Paul Confronts The Rock

Author

Wes Schaeffer
October 07, 2020

From today’s reading…

When I saw, though, that their behaviour was not true to the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, ‘Since you, though you are a Jew, live like the gentiles and not like the Jews, how can you compel the gentiles to live like the Jews?’” Galatians 2:14

Paul, formerly Saul, was proud of how he stood up to Cephas (the Rock), formerly Simon because Cephas, i.e. Peter, was the top dog, the dude with the keys, the man with the power to bind and loose on earth and in heaven.

Why did Paul stand up to the Rock?

Because the Rock was acting in a manner that was not ideal to maximizing the spreading of the Good News, so Paul argued his case and won, then bragged about it to the Galatians.

Did it bother Cephas?

Maybe, but we don’t read about it in the New Testament.

I bet since the Rock was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he knew Paul was as well, that he took the lesson to heart, saw how his well-meaning actions of reaching across the aisle in an attempt to connect with the gentiles were actually causing an issue with their Jewish brethren, and changed his ways and didn’t give it another thought.

Accepting caring criticism from your brothers and applying what you learn is the only way to…

Stay the course. Keep the faith. Endure.

Now go sell something.