Galatians 2:14

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) Walked not uprightly.—This is a single word in the Greek, and found here alone in the New Testament. It means, literally, “to walk on straight feet”—i.e., erect and straightforwardly, as opposed to “shuffling.”

Unto Peter before them all.—The true reading is again Cephas. The Apostle lays stress upon the publicity of his remonstrance, as showing that in his controversy with the Apostles of the circumcision he did something more than hold his own.

Being a Jew.—“Being” is here emphatic, and means, “with all the antecedents of a Jew.” It is implied that a different rule must be applied to the Gentiles, with totally different antecedents.

Livest after the manner of Gentiles—i.e., in the matter of eating promiscuously with those whom the Law (or rather, the Pharisaic tradition) forbids you to eat with.

Why.—The great preponderance of MSS. is here in favour of the reading how—i.e., how does it come about that?

Compellest.—Do what you can to compel.

Benson Commentary

Galatians 2:14. When I saw that, in this matter, they walked not uprightly — Ουκ ορθοποδουσι, did not walk with a straight step, or in a plain and straight path; according to the truth of the gospel — That is, according to their own knowledge of the simplicity of the true gospel doctrine; I said to Peter, before them all — That is, in the hearing of Barnabas and all the Judaizers: see Paul single against Peter and all the Jews! If thou, being a Jew — And having been brought by circumcision under the strongest engagements to fulfil the whole law; livest after the manner of the Gentiles — Conversing and eating freely with them, as since the vision which thou sawest thou hast done; and not as do the Jews — Not observing the ceremonial law, which thou knowest to be now abolished; why compellest thou the Gentiles — By refusing to eat and converse freely with them, as if the distinction of meats was necessary to be observed in order to salvation, and by withdrawing thyself, and all the ministers, from them; to live as do the Jews — Ιουδαιζειν, to Judaize; to keep the ceremonial law, or be excluded from church communion. What is here recorded, probably took place at the conclusion of some of their meetings for public worship; for on these occasions it was usual, after the reading of the law and the prophets, to give the assembly exhortations. Had this offence of Peter been of a private nature, undoubtedly, as duty required, Paul would have expostulated with him privately upon it, and not have brought it, at least in the first instance, before such a number of persons: but as it was a public affair, in which many persons were deeply concerned, the method Paul took was certainly most proper. And in thus openly reproving Peter, he not only acted honestly, but generously; for it would have been mean to have found fault with him behind his back, without giving him an opportunity to vindicate himself, if he could have done it. “Perhaps,” says Macknight, “Peter in this, and in a former instance, may have been suffered to fall, the more effectually to discountenance the arrogant claims of his pretended successors to supremacy and infallibility.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:11-14 Notwithstanding Peter's character, yet, when Paul saw him acting so as to hurt the truth of the gospel and the peace of the church, he was not afraid to reprove him. When he saw that Peter and the others did not live up to that principle which the gospel taught, and which they professed, namely, That by the death of Christ the partition wall between Jew and Gentile was taken down, and the observance of the law of Moses was no longer in force; as Peter's offence was public, he publicly reproved him. There is a very great difference between the prudence of St. Paul, who bore with, and used for a time, the ceremonies of the law as not sinful, and the timid conduct of St. Peter, who, by withdrawing from the Gentiles, led others to think that these ceremonies were necessary.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly - To walk, in the Scriptures, is usually expressive of conduct or deportment; and the idea here is, that their conduct in this case was not honest.

According to the truth of the gospel - According to the true spirit and design of the gospel. That requires perfect honesty and integrity; and as that was the rule by which Paul regulated his life, and by which he felt that all ought to regulate their conduct, he felt himself called on openly to reprove the principal person who had been in fault. The spirit of the world is crafty, cunning, and crooked. The gospel would correct all that wily policy, and would lead man in a path of entire honesty and truth.

I said unto Peter before them all - That is, probably, before all the church, or certainly before all who had offended with him in the case. Had this been a private affair, Paul would doubtless have sought a private interview with Peter, and would have remonstrated with him in private on the subject. But it was public. It was a case where many were involved, and where the interests of the church were at stake. It was a case where it was very important to establish some fixed and just principles, and he therefore took occasion to remonstrate with him in public on the subject. This might have been at the close of public worship; or it may have been that the subject came up for debate in some of their public meetings, whether the rites of the Jews were to be imposed on the Gentile converts. This was a question which agitated all the churches where the Jewish and Gentile converts were intermingled; and it would not be strange that it should be the subject of public debate at Antioch. The fact that Paul reproved Peter before "them all," proves:

(1) That he regarded himself, and was so regarded by the church, as on an equality with Peter, and as having equal authority with him.

