Nov. 9, 2008
Background Scripture: Galatians 2:11-3:29
Devotional Reading: Romans 10l5-17

Fresh from seminary, I believed that a true Christian congregation would be a spiritual sanctuary free of strife.

In reading the Book of Acts, I had paid attention only to the positive depictions of congregational life.

Both Acts and Paul’s letters, however, depict the early churches with good times and bad, love and conflict, unity and division – like ours.

These conflicts involved not just a few disgruntled souls, but also some top leaders, namely Peter and Paul. Their dispute was not a trivial matter, so “… when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch I (Paul) opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned” (Gal. 2:11).

“Condemned” because, contrary to his expectations, at Joppa, Peter had witnessed God bestowing the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles and he acknowledged: “… but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28).

Peter drew back

Because of Peter’s testimony, the leaders in Jerusalem, James, Peter and John, had agreed that his mission would be to Jewish Christians (“the circumcised”), while Paul’s would be to Gentile Christians (“the uncircumcised”). To seal the pact, they had given Paul and Barnabas “the right hand of fellowship” (2:9). So Paul believed the problem was resolved.

Still, when various Jewish Christians visited the church at Antioch, fearing their reaction, Peter “drew back and separated himself from the Gentile Christians”  (Eph. 2:12). Because of his stature in the movement, others, even Barnabas, followed his example, and Paul was particularly disturbed about that.

The followers of Christ who were Jews had been taught that they were of the chosen people of God and they still practiced the various forms of Jewish religious life, including circumcision.
One of the consistent themes in the Old Testament is the conviction that God will save the people of Israel, but obliterate all others.

Their strict rules did not permit them to do business with Gentiles, nor to extend or receive hospitality from them.

Grace, not merit

Paul’s dispute with Peter was not just a matter of Jewish and Gentile customs, of differences in lifestyle. The heart of the dispute was the unspoken but well understood and shared assumption that Jewish Christians were on a higher plane of righteousness than Gentiles.

The problem was not that they continued to live by the laws of Israel, but that they thought their obedience to that law was the basis of their salvation. So, Paul wrote: “We … ourselves know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by works of the law shall no one be justified” (Eph. 2:16).

Both the Jewish Christians who lived by the law and the Gentile Christians who did not were dependent, not upon the law, but upon the grace of God.

Paul is not saying that the Jewish Christians should no longer live by their laws, but that they should not expect either that they would be saved by doing so or that they were superior to Gentile Christians who did not.

So, then, what’s the good of the law? Simply, the law can teach us what is right and what is wrong, but it cannot save us. It is like a doctor who can run tests and diagnose our illness, but who is not authorized to treat us: He and the law can tell us what is right and wrong, but neither can heal us and make us whole.

We are not saved by being conservatives or liberals, by being Protestants or Roman Catholics, by believing in the “real presence” of Christ in Holy Communion or his “spiritual presence,” by baptizing infants or adults only or by identifying “the Word of God” as the Bible or as Christ himself.

As William Barclay puts it: “If we are all children of God, we must be one family.” For we “are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.