Clash of the Titans

Today on Renewing Your Mind... Well, I want to take you to Antioch.

Antioch, northwest of Jerusalem on the sea coast, somewhere between 75, 80 miles northwest of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean coast. And before we go there, I want to read a passage of Scripture. We'll be referring to sections before this and after this, but the section I'm going to read just a few verses from Galatians chapter 2. And this is Paul talking after the fact about an incident that took place in Antioch.

And I'm beginning to read chapter 2 of Galatians verse 11. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 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. 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?

Well, I need to expand a little on what's going on here. And Antioch is home base for the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys. After the persecution that broke out in Jerusalem, many of the Jews fled.

Some, of course, remained. And some of them settled in Antioch. And a church began.

And by now, this church is largely Gentile Christian rather than Jewish Christian. Antioch is home base, the church from which the Apostle Paul will launch his first missionary journey, and the church to which he will report back after his first missionary journey and begin his second. And as he begins his second, looking back over his first missionary journey, he makes a conclusion. Through many tribulations, we enter the kingdom of God.

And that seems to be a life lesson. Through many tribulations, we enter the kingdom of God. The date, as far as the incident—the book of Galatians comes a few years later, of course—but the incident that Paul is reporting in Galatians 2 is somewhere in the mid-forties, twenty-plus years after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And Paul is recalling something to the Galatians, something of great importance, something that actually was embarrassing and crucially important. First of all, we need to go back to Jerusalem because there's a problem in Jerusalem. There's a problem in Antioch. But first of all, there's a problem in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is mother church. James is there. James, the Lord's brother, is there.

Imagine the stories that James could relate. And also Peter. Peter is in Jerusalem. And John. James, Peter, and John. You could not get a trio more noble and more closer to the Lord Jesus than that. After all, although Paul had seen Jesus on the Damascus Road, he hadn't spent three years with Jesus, watched him get up in the morning, watched him eat his breakfast, sit with him, talk with him.

No. Saul of Tassas had never, ever experienced any of that. So, there was some kudos to the church in Jerusalem. Saul of Tassas has disappeared for ten years. He's been studying. And now it's time, although he had been in Jerusalem once before, now fourteen years have passed, and he's coming to Jerusalem, perhaps with a view to gaining the support of the Jerusalem church.

But it's more than that. I think the Jerusalem church were deeply suspicious of him on several levels. Is he genuine?

Is he the real thing? Is he a spy to undo the fledgling church? After all, he had been responsible for almost destroying the early church. And what was Paul's view of the ceremonial law? The boundary markers that differentiated between Jew and Gentile.

What about food laws? What about the Sabbath and the Jewish calendar, the Shabbat versus the Lord's Day? And what about circumcision? In Galatians 2, we won't go into it here, but he tells us that Titus, a Gentile, was not forced to be circumcised.

Later, when the issue of justification by faith is not at stake, Timothy, who is in a similar position, was circumcised for advantageous purposes. The Jerusalem church is still in flux, never still the temple. I don't think by this time they are offering sacrifices in the temple, but they're certainly visiting the temple. They're observing their Jewish, now Jewish Christian identity, but the boundary markers are still present. And in particular, the issue of circumcision has not been settled. What's going on in Antioch, now a largely Gentile Christian church? Are Gentiles being asked to comply with these ceremonial markers? At the end of this meeting in Jerusalem, there is some agreement.

They part, seemingly, on good company, though the matter has not been finally settled. In my view, this incident that Paul is recording, and for that matter the letter of Galatians itself, comes before Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council, where these issues were finally settled. Paul talks, as he recalls this visit he makes to Jerusalem, he talks about spies being present.

That's a loaded term. Who are these spies? Are they spies of Peter or John or James? Are they spies of the Sanhedrin court? Are they Pharisees?

Are they civil authorities checking out what's going on? My guess, by the tone that Paul employs this word spies, they were spies on behalf of James and the Jerusalem church, underlining once again a deep suspicion on both sides between the Jerusalem church and the Antioch church. This is the fledgling Christian church, and it's in trouble. Then Paul goes off about those who seemed to be important. You can read about it as he recalls this story. He's talking about James and Peter and John, but perhaps especially James, the Lord's brother, that he seemed to be important. Of course he was important. His very presence was important. His every word would be clung to as a direct line to the Lord Jesus. And Paul says it made no difference to him. God shows no partiality.