(2) that public reproof is right when an offence has been public, and when the church at large is interested, or is in danger of being led into error; compare 1 Timothy 5:20, "Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear."

(3) that it is a duty to reprove those who err. It is a painful duty, and one much neglected; still it is a duty often enjoined in the Scriptures, and one that is of the deepest importance to the church. He does a favor to another man who, in a kind spirit, admonishes him of his error, and reclaims him from a course of sin. He does another the deepest injury, who suffers sin unrebuked to lie upon him, and who sees him injuring himself and others, and who is at no pains to admonish him for his faults.

(4) if it is the duty of one Christian to admonish another who is an offender, and to do it in a kind spirit, it is the duty of him who has offended to receive the admonition in a kind spirit, and with thankfulness. Excitable as Peter was by nature, yet there is no evidence that he became angry here, or that he did not receive the admonition of his brother Paul with perfect good temper, and with an acknowledgment that Paul was right and that he was wrong. Indeed, the case was so plain, as it usually is if men would be honest, that he seems to have felt that it was right, and to have received the rebuke as became a Christian. Peter, unhappily, was accustomed to rebukes; and he was at heart too good a man to be offended when he was admonished that he had done wrong. A good man is willing to be reproved when he has erred, and it is usually proof that there is much that is wrong when we become excited and irritable if another admonishes us of our faults. It may be added here that nothing should be inferred from this in regard to the inspiration or apostolic authority of Peter. The fault was not that he taught error of doctrine, but that he sinned in conduct. Inspiration, though it kept the apostles from teaching error, did not keep them necessarily from sin. A man may always teach the truth, and yet be far from perfection in practice. The case here proves that Peter was not perfect, a fact proved by his whole life; it proves that he was sometimes timid, and even, for a period, timeserving, but it does not prove that what he wrote for our guidance was false and erroneous.

If thou, being a Jew - A Jew by birth.

Livest after the manner of the Gentiles - In eating, etc., as he had done before the Judaizing teachers came from Jerusalem, Galatians 2:12.

And not as do the Jews - Observing their special customs, and their distinctions of meats and drinks.

Why compellest thou the Gentiles ... - As he would do, if he insisted that they should be circumcised, and observe the special Jewish rites. The charge against him was gross inconsistency in doing this. "Is it not at least as lawful for them to neglect the Jewish observances, as it was for thee to do it but a few days ago?" Doddridge. The word here rendered "compellest," means here moral compulsion or persuasion. The idea is, that the conduct of Peter was such as to lead the Gentiles to the belief that it was necessary for them to be circumcised in order to be saved. For similar use of the word, see Matthew 14:22; Luke 14:23; Acts 28:19.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. walked not uprightly—literally, "straight": "were not walking with straightforward steps." Compare Ga 6:16.

truth of the gospel—which teaches that justification by legal works and observances is inconsistent with redemption by Christ. Paul alone here maintained the truth against Judaism, as afterwards against heathenism (2Ti 4:16, 17).

Peter—"Cephas" in the oldest manuscripts

before … all—(1Ti 5:20).

If thou, &c.—"If thou, although being a Jew (and therefore one who might seem to be more bound to the law than the Gentiles), livest (habitually, without scruple and from conviction, Ac 15:10, 11) as a Gentile (freely eating of every food, and living in other respects also as if legal ordinances in no way justify, Ga 2:12), and not as a Jew, how (so the oldest manuscripts read, for 'why') is it that thou art compelling (virtually, by thine example) the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" (literally, to Judaize, that is, to keep the ceremonial customs of the Jews: What had been formerly obedience to the law, is now mere Judaism). The high authority of Peter would constrain the Gentile Christians to regard Judaizing as necessary to all, since Jewish Christians could not consort with Gentile converts in communion without it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Uprightly, here, is opposed to halting. Peter halted between two opinions, (as Elijah sometime told the Israelites), when he was with the Gentiles alone, he did as they did, using the liberty of the gospel; but when the Jews came from Jerusalem, he left the Gentile church, and joined with the Jews; this was not according to that plainness and sincerity which the gospel required; he did not (according to the precept he held, Hebrews 12:13) make straight paths to his feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. Paul not hearing this from the report of others, but being an eye-witness to it, doth not defer the reproof, lest the scandal should grow: nor doth he reprove him privately, because the offence was public, and such a plaster would not have fitted the sore; but he speaketh

unto Peter before them all, rebuking him openly, because he sinned openly; and by this action had not offended a private person, but the church in the place where he was, who were all eyewitnesses of his halting and prevarication, 1 Timothy 5:20.

