Paul rebukes Peter -- Why was Peter afraid? (Gal 2:11-13)

[kelvinf]

Gal 2:11-13 (TEV)

11But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him in public, because he was clearly wrong. 12Before some men who had been sent by James arrived there, Peter had been eating with the Gentile believers. But after these men arrived, he drew back and would not eat with the Gentiles, because he was afraid of those who were in favor of circumcising them. 13The other Jewish believers also started acting like cowards along with Peter; and even Barnabas was swept along by their cowardly action.

Why was Peter of all people afraid and acting hypocritically? He was afraid during the passion of Christ and rejected Jesus 3 times and he wasn’t present at the foot of the cross.

What can be said about these attitudes of Peter?

 

[PLeeD]

One thing to be said is that he was prone to acting more like sand than rock.

It makes me question on what rock Jesus would build His church. Is it on Peter, or on Peter’s proclamation that Jesus is the son of God?

 

[puzzleannie]

Gal 2:11-13 (TEV)

Why was Peter of all people afraid and acting hypocritically? He was afraid during the passion of Christ and rejected Jesus 3 times and he wasn’t present at the foot of the cross.

What can be said about these attitudes of Peter?

that he was the first typical Joe Catholic in the pews, afraid to get up, get out and get going with evangelization. That walking on the water thing taught him the key lesson he kept returning to all during his life and mission, what Paul came to learn as well, without Christ one can do nothing, with Christ one can do everything. They both had to learn it, progressively, in different ways, throughout their lives.

What is different about Peter is that he overcame fear and learned, through every triumph over fear, how to be strong in Christ. Some never get out of the boat (pew) in the first place so they never find this out.

 

[Barbkw]

**St. Paul **was a Jewish pharisee, trained under Gamaliel.

Pharisee defined:

A member of an ancient Jewish sect that emphasized strict interpretation and observance of the Mosaic law in both its oral and written form.

**Who was Gamailiel **- from New Advent:

Gamaliel is represented in Acts 5:34 sqq., as advising his fellow-members of the Sanhedrin not to put to death St. Peter and the Apostles, who, notwithstanding the prohibition of the Jewish authorities, had continued to preach to the people.

His advice, however unwelcome, was acted upon, so great was his authority with his contemporaries.

We learn from Acts 22:3, that he was the teacher of St. Paul; but we are not told either the nature or the extent of the influence which he exercised upon the future apostle of the Gentiles.

Gamaliel is rightly identified with an illustrious Jewish doctor of the Law, who bore the same name and died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem.

In the Talmud, this Gamaliel bears, like his grandfather Hillel, the surname of “the Elder”, and is the first to whom the title “Rabban”, “our master”, was given. He appears therein, as in the book of the Acts, as a prominent member of the highest tribunal of the Jews.

He is also treated as the originator of many legal ordinances; as the father of a son, whom he called Simeon, after his father’s name, and of a daughter who married the priest Simon ben Nathanael.

**St. Peter **was the average practicing Jew, a fisherman.

I wholeheartedly, understand his apprehension at changing Jewish religious law (and practice) that was at least 1,000 years old.

Peter, however listened to Paul’s and to the other Apostles’ council and then he made decisions that would formally structure Christianity.

 

[Totterman]

Jesus,our Lords peace be whit You.
St.Peter wos the rock Jesus choose to build His Church. Why Jesus shoosed St.Peter is not a thing we need to know,and furthermoore,what realy happend between St.Paul and St.Peter we know only by St.Pauls wiew. And I see it wrong to even ask a question like this. It is not only a question that put St.Peter,and whit him,every Pope since that,but also Jesus judgement. OK,St.Peter wos not brave,that we know,but so did Jesus,in the end,however,he wos brave,braver then You or me. So please,don’t judge things we don’t need to know,or where we have only one wiew,infact,stop judging at all,that is not our thing to do. Jesus knew St.Peter would “do the job right” in the end,what moore wos expected,to do Gods will is the thing we all need to do,and one thing,that we realy don’t know much about,we have only St.Pauls side of the story,will not take anything from St.Peters job as the first Pope,and the one Jesus choose,and Jesus don’t do mistakes. I personaly,and I say it one moore time,and only as my own opinion,as interesting some questions are,I also find them against our faith. Faith means to trust,and who can we trust if not Jesus? We always need to see the whole picture,not a short quote from The Bible,so in my opinion,don’t ask questions You can figure out by yourself. I know I can be tossed out from this forum whit that line,but if so happens,it is worth it,I defend Jesus words and the Catholic Church and faith to the end.
Blessings,
Totterman

 

[Third_Day]

Gal 2:11-13 (TEV)Why was Peter of all people afraid and acting hypocritically? He was afraid during the passion of Christ and rejected Jesus 3 times and he wasn’t present at the foot of the cross.

What can be said about these attitudes of Peter?

We can’t under estimate the conflict between the early Church leaders and the Judaizers. Even Paul gave in to their pressure when he had Timothy circumcized “because of the Jews that were in those places” Acts. 16:3

Peter, like Paul, gave in to peer pressure from his Jewish brothers. Peter was after all human.
Our of fear all of the apostles, except John, ran and hid during the crucifixion. What we are seeing is their humanity. As their faith grew all of them, except John, were martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ. In the end Peter was not afraid or a hyprocrite.