He has no interest, nor is he going to bow to those who may feel that they're important and their voice needs to be heard. All to say there were personalities in the room, just as there often are in the contemporary church. Well, if there were problems in Jerusalem, there are problems in Antioch. And as Paul returns to Antioch, evidently one of the things that they had agreed upon was that the Jerusalem church delegates, James and John in particular, and Peter, Peter who had already been in Antioch, and Peter had made perhaps several trips to Antioch, but this was perhaps the first time for James and John. And Paul refers to them as the men of James, and that underlines the importance of James.

And they come to Antioch. And Peter, well bless him, Peter, Peter falls apart. Apparently before this visit, Peter had loved sitting with his Gentile Christian brothers and sisters at table, eating with them, talking with them, having fun with them, fraternizing with them, having fellowship with them. But now that the men of James had walked into the room and it's a meal time, Peter decides not to sit at table with the Gentiles.

He sits with his Jewish Christian friends. What's the issue? Well, the menu perhaps. Bacon, shrimp, crab.

It was a seaport. Food that Jews never ate. They were contrary to the kosher laws of Leviticus 3, 7, and I think chapter 17, three chapters on kosher food in the Old Testament.

But the Gentiles, the Gentile Christians now, had never observed these rules. And Peter perhaps, for the very first time, had begun to taste, well, bacon. Or was it something else? Was it the desire on Peter's part to, well, suck up to the Jerusalem folk because they were influential? They were men of importance.

They were men who could, well, further his career. Or was it cowardice? Was he just afraid of the reaction of these influential men from Jerusalem?

And he was embarrassed to be in a position where he might be questioned and he might have to give some kind of defense for his actions. Whatever it was, it affected not just him, but Paul makes it clear, it affected sweet Barnabas, the wonderful, godly son of encouragement, Barnabas. And Paul, well, he blew a gasket in public. I withstood him to his face and then in verse 14 he said to Peter, and he adds, before them all, this was a public showdown, the clash of the titans in the church in Antioch.

Oh, if I could go back in time to one place, well, that's a really difficult issue to decide upon, but I would love to have been a fly on the wall to see the clash of the titans, Peter against Paul. Now remember, up until this point in the Acts of the Apostles, for example, before the Jerusalem Council, up until Acts chapter 12, who reigns supreme in the early Christian church? It's not Paul, it's Peter. Peter is the one to whom Jesus has said, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church. He is the one who preached on the day of Pentecost. He and John were the ones imprisoned in Acts 2 and again in Acts chapter 4. He is the one to whom Jesus had shown a vision in Joppa of a sheet with clean and unclean animals and a lesson, a life lesson about kosher food, call nothing unclean. And here he is stumbling, stumbling before the one who will dominate the second half of the Acts of the Apostles and one who will write the major part of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul. What is the issue for Paul?

Why such a public fuss? Because in his actions, he had effectively said, you may be a Christian, you may be a Gentile, and you may come to faith in Jesus Christ, but there is something else that you need to obey. And without it, you can never be assured of your true status.

You must obey the food laws. You must obey the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. And for Paul, that wasn't justification by faith alone in Christ alone apart from the works of the law. No, that was justification by faith alone in Christ alone plus obedience to the ceremonial law. It was that damnable plus that for Paul would send you to hell. I doubt that that's what Peter was actually thinking when he did this. I think he did it as a knee-jerk reaction to a lifelong habit that he had learned from his earliest days that he just didn't associate with Gentiles. But in the action that he performed, there was an unintended consequence of enormous magnitude.

It reminds me of the nineteenth century when the British reigned in India in the time of the Raj. And there was an outbreak of snakes, cobras to be precise, who were killing people by their venomous bites. And so the authorities decided that the way to deal with this was to offer a reward, that if you brought the head of a dead cobra, you would be given a handsome reward. And it worked. And the population of cobras went down and down and down until a year later it began to increase and then more and then more to the point that there were more cobras now than there were before the first incident of it. What was happening?

People were breeding cobras and selling them and then giving them to the authorities and still making a profit, the law of unintended consequences. For the Apostle Paul, Peter's reaction was a denial of the very gospel itself, the purity of the gospel, the here I stand and I can do no other part of the gospel of Martin Luther, the article of the standing or falling of the church, justification by faith alone in Christ alone apart from the works of the law. It might have seemed on one level a trivial issue, bacon or shrimp, but for the Apostle Paul in this public setting it was in fact a denial of the gospel. Peter was saying, you Gentile Christians you can come to faith in Jesus Christ, but you also need to obey the ceremonial law.

It was the damnable plus. We say by grace alone apart from works, that for the Apostle Paul was the question. Well, let me make four quick applications and I won't elaborate on them. First, some things are more important than others. You know Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 15 in the chapter on the resurrection. I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. First of all.

