Galatians 2:11-21
In the reading for this Sunday, Paul relates the story of a time when Peter lost sight of who he was—in a sense. Rather, he latched onto his old, safe, and comfortable identity as a Jew rather than holding insistently to his new and eternal identity as a follower of Jesus. This move on his part ended up fracturing the community of Christians in Antioch. Paul will have none it--possibly or even probably because he has made the same mistake along the way. Paul calls Peter out on this.
Part of the irony of this scene is found in the fact that Peter himself is the one who was there first, who was used first, to open the door of ministry and proclamation to Gentiles. In Acts 10, Peter has a vision of a sheet let down from heaven with “all kinds of four-legged animals, reptiles, and wild birds.” Though encouraged to “kill and eat,” Peter refuses because some of the animals are unclean. A voice responds, “What God had declared clean do not consider unclean.” Peter, stirred from the vision by a knock at the door, goes then to share the gospel at the home of a Roman Centurian (Cornelius) and realizes then and there that the vision was God’s call to move beyond the Jewish circles…to actually go from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria…and to the ends of the earth. “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him. This is the message of peace he sent to the Israelites by proclaiming the good news through Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all!” (Acts 10:34-36).
We know that Peter learns the lesson from the confrontation with Paul in Antioch because Peter writes in his letter to the churches just some years later, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light. Once you weren’t a people, but now you are God’s people.” (1 Peter 2:9-10) He knows who he is.
Peter needed to hear those words Paul declares to Peter and for the Galatians who are embracing this new and enduring identity: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:19-20)
Who are we? What is our primary, central identity? Besides being parents or children or siblings, beyond what our employment puts on us, even more than our birth identity or citizenship, we are followers of Jesus, Christians. And, when we keep that primary and central identity consciously at the forefront of our minds, all of the rest of our necessary identities are impacted and shaped. As a follower of Jesus first, the kind of father I am, the type of husband I strive to be, the employee/employer I am, the way I vote, how I treat my neighbors—all of these are shaped and formed out of my primary, central identity.
Indeed, we must recall (at times be reminded), that above all else, we are followers of Jesus: “We died to the law (and anything else!) so that we might live for God. We have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. The life we now live in the body, we live by faith in the Son of God, who loves us and gave himself for us.” When we hold on to this truth of who we are in God (no matter where we are or what we are doing), we are able to live more consistently authentic lives. This identity and self-understanding shapes our conversations, our actions, our reactions, our decision-making, our voting, our goals, our dreams, our desires…and others will see in us who and Whose we really are. Amen.
Sunday, June 14,
2026
Galatians – Paul
Takes On Peter
Watch/Listen: HERE
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