If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews; if thou, who art a Jew, not by religion only, but by birth and education, hast formerly lived, eat, and drank, and had communion with the Gentiles, in the omission of the observance of circumcision, and other Jewish rites, generally observed by those of their synagogues; (as Peter had done before the Jews came from from Jerusalem to Antioch);

why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Why dost thou, by thy example, compel the members of a Gentile church to observe the Jewish rites? For compelling here doth not signify any act of violence, (Peter used none such), but the example of leaders in the church, who are persons of reputation and authority, is a kind of compulsion to those that are inferiors, and who have a great veneration for such leaders. So the word here used, anagkazeiv, is used in 2 Corinthians 12:2, as also to express the force of exhortations and arguments. Of such a compulsion the word is used, Luke 14:23. Peter, by his example, and possibly by some words and arguments he used, potently moved those proselyted Jews, who were in communion with the churches of Galatia, to observe the Jewish rites: so that by this fact he did not only contradict himself, who by his former walking with the Gentile church had practically asserted the gospel liberty; but he also scandalized those Christians in these churches who stood fast in the liberty which Christ had purchased for them, and Paul had taught them; and also drew others away from the truth they had owned and practised. This was the cause of Paul’s so open and public reproof of him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly,.... Or "did not foot it aright"; or "walked not with a right foot": they halted, as the Jews of old did, between two opinions, being partly for God, and partly for Baal; so these seemed, according to their conduct, to be partly for grace, and partly for the works of the law; they seemed to be for joining Christ and Moses, and the grace of the Gospel, and the ceremonies of the law together; they did not walk evenly, were in and out, did not make straight paths for their feet, but crooked ones, whereby the lame were turned out of the way; they did not walk in that sincerity, with that uprightness and integrity of soul, they ought to have done:

nor according to the truth of the Gospel; though their moral conversations were as became the Gospel of Christ, yet their Christian conduct was not according to the true, genuine, unmixed Gospel of Christ; which as it excludes all the works of the law, moral or ceremonial, from the business of justification and salvation, so it declares an entire freedom from the yoke of it, both to Jews and Gentiles. Now when, and as soon as this was observed, the apostle, without any delay, lest some bad consequences should follow, thought fit to make head against it, and directly oppose it:

I said unto Peter before them all. The Alexandrian copy, and others, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, read "Cephas", as before. The reproof was given personally and principally to Peter, though Barnabas and others were concerned with him, because he was the first in it, the chief aggressor, who by his example led on the rest; and this was given publicly before Barnabas, and the other Jews that dissembled with him, and for their sakes as well as his; before the Jews that came from James for their instruction and conviction, and before all the members of the church at Antioch, for the confirmation of such who might be staggered at such conduct; nor was this any breach of the rule of Christ, Matthew 28:15 for this was a public offence done before all, and in which all were concerned, and therefore to be rebuked in a public manner: and which was done in this expostulatory way,

if thou being a Jew; as Peter was, born of Jewish parents, brought up in the Jews' religion, and was obliged to observe the laws that were given to that people:

livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews; that is, he had done so, he had ate with the Gentiles, and as the Gentiles did, without regarding the laws and ceremonies of the Jews relating to meats and drinks; being better informed by the Spirit of God, that these things were not now obligatory upon him, even though he was a Jew, to whom these laws were formerly made:

why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? he asks him, with what conscience, honour, and integrity, with what consistency with his own principles and former practice, he could compel, not by force, nor, it may be, even by persuasions and exhortations, but by his example, which was very strong and powerful, the Gentiles, to whom these laws were never given, and to observe which they never were obliged; how he could, I say, make use of any means whatever to engage these to comply with Jewish rites and ceremonies. The argument is very strong and nervous; for if he, who was a Jew, thought himself free from this yoke, and had acted accordingly, then a Gentile, upon whom it was never posed, ought not to be entangled with it: and in what he had done, either he had acted right or wrong; if he had acted wrong in eating with the Gentiles, he ought to acknowledge his fault, and return to Judaism; but if right, he ought to proceed, and not by such uneven conduct ensnare the minds of weak believers.

