August 27, 2025 | Be God's Family

Peter's Difficulty with Gentiles
Scripture: Galatians 2:11-14 (NIV)
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
Devotional
Some people get involved in a pickleball league.
Others hang out with a gardening group
And other folks join a card club.
In Paul’s day, some Jewish Christians belonged to the circumcision group. Deal me out.
This group of people, also known as Judaizers, were Jewish Christians who taught that Gentiles had to become Jews in order to become Christians. They had to observe the Jewish Law for things like what they ate, how they observed the Sabbath, and even getting circumcised as adult males. These people had already walked away from their Greek gods and goddesses. Now there were new layers of expectations for them to become followers of Jesus.
The Early Church wrestled with this mightily. A hot second after Christianity was born, there was preferential treatment given to Hebraic Jews over Grecian Jews who had become believers (Acts 6:1). A handful of years later, Peter saw a vision and was convicted to baptize some Gentiles, against all his Jewish upbringing (Acts 10).
Yet the question of whether Gentiles had to become Jews on their way to becoming Christians persisted. Hence, the circumcision group. One day Peter was baptizing and eating with Gentiles. The next day he was steering clear of them to appease the Judaizers. Paul called Peter out for his hypocrisy right to his face. So much for being intimidated by the right-hand man of Jesus.
This whole question got settled at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, when the apostles decided it is not necessary for Gentiles to get circumcised and obey the law of Moses if they want to become Christians. But it wasn’t like there were no expectations. All believers were required to abstain from idolatry and sexual immorality (Acts 15:20).
Peter was focused on barriers to believing. These were eliminated by the grace of Christ. Paul was focused on pathways to purity. These were embraced and proclaimed by the apostles.
What are some barriers to believing that keep people from considering Christianity these days? How should they be confronted and eliminated?
What are some pathways to purity that a life in Christ calls to? How can these be pursued and embraced by followers of Jesus?
Poem
Prayer
Psalm 78
They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.
Psalm 78:11
As time begins to ramble
As days turn into weeks
O, LORD, do not allow my soul
To lose what You did speak
The wonders You have shown me
The insights You have giv’n
Taking my earthbound thinking
And lifting it to heav’n
Turn logic into Spirit thought
Turn patterns set in stone
Into Your will driv’n future way
Which glorifies Your throne
May I allow Your Spirit
To change the course I plod
May my whole being yield itself
Unto Your hands, O God