Key Theme: Living in Step with the Truth of the Gospel
[Core Gospel Concepts: Sanctification by Faith, Faith Expressing Itself in Love, Sin]
CONTEXT: (Teacher, just summarize this once for the class before telling the story the first time.) The apostle Peter is one of the great fathers of the Christian faith. He was chosen by Jesus to be his disciple and walked with Jesus for three years of ministry, often showing great faith and courage in standing with Jesus. But he also had moments of great doubt and failure like when he abandoned Jesus before the crucifixion. But after the resurrection when he humbly experienced Christ’s forgiveness for this betrayal, and after the coming of the Holy Spirit, Peter became bold in his preaching of the Gospel even at the risk of his own life. God was continuing to work in Peter’s life to change and grow him, but it was a process that continued with both progress and failures along the way.
Peter had been the first Jewish Christian leader to recognize Gentile Christians when God led him through a dream to visit and baptize Cornelius and his family (Acts 10 & 11) . Also he, along with other leaders in the Jerusalem church had affirmed God's calling on Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 15). So Peter typically welcomed uncircumcized Gentile believers into the church! However, even Peter sometimes failed to act out what he believed.
Paul wrote to the Galatian church that he had needed to confront Peter in front of the whole church in Antioch. When Peter first came to visit the church there, he had gladly eaten with the Gentile believers and been so friendly to them. But later some of the Jewish believers from Jerusalem came to visit the Antioch church. These were those pushing for the Gentile Christians to be circumcised and to follow the Jewish customs. When they arrived, Peter becamse afraid of what they might think, so he began to avoid the uncircumsized non-Jewish believers. Many of the other Jewish believers also were led astray and joined him in this hypocrisy, even faithful Barnabas!
Paul told them that they were “not acting in line with the truth of the gospel.” He told Peter in front of them all, “If you, a Jew, freely live like a non-Jew when these Jewish guys from Jerusalem are not watching you, what right do you have to require non-Jews to follow Jewish customs just to make a
favorable impression on your old Jerusalem friends?” He went on to say, “Even we Jews all know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.”
Peter clearly repented of this because later at the great council of Jerusalem, he stood with Paul against those people who wanted to add circumcision as a requirement for all Christians. Later, nearer the end of Peter's life, when he wrote letters to scattered persecuted Christians, he repeatedly urged them as members of Christ's family to live holy lives consistent with the new identity they had because of the Gospel.
Optional Memory Verse: Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.