Geneva Study Bible

But when I saw that they walked not {l} uprightly according to the {m} truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why {n} compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

(l) Literally, with a right foot, which he sets against halting and hypocrisy, which is a backwards state.

(m) He calls the truth of the Gospel, both the doctrine itself, and also the use of doctrine, which we call the practice.

(n) He says they were forced who lived as Jews by Peter's example.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Galatians 2:14. Ὅτι οὐκ ὀρθοποδοῦσι] ὀρθοποδεῖν (comp. ὀρθοβατεῖν, Anthol. ix. 11. 4), not preserved elsewhere in Biblical language, undoubtedly means to be straight-footed, that is, to walk with straight feet (comp. ὀρθόπους, Soph. Ant. 985; Nicand. Alexiph. 419, ὀρθόποδες βαίνοντες). Here used in a figurative sense—as words expressive of walking are favourites with Paul in representing ethical ideas (comp. περιπατεῖν, στοιχεῖν κ.τ.λ.)—equivalent to acting rightly (with straightness), conducting oneself properly (ὀρθοπραγεῖν, Aristot. Pol. i. 5. 8). Vulgate, “recte ambularent.”[90] It is the moral ὈΡΘΌΤΗς ΠΡΆΞΕΩς (Plat. Men. p. 97 B), the opposite of the moral σκολιόν (Plat. Gorg. p. 525 A), στρεβλόν (Sir 36:25), ΧΩΛΌΝ (Hebrews 12:13). According to the leaning of Greek authors towards the direct mode of expression, the present is quite regular. See Kühner, § 846.

πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθ. τοῦ εὐαγγέλ.] ΠΡΌς is understood as secundum (2 Corinthians 5:10; Luke 12:47; Bernhardy, p. 265) by most expositors (including Winer, Rückert, de Wette, Ewald, Wieseler); by others in the sense of direction towards the mark (Flacius, Grotius, Estius, Wolf, Morus, Hofmann), which would mean, “so as to maintain and promote the truth of the gospel.” The former interpretation is to be preferred, because it is the more simple and the first to suggest itself, and it yields a very suitable sense. Hence: corresponding to the truth, which is the contents of the gospel (Galatians 2:5). Certainly Paul never in verbs of walking expresses the rule prepositionally by πρός, but by ΚΑΤΆ (Romans 8:4; Romans 14:15; 1 Corinthians 3:3, et al.); but in this passage πρὸς κ.τ.λ. is the epexegesis of ὈΡΘῶς, according to its ethical idea.

ἔμπροσθεν πάντων] consequently, not under some four eyes merely, but in the sight of the whole church although not assembled expressly for this purpose (Thiersch); τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ἐνώπιον πάντων ἔλεγχε, ἵνα καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ φόβον ἔχωσι, 1 Timothy 5:20. “Non enim utile erat errorem, qui palam noceret, in secreto emendare,” Augustine.

εἰ σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ὑπάρχων κ.τ.λ.] that is, “If thou, although a born Jew, orderest thy mode of living in conformity with that of the born Gentiles, ΧΩΡῚς ἸΟΥΔΑΙΚῆς ΠΑΡΑΤΗΡΉΣΕΩς (Chrysostom), and not with that of the born Jews—a course of conduct, which thou hast just practically exemplified by eating in company with Gentile Christians—how comes it to pass that thou (by the example of the wholly opposite conduct which thou hast now adopted since the arrival of those ΤΙΝΈς) urgest the born Gentiles to adopt the custom of the born Jews?” What a contradiction of conduct is it, thus in one breath to live ἘΘΝΙΚῶς and to urge the ἜΘΝΗ to the ἸΟΥΔΑΐΖΕΙΝ! The present Ζῇς denotes that which was constant, accordant with principle, in Peter’s case (contrary to the view of Hilgenfeld and others). This is laid down by Paul, with the argumentative εἰ, as certain and settled, and that not merely by inference from his recent experience of Peter having eaten in company with Gentiles, but also on the ground of his knowledge otherwise of this apostle and of his practical principles on this point, with which the ἐθνικῶς ζῆν just before actually carried out by Peter was in accordance. Groundlessly and erroneously Rückert labours (since it does not run: ἘΠΕΙΔΉ … ἜΖΗΣΑς) to extract an entirely different meaning, understanding ἸΟΥΔΑΪΚῶς Ζῇς in an ideal sense (Romans 2:28 f.; John 1:48), and ἐθνικῶς ζῇς as its opposite: “By thy present conduct thou showest thyself truly not as a genuine Jew, but as a Gentile (sinner); how art thou at liberty to ask that the Gentiles should adopt Jewish customs, which by thy behaviour thou thyself dost not honour?” But, in fact, the reader could only take the explanation of the ἘΘΝΙΚῶς Ζῇς from ΜΕΤᾺ ΤῶΝ ἘΘΝῶΝ ΣΥΝΉΣΘΙΕΝ (Galatians 2:12), and of the ἸΟΥΔΑΪΚῶς Ζῇς from ὙΠΈΣΤΕΛΛΕ … ΠΕΡΙΤΟΜῆς (Galatians 2:12). No one could light upon the alleged ideal view (reverting, in the apodosis, to the empirical!), the more especially as the breaking off from eating with the Gentiles would have to be regarded as a Gentile habit (in an ethical sense)! The ζῆν is not the moral living according to the Gentile or the Jewish fashion, but the shaping of the life with reference to the category of external social observances within the Christian communion, such as, in the individual case in question, the following (Ἰουδαϊκῶς) or non-following (ἘΘΝΙΚῶς) of the Jewish restrictions as to eating.

