01/02/2024: Galatians 2:14 – Hypocrisy is setting a standard for others that you don't live by.

 

Galatians 2:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?

Thought for today – Hypocrisy is setting a standard for others that you don't live by.

This verse introduces an significant problem in the early church.  Peter had come to Antioch where Paul was preaching, and he was influenced by some who sought to the Gentiles to live by the Law and separated the Jewish believers from the Gentiles.  Peter had actually tried to persuade the Gentile believers to follow the Jewish law while he himself lived like the Gentiles.  Paul saw this as open hypocrisy and a betrayal of the truth of the gospel, and confronted Peter publicly to his face. What follows in verses 15-21 is a clear and effective defense of the gospel emphasizing that salvation is by grace and not by keeping the Law.

That’s what the Book says!