When I was in middle school years, there was someone I looked up to who was a couple of years older than me. She was edgy and cool and popular with guys. I told her some things in private to try to impress her and she went to school and shared it. The thing was it wasn’t even about me. I shared private things about people I cared about and then she used it against them. When they confronted me, I tried to tell them I never meant to hurt them, but they felt betrayed. They eventually forgave me but never really forgot it completely. I felt awful. They were right to confront me. It taught me to be careful who I tried to impress and what it might cost.
An example of Biblical Confrontation
Paul and Barnabas had just received the right hand of fellowship from the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem, confirming they agree and are on equal footing in sharing the Gospel. In the very next verse Paul says he opposed Peter to his face because he was clearly out of line. WHOA! What is the heinous crime Peter committed that Paul was not willing to let go?
Even though Paul moves swiftly in his letter, there is actually a number of years between Paul and Barnabas leaving Jerusalem in Galatians 2:10 and Peter visiting the Christian Church in Antioch in 2:11. But why the face to face confrontation? The conservative Jewish clique, also known as the Circumcision Party, came into town pretending to be sent by James and having his authority as an apostle.2,3 Peter feared them and so he withdrew and separated himself from the new Gentile believers. Peter is also an apostle with God given authority. Before these men showed up, he was enjoying his fellowship with Jew and Gentile alike. Now he was acting like a hypocrite. Peter didn’t believe you had to be circumcised or follow Jewish table regulations to be saved.4 He had been freed of that. Yet he still yielded to the pressure from the popular party and influenced other Jews to behave similarly. Even Paul’s own mission’s partner, Barnabas, went along with this charade. Instead of sulking in silence, licking his wounds, Paul goes right to the source to confront the situation.
Why the public showdown?
If Peter had just hurt their feelings by his treatment of these new believers, Paul could have gone to Peter in private to confront his pretense and insincerity and show him how he was discouraging his brothers and sisters in Christ. However, the Truth of the Gospel was at stake. Peter, an influential leader in the church, had made this a public showdown by his public conduct. So nothing other than a public head on collision would do. John Stott says in his commentary on Galatians, “Paul’s outstanding courage on this occasion in resisting Peter preserved both the Truth of the Gospel and the international brotherhood of the Church;” God always intended for Jews and Gentiles to be united with One Lord, One Table.5
Peter’s actions communicated that a person must be saved by faith AND human effort to have a right standing before God. His conduct threatened the very reason Jesus Christ came to die. No human can stand before a Holy God and be declared right or okay simply by trying to obey a moral code or certain rules. It doesn’t work. The entire Old Testament pointed to a need for a Savior whose blood sacrifice alone atoned for our sins. When God looks at us, He sees paid in full. If there was any other way, Christ would not have had to die.
Am I willing to confront sin today?
I am not one to avoid confrontation like many in the church who avoid it at all cost. Learning to live free in Christ includes unity in the church. However, even if I have the courage to be uncomfortable, do I have the discernment to know when it should be a public versus private confrontation?
I have found stepping back and honestly examining my motivation helps me determine when and how to confront others. If I am just trying to prove I am right and they are wrong, that is not going to end well. However, if I truly care for a fellow believer, and I communicate I love them and genuinely want God’s best for their life, the outcome has the opportunity to be different. I am not in control of how it plays out; I yield that to the Holy Spirit. I may not see the results for years, if ever on this side of heaven. Knowing I have lovingly preserved the Truth entrusted to me is enough. Even if it is hard. Because I have already concluded God is enough. If it’s just God and me standing alone, I will still be okay.
Paul Opposes Peter
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 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.[a]13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 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?”