 

[Ralph4454]

Jesus,our Lords peace be whit You.
St.Peter wos the rock Jesus choose to build His Church. Why Jesus shoosed St.Peter is not a thing we need to know,and furthermoore,what realy happend between St.Paul and St.Peter we know only by St.Pauls wiew. And I see it wrong to even ask a question like this. It is not only a question that put St.Peter,and whit him,every Pope since that,but also Jesus judgement. OK,St.Peter wos not brave,that we know,but so did Jesus,in the end,however,he wos brave,braver then You or me. So please,don’t judge things we don’t need to know,or where we have only one wiew,infact,stop judging at all,that is not our thing to do. Jesus knew St.Peter would “do the job right” in the end,what moore wos expected,to do Gods will is the thing we all need to do,and one thing,that we realy don’t know much about,we have only St.Pauls side of the story,will not take anything from St.Peters job as the first Pope,and the one Jesus choose,and Jesus don’t do mistakes. I personaly,and I say it one moore time,and only as my own opinion,as interesting some questions are,I also find them against our faith. Faith means to trust,and who can we trust if not Jesus? We always need to see the whole picture,not a short quote from The Bible,so in my opinion,don’t ask questions You can figure out by yourself. I know I can be tossed out from this forum whit that line,but if so happens,it is worth it,I defend Jesus words and the Catholic Church and faith to the end.
Blessings,
Totterman

I couldn’t have said it better brother.

 

[VetA]

Gal 2:11-13 (TEV)

Why was Peter of all people afraid and acting hypocritically? He was afraid during the passion of Christ and rejected Jesus 3 times and he wasn’t present at the foot of the cross.

What can be said about these attitudes of Peter?

because peter is a human, humans can be wrong, humans are not gods

 

[steve53]

It took a gutsy Nazarene to stand up to the early Christians, who were all Jewish, and advocate that not only could non-Jews become Christians, but they did not have to be circumcised as a prerequisite for admission. Peter did not quite have the stuff, but Paul did. Remember, the leader of the Jerusalem Christian Church at the time was James, the brother of Jesus himself!

 

[zarthan]

Gal 2:11-13 (TEV)

Why was Peter of all people afraid and acting hypocritically? He was afraid during the passion of Christ and rejected Jesus 3 times and he wasn’t present at the foot of the cross.

What can be said about these attitudes of Peter?

Possibly we need to understand the dynamics of the situation. Paul says, “On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter to the circumcised, for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the circumcised worked also in me for the Gentiles…”(Gal.2:7-9.)

There was a tension between observing Jews who were disciples of Jesus Christ and unobserving Gentiles who were disciples of Jesus Christ. Peter’s apostolate was to the Jewish people, Paul’s apostolate was to the Gentiles. James the bishop, or spiritual leader of Jerusalem was entrusted with jurisdictional spiritual authority in Jerusalem and in the surrounding cities. Peter may have felt obligated in his loyalty to his apostolate to the Jewish people to behave the way he did. It may have appeared to Paul that Peter and Barnabas were acting hypocritically.

Later, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 " To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law–though I myself an not under the law—to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law–though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ—to win over those outside the law."

The apostle Paul was a true believer in the interpretation of the gospel that was given to him in his apostolate to the Gentiles. He would not compromise in this, and he may have been overly zealous and not always mindful of the apostolate that Peter had to the Jewish people. This tension did not diminish immediately after the martyrdom of Peter and Paul.

There were occasional differences between the churches that Paul established and the churches established by Peter and John for the next hundreds of years…mainly over Jewish liturgy and holy days, and also interpretation of scriptures from a Hebrew and Greek perspective.

 

[Pete_Holter]

Greetings, brother!

Augustine talks about Peter being rebuked by Paul in Letter 28, Letter 40, and Letter 82.

I love Augustine’s comments here:

“It was necessary for [Paul] to say this to Peter in front of everyone so that by Peter’s rebuke everyone might be put right. For it would not have been useful to correct in private an error that had done its harm in public. Here I might add that out of steadfastness and love Peter – to whom the Lord had said three times, ‘Do you love me? Feed my sheep’ (John 21: 15-17) – was entirely willing to endure this rebuke from a junior shepherd for the salvation of the flock. Moreover, it was in his rebuke that the one being rebuked proved the more admirable and difficult to imitate. For it is easy to see what you would correct in someone else and to proceed to do so by censure and criticism. It is not so easy to see what ought to be corrected in yourself and to be willing to be corrected even by yourself, let alone by another, and that a junior, and all this in front of everyone! Now this incident serves as a great example of humility, which is the most valuable Christian training, for by humility love is preserved. For nothing violates love more quickly than pride. And therefore the Lord did not say, ‘Take my yoke and learn from me, because I raise four-day-old corpses from the tomb and cast out all demons and diseases from people’s bodies’, and other such things, but rather, ‘Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart’ (Matt. 11: 29)”
Augustine’s Commentary on Galatians).

In Christ,
Pete