But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
Antakya is the capital of Hatay Province in southern Turkey. In ancient times, Antakya was known as Antioch and was for centuries one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. It was an influential early center of Christianity. In New Testament times, it is thought to have had a population of about 650,000, including many Jews. (See Wikipedia, Antakya, and Timothy George, New American Commentary, Galatians, [Nashville, TN, B&H Publishing Group, 1994] p. 170.)
After the stoning of Stephen,
A great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word (Acts 8:1,4).
Rather than hindering the spread of Christianity, the persecution of believers in Jerusalem was the cause of the first major expansion of the Christian church. Some of these early missionaries came to Antioch. They witnessed first to the Jews, but then also to the Gentiles, winning many to Christ.
The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:22-26).
In the very early days of the church, believers in Christ were called people of “The Way” (Acts 9:2) It was in Antioch that they were first called Christians, literally “the folks of Christ.” This representation may have at first been a derogatory term, but it was soon accepted and owned with pride for the believers in Antioch and Christianity in general as is was spreading into new territories.
Sometimes we think of the Apostolic Church as holding a gospel as pure as the wind-driven snow. However, that was not the case. It is evident that in the Jewish section of the church, there were those who were “Christian Jews”—Christians who came from a Jewish background; and “Jewish Christians”—who were primarily Jews who believed in Christ. Both Jewish groups held many of the Jewish rituals. It took time to work out all the details of both groups. For the “Jewish Christians,” it appears they looked at the rituals of circumcision, food laws, and not eating with Gentiles as continual requirements even though they believed in Christ. “Christian Jews,” however, after a period of time came to realize that these rituals were no longer required and changed their attitude toward intermingling with Gentiles. It is with this background that we come to our Scripture for today.
The Importance of Table Fellowship
Table fellowship has a long and rich history in Scripture. In Genesis, we have the record of the Lord appearing to Abraham.
Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.” Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate (Gen. 18:1-8).
Later, Moses records a special meal with God.
Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank (Ex. 24:9-11).
In prophesying of the age to come, Isaiah pictured a lavish meal that would be prepared by the Lord.
The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine (Isa. 25:6).
After Jesus called Matthew from the tax booth, Matthew immediately threw a large banquet for his friends.
After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him. And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them (Lk. 5:27-29).
These references, as well as many others, speak to the concept that table fellowship is the place where meaningful communion takes place. Thus, the communion service inaugurated by Christ on the eve of the crucifixion becomes the symbol of the reality of man’s communion with God and the fellowship of believers with one another.
The Exclusion of Table Fellowship
As mentioned above, table fellowship was a means of expressing inclusion, unity, fellowship, and brotherly love. The exclusion of table fellowship carried equal weight, except it pointed to a disdain for those excluded. It was what we would call today a racist act. The roots of exclusion of table fellowship and the associated contempt also reach deep into ancient history.
When Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt, we note the contempt associated with the exclusion of table fellowship.
Then he washed his face and came out; and he controlled himself and said, “Serve the meal.” So they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is loathsome to the Egyptians (Gen. 43:31-32).
We see this disdain even between Potiphar and Joseph.
So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. (Gen. 39:6)
Jewish foreign food restrictions first appear in Judean literature of the centuries following Alexander the Great’s conquest. These restrictions reflect, in part, an effort to preserve the distinctiveness of Jewish identity within the Hellenistic world by means of separating Jews from gentiles and gentile practices. The Sages inherit these rules, the underlying notion that food practices distinguish Us from Them, and the even more fundamental concept of a binary classification of humanity into Jews and non-Jews (that is, gentiles). (See https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pn866.)
It took a direct vision from heaven repeated three times and the visible outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the home of Cornelius to persuade Peter that God is no respecter of persons.
When the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem heard that the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit, they were not concerned about what God was doing in the furtherance of the gospel, but they were concerned that Peter had eaten with the Gentiles.
Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them” (Acts 11:1-3).
With this background, we can now understand the deep issues involved with the exclusion of table fellowship in our Scripture in this lesson.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
This is perhaps one of the most insightful confrontations in church history. Peter was the chief of the Apostles. He preached on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Peter proclaimed the gospel at the home of Cornelius when he and his Gentile friends received the Holy Spirit. Paul, who received the gospel in a direct revelation from the Risen Christ, confronts Peter, opposing him to his face in the presence of all.
Peter’s Error
The Gentiles did not follow the Jewish food rules spelled out in the Torah. They ate pork and were not concerned with clean and unclean designations. They ate meat from which the blood had not been properly drained as prescribed in Leviticus. We learn from 1 Corinthians 8 that the gentiles ate meat that had been offered to pagan gods and then later sold at the meat market.
All these dietary restrictions were removed in the pure gospel of justification by faith alone. Peter knew this, and prior to the coming of members from “the circumcision party,” he ate with the Gentiles. We do not know what Peter ate. But his presence at the table was a signal that he accepted the Gentiles and as the vision of the sheet let down recorded in Acts 10. He was no longer to consider unclean what God had cleansed.
And he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky. (Acts 10:11-16).
There are some who want this episode to refer only to the Gentiles but not to the food laws of the Torah. However, it is very clear that both are in view.
After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean) (Mk. 7:14-19).
I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean (Rom. 14:14).
But food [in context, food offered to an idle] will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat (1 Cor. 8:8).
Peter’s error was three-fold: first, he was more concerned about what the circumcision party would think of him than he was with the purity of the gospel.
Second, by his actions of holding himself aloof from the Gentiles, he, as the leader that he was, influenced the others there to follow his flawed example.
The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
One can only imagine how Paul felt when he saw his partner in ministry being led astray by Peter’s example.
Third, the Gentiles present must have felt the sting of rejection. Peter acted in a way that was contrary to his true convictions. Paul stated that these events were “hypocrisy.” The Greek word was used of play-actors wearing a mask in a theatrical performance. This event was not the first time Peter had fallen into error wanting to be accepted by the people around him. We remember Peter’s three-fold denial that he knew Christ.
Here we see the courage and insight of Paul. His love for the pure gospel was such that he was not afraid to confront Peter to his face. We might ask why he did not take Peter aside and speak to him in private as recommended in the Gospels. The answer is clear. Peter had shown his hypocrisy of leaving the Gentile’s table to eat with the Jews in front of all. This act undercut the truth of the gospel in front of all who were present. The correction was needed not only for Peter but to show everyone present both the error of compromising truth and to clarify the pure gospel of justification by faith alone.
Assignment
- Read Matthew 18:15-17 and then answer the questions below.
Questions for Discussion
- The Jews in New Testament times hated and shunned the Gentiles and tax collectors. Was Jesus being racist or unloving when he said that a person who did not listen to reproof should be hated and shunned? Explain your answer.
- Paul did not follow Christ’s instructions in Matthew 18:15-17. Do you think we should always follow Christ’s instructions today? Why or why not?
- In recent times there was a church that tried taking a discipline matter to the whole church and was later sued and lost in court. Since that time, most churches will not take a discipline problem to the whole church, but just have a few elders deal with the problem. Would you agree with this modern practice? Explain your answer.
- Have you ever been involved with a person who was being disciplined by the church? Share your experience, but not the name. How did this activity end?
- How do you reconcile Christ’s instructions in Matthew 18:15-17 with what He said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:43-48?
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