Galatians 2:11-12 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.… The act of which he was guilty was dissimulation; it was not what he believed to be right, but an expediency adopted in a moment of weakness. It is described — I. AS A VIOLATION OF HIS CONVICTIONS. He had commenced upon equal terms with Gentile believers, and he bad done this according to the express will of God revealed to him (Acts 10:28). These convictions had been further deepened by what had taken place in Jerusalem during Paul's visit to that city. II. THIS DISSIMULATION WAS PROMPTED BY A VERY UNWORTHY MOTIVE. Peter feared them which were of the circumcision. Many have made shipwreck of faith upon this same rock. How often have men been ashamed to confess Christ, or to acknowledge their connection with His people for fear of man. III. THIS DISSIMULATION WAS AN EVIL EXAMPLE, SOON COPIED BY OTHERS — "And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation." Peter's sin was followed by the sin of others. One of the greatest mysteries of our life is that so much of our happiness or misery appears to depend upon others. "As it sometimes happens on the snow slopes of the Alps, that one man's slip will involve the overthrow and destruction of all his fellow-travellers, so is it with us in the moral and spiritual life. Peter drags Barnabas and the rest of the Jews with him; and in our day men too often exercise the same fatal spell on those within the region of their influence." Lessons: 1. Honesty of belief, purpose, and work should be one of the chief laws of Christian life. This should apply to every kind of secular business, and to religion. "This above all; to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man." 2. God can preserve the truth by the few as well as by the many. Whatever may be the character of human conduct, God does not allow his purpose to fail. At Antioch Paul alone was faithful (of the Jewish believers), but the truth triumphed notwithstanding. (Richard Nicholls.) Parallel Verses KJV: But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.WEB: But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned. |
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