And he talks about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. They are first of all. There are things that are first of all and there are things that are second of all and there are things, quite frankly, that are third of all and there are things that are a hundredth of all. Not everything is worth dying for, but things that are first of all, yes, they're worth dying for.

Knowing the difference between things that are first and things that are second will make you wise. Secondly, there's a difference between public sin and private sin. This was public. Peter's actions were public and they needed to be dealt with publicly, but not everything is public. Our social media is awash with comments and pharisaical opinions from all kinds of people, including Christians, who are talking about actually private things and should remain private, but they're being aired publicly and violating so many principles of Scripture. Some things are public, but some things are private.

And once again, knowing the difference will make you wise. Thirdly, how the mighty can fall. This is the Apostle Peter, and for a while the greatest apostle of all.

And he falls. He falls cataclysmically and publicly in the church of Antioch, and Paul dresses him down. What was his sin?

Well, let's put a word on it. He just had a knee-jerk reaction to the Gentiles. It was a learned behavior for a race of people that he had learned from his earliest youth. But I want you to see something here, and it's something that our modern culture needs to understand. It's something that the modern church needs to understand, that whatever the sin, and it may be a sin of bias against one section of society rather than another based on race, color, education, or whatever it is, but there's forgiveness. There's forgiveness for that. And in a cancel culture society where there is absolutely no forgiveness, I think this biblical principle needs to be taken to heart. And fourthly, one thing is more important than any other, and that thing here is the gospel.

It's the most important thing of all. For Paul, he was willing to go public. He was willing to earn for himself a reputation for being, well, what word could you use?

Narrow, perhaps initially petulant. But no, this was a point of principle. I fully expect Paul to have been stern. I fully expect Paul to have been resolute. Maybe there was some emotion in the room, and maybe there wasn't. But Paul did this for one reason, not for his honor, not for his reputation, not for his advancement, not that he might be seen publicly to be better than the apostle Peter.

This wasn't one upmanship. It was about the gospel, pure and simple. When the gospel is tarnished, when the gospel is compromised, Paul stands firm.

And I think knowing those times is important for you and for me. There is a time to stand up and be counted. There is a time to say, with Martin Luther, here I stand, I can do no other. To go against conscience is neither wise nor good. And we need to learn when that opportunity arises and to stand firm, to be ready to be counted among Jesus's disciples. Well, for these disciples, doing just that would cost them their lives, and eventually it would cost Peter his life, crucified roughly the same time as the apostle Paul in Jerusalem, crucified upside down by his own request, for he did not feel worthy to die in the same way as his Savior.

Yes, this was a momentary lapse, a colossal one, to be sure, on Peter's part. But there was forgiveness, and there was usefulness afterwards, tremendous, tremendous usefulness. And those, I think, are some of the lessons that we can learn from Galatians chapter 2.

Well, that's a timely message, isn't it? We live in a society divided over so many things, health decisions, political ideologies, ethical convictions, but it must be different in the church. It is different when you think about it, because we have what the world doesn't have. We have the Holy Spirit to convict and guide us. We stand firm for the gospel, but we stand willing to forgive. We're glad you joined us today for Renewing Your Mind. I'm Lee Webb, and all week we have been pleased to feature exclusive messages from our Ligonier teaching fellows, messages that have never aired here on the program. These special devotionals are part of the large library of exclusive messages reserved for Ligonier ministry partners. They're a good example of the extra discipleship resources that are made available to those who commit to supporting Ligonier's gospel outreach on a monthly basis. This steady, dependable giving means this teaching continues to expand and reach more people year after year. And as a way of saying thank you, we provide extra resources to our partners each month. In this, our 50th year of ministry, would you consider committing to a monthly gift of $25 or more? When you do, the devotionals we heard this week will be available immediately in your learning library online, along with the entire ministry partner library. That includes exclusive monthly messages. You'll also receive Table Talk magazine every month, discounts to attend Ligonier conferences and events, exclusive resource offers, and a copy of the Reformation Study Bible. So let me encourage you to sign up and become a partner. You can do that online at renewingyourmind.org slash partner, or you can simply call us. Our number is 800-435-4343. Well tomorrow we will hear a message from our founder, Dr. R.C.

Sproul. The Christian faith is complicated. The Bible's a thick book, but sometimes there's so many trees that we miss the forest, and people come to me again and again and they'll say something like this, R.C., what is that one, that single overarching issue that God wants each one of us to pursue? It's a message titled, The Goal of Christian Living. What is the goal, and how do we get there? I hope you'll join us Friday for Renewing Your Mind. I hope you'll join us Friday for Renewing Your Mind.