an inch?  Will you fall in line when the guys (and the girls) ridicule others for STILL being a virgin?  Will you maintain your integrity when others regularly cheat on their exams?

By the grace of God, Peter overcame his own failures and sins.  Listen to what he says in 1 Peter 4:1-5

1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Peter knows what he’s talking about here.  He understands what it means to compromise his own convictions.  But he also knows what it means to preach the true gospel and suffer for the sake of the name of the Lord Jesus.

Will you cave like Peter and fear the disapproval of men?  Or will you stand like Paul for the truth?  I pray that the Lord Jesus would grant us all such grace that none of us would ever do anything of a hypocritical nature that would cause His wonderful name to be dragged through the filth of our sin, and cause other believers to follow us into that same sinful hypocrisy.  Lord, deliver us from ever becoming pretenders.