ONE SMALL STEP BACKWARDS...

“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So, we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because, by the works of the law no one will be justified.” Galatians 2:15, 16.

This sounds like a bit of a tongue-twister, doesn’t it? What is Paul saying?

Peter and his fellow disciples, in their association with Jesus, had experienced a rude awakening. As part of a religious system that relied heavily on their performance for acceptance with God, they thought that their law-keeping was what He demanded to satisfy His requirements. Jesus taught them that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was actually their Father, and that He was calling them into a relationship of intimacy with Him as their sons, just as Jesus was His Son, and the model of sonship they were to follow.

Sin had alienated them from the Father, and no amount of trying to do the right thing by observing rules and carrying out rituals could undo their sinful behaviour or change their sinful nature. They were not “sinful” Gentiles, those who worshipped idols and engaged in depraved behaviour but that didn’t make them any better than those who did. Everyone fell short of God’s perfection and they could do nothing about it.

Jesus’ untimely death on a cross, which they thought was a terrible tragedy, turned out to be the opposite. It was God’s pre-ordained way of dealing with the sin they could not get rid of by rule-keeping. Jesus died in the place of sinners to satisfy God’s righteous demand for the payment of a huge debt. He died as an atoning sacrifice for all people for all time so that God could accept as not guilty everyone who submitted to Jesus as their rightful Lord.

What, then, was Peter thinking when he slipped back into his old pattern of behaviour, thinking he was better than the Gentile believers and withdrawing from fellowship with them? It was a backward step, and would have serious repercussions if it was what he really believed. Even his temporary lapse into the fear of man affected his standing before God.

Everyone who takes the step from confidence in his own efforts to satisfy God’s holy requirements to trusting in Jesus for acceptance with God, has a standing in God’s grace which enables him to approach the Father with confidence. Because of Jesus, he has been declared “not guilty”. His sin has been removed; he has been washed clean of sin’s pollution and he had been given a new nature, one that makes him a son, not a slave. He is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and, through Him, has been restored to oneness with the Father and able to call Him “Abba”.

One small step backwards for Peter was actually a huge fall from standing in the grace of God to standing in his own righteousness which God declared was like filthy rags in His sight. The great Apostle Peter was unwittingly in danger of disqualifying himself by being afraid to stand up for what he believed.

Thank God for Paul’s boldness and for his clear understanding of the gospel. Without it we would not have the letters his wrote to the Roman and Galatian churches which give us a clear explanation of what God did through Jesus Christ to reconcile us to Himself. It was through trial and error, struggle and debate that the truth of the gospel began to emerge in the early church. We are blessed to share in the great heritage passed down to us from the church of the past.

Thank God we learn from our failures as much as from our successes. Peter must surely not have forgotten the lesson, and become stronger for it. Of course it all depends on whether he received Paul’s rebuke or not. We have a clue to his attitude in his second letter which we have preserved for us in the Bible. He obviously held Paul in high esteem because he wrote this:

“Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures to their own destruction.” 2 Peter 2:15, 16.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.