Πῶς] qui fit, ut (Romans 3:6; Romans 6:2; Romans 10:14, and frequently), indicating the incomprehensibleness of this morally contradictory behaviour.

τὰ ἔθνη ἀναγκάζεις Ἰουδαΐζειν] indirect compulsion. For the Gentile Christians in Antioch must very naturally have felt themselves constrained by the imposing example of the highly-esteemed Peter to look upon the Jewish habit of living—the observance of the special peculiarities of the outward legal Judaism (the Ἰουδαΐζειν: comp. Esther 8:17; Plut. Cic. 7[91])—as something belonging to Christianity, and necessary for partaking in Christian fellowship and for attaining the Messianic salvation; and they would shape their conduct in practice in accordance with this view (comp. Usteri, p. 66 f.). De Wette (comp. also Wieseler, Chronol. p. 198 f., Komment. p. 168) assumes, that the emissaries of James preached the principle of the necessity of observing the law, and that Peter gave his support, at least tacitly, to this preaching. This is not at all intimated in the text, and is not rendered necessary by the literal sense of ἀναγκάζειν, which is sufficiently explained by the moral constraint of the inducement of so influential an example, as it is often used in classical authors, “de varia necessitate quam praesens rerum conditio efficit” (Sturz, Lex. Xen. I. 18. 6). The view which understands the word here not at all of indirect constraint, but of definite demands (Ritschl, p. 146), by which Peter sought to turn them back into the path of Jewish Christianity, is opposed to the divine instruction imparted to this apostle, to his utterances at the council, and to our context, according to which the ἀναγκάζειν can have consisted in nothing more than the οὐκ ὀρθοποδεῖν as it is represented in Galatians 2:12 f., and consequently must have been merely a practical, indirect compulsion, not conveyed in any express demands. Wieseler obscures the intelligibility of the whole passage by understanding the Ἰουδαΐζειν of the observance of the restrictions as to food enacted by the apostolic council. In decisive opposition to this view it may be urged, that in the whole context this council is left entirely unmentioned; further, that these restrictions as to food had nothing to do with the Jewish proselytes (on whose account, possibly, their observance might have been called an Ἰουδαΐζειν); lastly, that the compliance with the same on the part of the church at Antioch, especially so soon after the council (see on Galatians 2:11), cannot, according to Acts 15:30, at all be a matter of doubt. Moreover, how could Paul, who had himself together with Peter so essentially co-operated towards this decree of the council, have—in the presence of Peter, of the Christians of Antioch, and even of those who were sent by James—characterized the obedience given to the restrictions in question by the inapplicable and ill-sounding name Ἰουδαΐζειν? It would have shown at least great want of tact.

[90] Hofmann, “to stand with straight foot.” But comp. ὀξυποδεῖν, ὠκυποδεῖν, to be swift-footed, that is, swift in running. The standing would probably have been expressed, as perhaps by ὀρθοστατεῖν. The ὀρθοποδῶν is not lame (χωλεύει), but makes τροχιὰς ὀρθὰς τοῖς ποσίν, Hebrews 12:13.

