¹¹ But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. ¹² When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. ¹³ As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

¹⁴ When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?

¹⁵ “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

¹⁷ But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. ¹⁹ For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. ²⁰ My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Galatians 2:11-21

Dear God, I have like three thoughts running through my head when it comes to this passage.

• Peter could probably be a bit of a pain to people with his impetuousness, so it’s interesting to think of someone else who could probably bit much for other people being a bit much for Peter. I would imagine that Peter and Paul were difficult for each other, but they worked through it through your mercy and example.
• Biblical characters were not always right. My wife and I were talking about this yesterday. I think there are times when they make mistakes that they aren’t necessarily called out for their mistakes. Some more obvious (to me) than others. For example, I think Paul was your ultimate replacement for Judas, but Peter was impetuous and cast lots for Matthias. Paul and Barnabas had a huge argument over John Mark, and I’m not sure which of them was right or wrong in that one, but it feels like Barnabas had a better spirit about it than Paul did. David said many things in Psalms that I don’t think Jesus would have supported.
• Verse 20: My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. If I could ever get this verse right and really live it then, well, I don’t know what would happen. There is a lot happening in this verse, and I think my personal life has only scratched the surface of it.

Father, help me to get a look at what it means truly not live, but let Jesus live in me. Help me to know what it looks like to “live n this earthly body by trusting Jesus.” Let everything I do today be informed by the example Jesus gave me. Jesus is the author and perfector of my faith. Thank you. I almost tried to type other words after thank you, but words fail. Thank you!

I pray to you this morning through Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen