OUR SOCIAL LIVES AND OUR GOSPEL WITNESS

Birds of a feather flock together. We naturally gather with people like us and identify ourselves with those who think like us. Like likes like. We eat, drink, laugh, and share with others from similar subcultures. Our Facebook posts elicit "likes" from those who are most like us socially, culturally, and politically.

What is wrong with that? Why should it matter with whom I socialize? It matters because our socio/economic and political identifications may negatively impact our gospel witness. The gospel transcends our social boundaries by calling us to reach those unlike us. We can compromise our mission by our social lives and nullify our gospel witness by our partisan politics.

Paul confronted Peter about how his social activities compromised the gospel. "Prior to the coming of certain men from James, he (Peter) used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision" (Gal. 2:12). This led others to join in his hypocrisy, so Paul accused them of not being "straightforward about the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:14).

Let's peel back the layers to grasp the damage we can do to our gospel witness by our social lives.

PAST HABITS

Paul begins with an infinitive clause "prior to the coming of certain men from James." The preposition (πρὸ) with the infinitive (ἐλθεῖν) means "before" (MHT, Grammar, 3:144). Paul adds "from James" (ἀπὸ Ἰακώβου) which is a rare usage of the preposition and means "after coming from James" (MHT, Grammar, 3:259). James is the source of the delegation. But we must be careful not to read too much into the coming from James as if James authorized their theological views (Robertson, Grammar, 579). More likely, they perceived themselves and were perceived by others as having his authority. These Judaizers presented themselves as if they were an official delegation sent by James to examine matters in Antioch.

Peter "used to eat with the Gentiles" before this pseudo-delegation came from James. The phrase "used to eat" (συνήσθιεν) translates an imperfect tense. The imperfect tense here indicates repeated and ongoing action (Burton, Moods and Tenses, 12). Peter's habitual activity before the arrival of these self-proclaimed ambassadors of legalism was to eat his meals with the Gentiles. This is not surprising since God had shown Peter in a vision that he should welcome Gentiles as equals in the church (Acts 10:28)! Peter knew by direct revelation that God had opened the gates of His kingdom to Gentiles and expected Peter to share the common bond of the gospel with Gentiles as equals.

WHAT CHANGED?

When (ὅτε) these men from the mother church in Jerusalem arrived, Peter changed. He withdrew from socializing with the Gentiles. This imperfect tense is best understood as inceptive, he began to withdraw (R&R, Linguistic Key, 505). The tense indicates action in progress but not yet completed (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, 169). Peter probably thought, "Why can't I socialize with whomever I want? These are my friends from my home church. I identify with them. We think alike. What is wrong with that?" Nothing in itself, of course, but everything is wrong with that thinking when our identification with a partisan group corrupts or obscures the truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:14).

Paul understood immediately that this social change by Peter had enormous ramifications for the gospel. The way Peter was acting undermined the gospel even if it seemed to be merely a social activity. Paul described Peter as "holding himself aloof" from the Gentiles. Once again, the verb is an inceptive imperfect. Peter was beginning to hold himself aloof. The verb (ἀφώριζεν) means to separate himself or to set himself apart. Ironically, Paul chose the same word that he used to describe God's call to preach the gospel to the Gentiles! Paul wrote, God "had set me apart" (ἀφορίσας) "so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles" (Gal. 1:15-16). Peter separated himself from the people that God had separated Paul to reach! Thus, he was undermining the gospel. Paul called it hypocrisy because it threatened the health of the church (Gal. 2:13).

PEER PRESSURE

Peter identified himself with the Jewish Christians from James because he "feared the party of the circumcision." The participle translated "fearing" (φοβούμενος) is best understood as a causal participle ( Burton, Moods and Tenses, 170). Peter changed because he feared "the ones out of the circumcision" (τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς). The expression indicates an identifiable group of people - a party of people. They could be a political party within the church like the Judaizers or the self-proclaimed messengers from James. However, it seems unlikely that Peter feared this group of people or that he feared James. We should probably see this as a description of an actual political party within Judaism. The Jewish militants were very active in Judea at this time. These zealots, known as "freedom fighters," had formed a powerful, nationalistic political party that threatened anyone who socialized with Gentiles. Peter likely feared the power of this political party back in Jerusalem, and that is why he compromised the gospel (Bruce, Galatians, 130-131).

The gospel levels social hierarchies, breaks down cultural barriers, eliminates racial distinctions, crosses political divisions, and flattens ethnic pride. Eating together - a simple act of respect - reinforces the gospel message. Social distancing compromises our gospel witness.