[91] Where a freedman is spoken of, who was ἔνοχος τῷ Ἰουδαΐζειν, and in reference to whom Cicero says, τί Ἰουδαίῳ πρὸς χοίρον; comp. also Ignat. ad Magnes. 10, ἄτοπόν ἐστιν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν λαλεῖν καὶ Ἰουδαΐζειν.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Galatians 2:14. πρὸς τ. ἀλήθειαν. Our versions render πρός, according to, like κατά: and so impugn these men for want of uprightness in their conduct rather than for inconsistency of doctrine. But the censure of the Apostle is really directed to the falsehood of their teaching. They were not dealing straightforwardly with the truth in casting the slur of uncleanness on those whom God had cleansed in Christ.—ἀναγκάζεις. Peter was by his example really putting a severe pressure on Gentile converts to adopt a Jewish rule of life, though perhaps unintentionally.—ὑπάρχων. This participle notes the bearing of antecedents on present action. Peter being a Jew might have been expected to act otherwise.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. This was not a case for private remonstrance. The conduct of Peter and the rest was a practical denial of the truth of the Gospel, and, as such, could not but do widespread mischief. St Paul therefore took occasion to rebuke him in the presence of the whole company of believers (comp. ‘I withstood him to the face’, Galatians 2:11).

according to the truth] Lit. ‘towards the truth,’ i.e. with a view to its maintenance and propagation.

If thou, being a Jew … Jews] Various opinions have been held with regard to the limit of the address to Peter. Some suppose it to terminate in this verse; others with Galatians 2:15 or 18; most, at the end of the chapter. But a comparison of the abruptness of the opening words with the more calm argumentative style of what follows, seems to confirm the view that the actual words addressed to Peter are contained in Galatians 2:14, and that Paul passes imperceptibly into a discussion of the great principle which he felt to be at stake. It is possible that the later verses contain the substance of the Apostle’s remonstrance with Peter, as they certainly contain the ground of the expostulation in Galatians 2:14. This is confirmed by the expression “We, Jews by nature”; but the whole passage has direct reference to the state and dangers of the Galatians.

being a Jew] a Jew by birth and education, not a Gentile proselyte.

livest after … Gentiles] Ever since his visit to Cornelius, Peter had associated freely and eaten with the Gentiles.

why compellest thou] How is it that now by your example you are forcing the Gentile converts to conform to the Jewish ceremonial? It is of course moral compulsion that is meant, that kind of influence to which new converts would be specially prone to yield.

to live as do the Jews] Lit. to Judaize, to observe the ceremonial law, as necessary to salvation. That no less is intended appears from Galatians 2:21.

