Part 2-Social Behavior that Preaches an Unorthodox Gospel

What Peter vs. Paul Teaches Us About the Public Rebuke of Christian Leaders

Earlier this week, I began a series examining the conflict between the apostles Peter and Paul about table fellowship with Gentiles and what it might teach us about the public rebuke of Christian leaders. Read the first installment of the series here and then come back for part 2. 

Before we examine the gritty details of Peter and Paul’s conflict, let me set the proverbial stage by taking us back to the most difficult issues navigated by the early church and its leaders.

BACKSTORY

In Galatians 1-2, Paul offers a history regarding his gospel ministry to the Gentiles—how he was called by God’s grace (1:15) and how his ministry was approved by the Jerusalem apostles—James, Cephas, and John (2:9-10). Further, Paul references a meeting in Jerusalem, typically referred to as the “Jerusalem Council”¹ (described in Acts 15), where church leaders, notably including Peter, decided that circumcision should not be required of Gentile believers. Paul’s recap of this event in Gal 2:1-10 seems intended to persuade the Galatians on the same point. Presumably, the issue disputed at the Jerusalem Council was disputed among Christians in Galatia, some of whom were “turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all” (Gal 1:6-7).²

The Problem of Gentile Conversion

That the Galatians and Jewish converts to the way of Christ wrestled with the requirements for Gentile inclusion isn’t surprising. During the Second Temple Period, there was a general expectation that male Gentile converts to Judaism would undergo circumcision and baptism;³ this was a sign of their sincerity and zeal⁴ for participating in Israel’s covenant with God. However, many Pharisaic and Hellenistic Jews did not require circumcision for Gentile converts, and so, as there was diversity among the Jewish community regarding Gentile conversions, opinions among Jewish Christians were probably also diverse.⁵ What was likely more confounding to Jewish Christians was that Paul ultimately expected Jews and Gentiles to form “a single new community and freely interact” through shared meals and even marriage; Jewish Christians were concerned that forming this type of community would inevitably lead to a violation of purity laws.⁶

Paul’s “multiethnic gospel,”⁷ working out on the ground in Antioch, spawned difficult-to-navigate realities that led Paul to seek common ground with the Jerusalem leaders over the issue of Gentile conversion requirements. This desire flowed out of his value for unity in Antioch and in the wider church.⁸

The Council’s Decision

In Acts 15, where the council’s deliberation is recorded, Peter argues against requiring Gentile circumcision. He testifies that “God…showed that he accepted [them]....He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith” (vv. 8-9). Peter’s testimony is followed by James’ summary determination that Gentile converts should be required only to “abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood” (v. 20). While some of these requirements are moral in nature, others would “preserve the unity and peace of the church” given the cultural sensitivities of Jewish Christians.⁹ These requirements would make table fellowship between the two groups more practically achievable, without levying heavy burdens against Gentile converts.

Thus, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul establishes the narrative that 1) his gospel was not “of human origin” but from Christ (Gal 1:11) and 2) that the Jerusalem leaders endorsed “Paul’s” gospel,¹⁰ eschewed circumcision for Gentile converts, and welcomed Paul into fellowship despite his unique missional focus on ministering to Gentiles.¹¹ The facts presented in the letter are paramount in “establish[ing] [Paul’s] authority independently from Peter and the Jerusalem apostles while [also] asserting their agreement with the gospel he preached.”¹² Striking a balance between these two realities is essential for the story he conveys next.

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1. Timothy G. Gombis, Paul: A Guide for the Perplexed, (London New York: T & T Clark, 2010), 15.

2. Nijay K. Gupta, Galatians, The Story of God Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2023), 61.

3. Brett Sanner and Paul Trainor, “Mission in Tension: Paul as Ministry Advocate,” in Conflict Management and the Apostle Paul, ed. Scot McKnight and Greg Mamula (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2018), 131.

4. Scot McKnight, “The Requirements for Proselytes,” in A Light Among the Gentiles: Jewish Missionary Activity in the Second Temple Period (Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1991), 82.

5. Alan F. Segal, “The Costs of Proselytism and Conversion,” in Society of Biblical Literature One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting Seminary Papers (Presented at the Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago, IL: Scholars Press, 1988), 363, https://digital.pitts.emory.edu/s/digital-collections/item/6814#?c=&m=&s=&cv=.

6. Ibid.

7. Jarvis J. William, “Letter to the Romans,” in The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Commentary, ed. Esau McCaulley et al. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2024), Pro Quest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.theoref.idm.oclc.org/lib/dtl/detail.action?docID=31149482.

8. Gupta, Galatians, 61.

9. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “The Jerusalem Decision About Gentile Christians (15:1-35),” in The Acts of the Apostles: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New Haven & London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 1998), 538–569, accessed February 22, 2025, http://www.theologyandreligiononline.com/tarocol/encyclopedia-chapter.

10. Eric C. Redmond, “Letter to the Galatians,” in The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Commentary, ed. Esau McCaulley et al. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2024), ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.theoref.idm.oclc.org/lib/dtl/detail.action?docID=31149482.

11. Sanner et al., “Mission in Tension,” 130.

12. K.H. Jobes, “Peter,” ed. Scot McKnight, Lynn H. Cohick, and Nijay K. Gupta, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters: A Compendium of Contemporary Scholarship (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2023), accessed February 23, 2025, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.theoref.idm.oclc.org/lib/dtl/detail.action?docID=31890613.