A PC GOSPEL?

Many warn about the dangers of being "PC" - politically correct. There is undoubtedly a PC of the left that intimidates our gospel witness, but there is also a PC of the right that dresses the gospel in cultural clothing. Whenever a culture absorbs and re-formats the gospel in cultural dress, it loses the universally transformative power God intended. Paul rejected the PC gospel in Antioch when he stood up to Peter.

"When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned, ... when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all..." (Gal. 2:11-14).

The verb translated "opposed" (ἀντέστην) means to stand against someone. The word usually implies resistance to an attack initiated by another person. In this case, Peter launched the attack on the Pauline principle that the gospel of grace makes us one in Christ. Peter may not have intended to attack the freedom of the gospel, but his behavior undermined the truth by wrapping it with social expectations (Burton, Galatians, 103).

Peter "stood condemned" (κατεγνωσμένος) by his past actions (perfect tense). Peter's own behavior rendered him not just offensive but self-condemned. His actions, not Paul or the church, delivered the guilty verdict (Lightfoot, Galatians, 111). When Peter visited the church in Antioch, he ate his meals freely with the Gentile Christians as social equals in Christ. Then a delegation from the right-wing of the church in Jerusalem showed up, and Peter pulled back socially from the Gentile believers to eat only with the Jewish Christians. Peter stood self-condemned by his hypocrisy.

THE BACK STORY

Peter had initially been the leader of the mother church in Jerusalem, but James had supplanted him to become the most influential. During these early years of the church, Jewish nationalism was on the rise. The Jewish freedom fighters developed what Josephus called the "fourth philosophy" as their zeal grew to advocate armed revolt against Gentile authority culminating twenty-five years later in the Roman invasion. Masada was their final fight. About the time that Peter and Paul were having this debate, Rome crucified two of the Jewish zealots. The Jewish nationalists became militant in their opposition to Jews who socialized with Gentiles. Such people were traitors to their homeland.

Jewish Christians brought some of these attitudes with them into the church in Jerusalem and likely felt that the actions of the Christians in Antioch endangered Christians in Jerusalem. The Judaizers were Jews who claimed to be Christians but who followed the regulations of Judaism and were zealous for their country. They formed a strong conservative wing in the Jerusalem church that sought to conserve the Jewish heritage within Christianity. When Paul writes that Peter was "fearing the party of the circumcision" (v.12), he likely meant the militant Jewish nationalists who threatened Christians and may even have infiltrated the church (Bruce, Galatians, 128-131).

Peer pressure infiltrates our attitudes seductively until it erupts in ugly and unexpected scenes.

SEPARATE BUT EQUAL

The first Jerusalem Council had already occurred (Gal. 2:1-10), and the second Jerusalem Council was yet in the future (Acts 15:1-29). The apostles agreed that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised at the first council, but a new issue arose involving the eating habits of Gentile Christians. Gentile Christians did not practice the Jewish dietary expectations, so to eat with them defiled Jewish Christians in their minds. The second Jerusalem Council addressed this issue (Acts 15:20, 29). In the meantime, the disagreement reared its ugly head in Antioch.

Jewish Christians were eating freely with Gentile Christians in Antioch, and Peter had joined them. The reports to the conservative party in the Jerusalem Church led James to send a delegation to Antioch to find out. Many Jewish Christians did not believe this was part of the agreement they had made at the first council. They had agreed that circumcision was not necessary, but socializing equally with Gentiles was another matter. To the right-wing in Jerusalem, eating together violated the agreement of the council (Burton, Galatians, 104-107). They believed that Jewish and Gentile Christians should be separate but equal in Christ, which is why they had separated the mission of the church. Peter would go to the Jews, and Paul would go to the Gentiles (Gal. 2:7-9).

ONE IN CHRIST

Paul understood that separate but equal meant not fully one in Christ. We practice a PC gospel if we cannot welcome Christians of all languages, colors, cultures, and backgrounds to the common table of Christ. If we cannot eat together, we are not one in Christ. There cannot be superior and inferior Christians based on nationalism or culture. We must oppose, like Paul, any behavior implying that the gospel allows any separate but equal attitude toward social, cultural, or ethnic differences within the church. The gospel is for all equally, and we are all equally one in Christ. We must fight to demonstrate that truth in the attitudes and actions of our daily lives.

Why do so many churches look socially, culturally, and ethnically similar?

Why don't we see more churches that exhibit social, cultural, and ethnic diversity?