Bengel's Gnomen

Galatians 2:14. Ἐ͂ιδον, I saw) A happy observation [of their error].—ὀρθοποδοῦσι) they walk [with a straightforward and open step] according to the rule, Galatians 6:16; in the right way, or rather with body erect [as Engl. Vers. translates it uprightly], so that it is opposed to lameness, and to what is properly called straddling. Straightness of the feet is the thing intended. The Greeks say also ὀρθοβατεῖν, ὀρθοδραμεῖν.—τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, of the Gospel) For the Gospel teaches, that righteousness from the works of the law and the necessity for observance of the ceremonial law are inconsistent with redemption by the death of Christ.—εἶπον, I said) Paul alone maintained the point in this place, without associates [to support him], against Judaism; afterwards also against heathenism, 2 Timothy 4:16-17.—τῷ) The authors of this conduct ought to be attacked.—ἔμπροσθεν πάντων, before all) 1 Timothy 5:20.—εἰ σὺ, if thou) In this argument Paul reminds Peter of the argument which the latter had used against the Pharisees, Acts 15:10-11. Here commences a proposition consisting of two members, of which the first, if thou, etc., is treated of in Galatians 2:15-16; the second, why—the Gentiles, etc., at Galatians 2:17-18.—Ἰουδαῖος ὑπάρχων, being a Jew) and therefore more closely related to the law.—ἐθνικῶς ζῇς, livest after the manner of Gentiles) So Paul speaks, κατʼ ἄνθρωπον, i.e. [using the ad hominem argument, turning Peter’s own practice as an argument against him] For Peter, retracting his former mode of living, declared for the Gentile mode, since it was right in itself. Taking away this figure, the proposition itself, we must not live after the manner of the Jews, is presently discussed.—τὰ ἔθνη, the Gentiles) set free from the law.—ἀναγκάζεις, thou compellest) by thy conduct. They would have held it necessary that the Gentiles should either follow the Jewish ritual, or be deprived of communion with the Church.—Ἰουδαΐζειν, to live as do the Jews [Judaize]) what had been formerly obedience to the law is now mere Judaism.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - But when I saw that they walked not uprightly (ἀλλ ὅτε εϊδον ὅτι οὐκ ὀρθοποδοῦσι); but when I saw that they were not walking rightly. The strongly adversative ἀλλὰ seems to imply: But I set myself to stem the mischief; comp. "withstood" (ver. 11). The precise force of ὀρθοποδεῖν is doubtful. The verb occurs nowhere else except in later writers, who, it is thought, borrowed it from this passage. Etymologically, according to the ambiguous meaning of ὀρθός - "straight," either vertically or horizontally - it may be either "walk up- rightly," that is, "sincerely," which, however, is an unusual application of the notion of ὀρθότης; or, "walk straight onward," that is, "rightly." As the apostle is more concerned on behalf of the truth which he was contending for than on behalf of their sincerity or consistency, the latter seems the preferable view. Compare the force of the same adjective in ὀρθοβατεῖν ὀρθοπραγεῖν, ὀρθοδρομεῖν ὀρθοτομεῖν, etc. According to the truth of the gospel (πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ αὐαγγελίου); with an eye to the truth of the gospel. Πρός, "with an eye towards," may refer to the truth of the gospel, either as a rule for one's direction (as in 2 Corinthians 5:10, Πρὸς α{ ἔπραξεν) or as a thing to be forwarded (cf. Ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀγηθείας, 2 Corinthians 13:8). The same ambiguity attaches to the use of the preposition in Luke 12:47. The "truth of the gospel," as in ver. 5, is the truth which the gospel embodies, with especial reference to the doctrine of justification by faith. Peter and Barnabas were acting in a manner which both was inconsistent with their holding of that truth, and contravened its advancement in the world. I said unto Peter (εϊπον τῷ Κηφᾶ [Receptus, Πέτρῳ]); I said to Cephas. Here again we are to read Cephas. Before them all (ἔμπροσθεν πάντων). At some general meeting of the Antiochian brethren. Both the expression and St. Paul's proceeding are illustrated by 1 Timothy 5:20, "Them who sin [sc. of the elders] reprove in the sight of all (ἐνώπιον πάντων ἔλεγχε)." If thou, being a Jew (εἰ σύ Ἰουδαῖος ὑπάρχων); if thou, originally a Jew, as thou art. ὘πάρχων, as distinguished from ὤν, denotes this, together with a reference to subsequent action starting from this foregoing condition. Compare, for example, its use in Galatians 1:14; Philippians 2:6. This distinctive shade of meaning is not always discernible. Livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews (ἐθνικῶς ζῇς καὶ οὐκ Ἰουδαι'κῶς); livest as do the Gentiles and not as the Jews. In what sense, and to what extent, were these words true of St. Peter? When, in the vision at Joppa, unclean animals together with clean were offered to him for food, he had answered, "Not so, Lord; for! have never eaten anything that is common and unclean." This shows that, up to that time, the personal teachings of Christ when he was upon earth had not relieved his mind of the sense that to use certain kinds of meat was for him an unlawful thing. The heavenly rejoinder, "What God hath cleansed, make not thou common," appears to have been understood by him with reference, at least in the first instance, to human beings (Acts 10:28). There seems to be no doubt that the habit of mind generated by long subjection to the Levitical Law. producing repugnance to Gentiles as habitually using unclean meats, he brought with him when crossing Cornelius's threshold; and that it is quite supposable that, in "eating with Gentiles" while his visit to Cornelius continued, he had had no occasion to break through those barriers of restriction which the Law of itself imposed. But, on the other hand, it is also quite supposable that the answer made to him in the vision had, if not at once, at least later, led him on to the further conviction that God had now made all kinds of meat lawful for a Christian's use, although, when consorting, as in the main he had to do, with Jews, he would still bow to the Levitical restrictions. The Petrine Gospel of St. Mark appears, according to the now by many accepted reading of καθαρίζων in the text of Mark 7:19, to have stated that Christ in teaching, "Whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him," had said this, "making all meats clean." There is no question that in St. Paul's own view at that epoch of his ministry when he wrote this Epistle, "nothing," to use his own words, "is unclean of itself" (Romans 14:14; 1 Corinthians 10:23, 25); and we have no reason to doubt that he had "been in the Lord Jesus persuaded" of this long before, - at the very outset probably of his ministry. It is, therefore, not unlikely that this same persuasion of the real indifferency of all kinds of meat had been by Christ instilled into St. Peter's mind as well. But if it were thus in respect to the use of meats, it would be thus also in reference to all other kinds of purely ceremonial restriction. Very shortly before these occurrences at Antioch, St. Peter had at Jerusalem openly and strongly expressed the feeling which he experienced, how intolerably galling were the restraints imposed by the Levitical, not to say by the rabbinical, ceremonialism; "a yoke," he said, "which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear " - language which seems to betoken a mind which had spiritually been set at liberty from the yoke. On the whole, the inference naturally suggested by St. Paul's words, "Thou livest as do the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews," commends itself as the true one; namely this - that St. Peter, not on that occasion only, but also on others, when thrown into contact with masses of Gentile converts, was wont to assert his Christian liberty; that, like as St. Paul did, so did he: while, on the one hand, to the Jews he became as a Jew, to them under the Law as under the Law, that he might gain the Jews, gain them that were under the Law, so also, on the other, to them that were without Law he became as without Law, that he might gain also them (1 Corinthians 9:20, 21). Why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? (πῶς [Receptus, τί] τὰ ἔθνη ἀναγκάζεις Ἰουδαί'ζειν;). In place of τί, why, recent editions read, πῶς, how, which is a more emphatic interrogatory with a tinge of wonderment; as if it were, "How is it possible that?' (so 1 Corinthians 15:12). The verb "Judaize" occurs in the Septuagint of Esther 8:17, "And many of the Gentiles had themselves circumcised and Judaized (ἰουδάι'ζον) by reason of their fear of the Jews." It is plainly equivalent to ἰουδαι'κῶς ζῇν. Compellest, i.e. settest thyself to compel. The "compulsion" applied by Cephas was a moral compulsion; he was, in effect, withholding front them Christian fellowship, unless they Judaized. Put into words, his conduct said this: "If you will Judaize, I will hold fellowship with you; if you will not, you are not qualified for full fraternal recognition from me." The withholding of Christian fraternization, short of formal Church excommunication such as 1 Corinthians 5:3-5, is a powerful engine of Christian influence, the use of which is distinctly authorized and even commanded in Scripture (Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14; 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 3:10 2John 10), and may on occasion be employed by private Christians on their own responsibility. But its use, when not clearly justified, is not only a cruelty to our brethren, but an outrage upon what St. Paul here calls the truth of the gospel. It is at our peril that we grieve, by a cold or unbrotherly bearing towards him, one whom we have reason to believe God has "received" (Romans 14:3; Romans 15:7). If God in Christ owns and loves him as a son, we ought to frankly own and love him as a brother. Galatians 2:14

