“I opposed him to his face.”

“But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all…”

In today’s society, Paul would have been accused of “judging” Cephas. Our weak theology would have made Paul the bad guy in this story, wondering in disbelief who he must think he is to call someone out like that. “Love!”, we would tell him, “Don’t judge!” But at some point, we have to realize that if Paul hadn’t “judged” Cephas in this, the gospel would have been lost. Without this harsh confrontation, we would have no freedom in Christ. Our faith would have been reduced to following rules and showing up to temple.

Thank God for Paul’s example (and dozens of others in our New Testament) that give us the courage to stand up for truth in a world that desperately just wants us to play nice until we forget what we believe in.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

☆☆☆☆☆

Judgement: to declare someone too bad to be saved by God. SIN.

Correction: to love someone enough to hold them up to the standard of the gospel; to love others enough to protect the truth of the gospel. EXPECTED CONDUCT FOR BELIEVERS.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, may we know and trust the TRUTH well enough to oppose any other version of Christianity than the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.