Vincent's Word Studies

See additional note at the end of this chapter.

Walked not uprightly (ὀρθοποδοῦσιν)

Lit. are not walking. N.T.o. olxx. oClass. Lit. to be straight-footed.

Being a Jew (ὑπάρχων)

The verb means originally to begin; thence to come forth, be at hand, be in existence. It is sometimes claimed that ὑπάρχειν as distinguished from εἶναι implies an antecedent condition - being originally. That is true in some cases. But, on the other hand, it sometimes denotes a present as related to a future condition. The most that can be said is that it often is found simply in the sense of to be.

Livest after the manner of Gentiles (ἐθνικῶς ζῇς)

Ἑθνικῶς, N.T.o. The force of the present livest must not be pressed. The reference is not strictly temporal, either as referring to Peter's former intercourse with the Gentile Christians, or as indicating that he was now associating with them at table. It is rather the statement of a general principle. If you, at whatever time, act on the principle of living according to Gentile usage. At the time of Paul's address to Peter, Peter was living after the manner of Jews (Ἱουδαΐκῶς).

Compellest (ἀναγκάζεις)

Indirect compulsion exerted by Peter's example. Not that he directly imposed Jewish separatism on the Gentile converts.

To live as do the Jews (Ἱουδαΐ̀ζειν)

N.T.o. Once in lxx, Esther 8:17. Also in Joseph. B. J. 2:18, 2, and Plut. Cic. 7. It is used by Ignatius, Magn. x. Χριστιανίζειν to practice Christianity occurs in Origen.