for before that certain came from James, he ate with [those of] the nations; but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those of [the] circumcision;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and the rest of the Jews also played the same dissembling part with him; so that even Barnabas was carried away too by their dissimulation.
At Antioch, Jewish and Gentile believers ate at the same table. Then that table emptied. Peter pulled back first, the other Jewish believers followed, and even Barnabas went with them. How does a group of sincere people end up acting against what they know is true?
Paul does not accuse anyone of changing their mind. He accuses them of behaving against a conviction they still held.
"Dissimulation," that is, hypocrisy, is Paul's word for it, because they were acting straight against their own conscientious convictions. Truly, "the fear of man lays a snare" — even on apostles of Christ!
That distinction explains how the failure spread. No argument had changed anyone's mind.
Peter withdrew and separated himself. He did not do it because he was convinced he had done wrong. He simply gave way to the opposition he feared, where Paul had not given way. Such an example in such a place soon did great harm. The other Jews put on the same act with him. Again, it was not conviction, but a backward move made despite their convictions.
Reputation works in two directions. It makes a man give way, and it makes others copy him.
What a poor thing man is! We are weak in proportion to our importance before men. When we are nothing, we can do all things, as far as human opinion is concerned. At the same time, we have a bad influence on others in the same measure that they influence us. And they influence us in the measure that we give in to the desire to keep our reputation with them. Even the respect people rightly give us becomes a means of evil.
Paul names Barnabas last, and with surprise. Of all people, he had the most credentials and the least excuse.
That the other Jews should follow their leader may not be surprising. But what can we say when we see even Paul's own fellow-worker led astray! He had worked with Paul in the gospel. He had joined him in planting Gentile churches everywhere. He had served with such acceptance and blessing in this very church. He of all people should have been proof against such a thing. The Spirit describes him elsewhere as "a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith." ... It is not safe to follow even "a good man," as many in our own day can sadly testify. In such crises, the eye must be off men and fixed on the Lord, to reach a sound judgment.
This looked like table manners. It was the gospel. The old dispute had come back in new clothes. The argument sounded reasonable.
If they could not make Gentile converts live like Jews, then those who had been Jews should certainly keep apart from them. So the dividing wall would go back up in practice... True, no word of God imposed the law of Moses on the Gentiles. But the word of God had clearly imposed the law on the children of Israel. Must not all such still keep it? If so, they must then separate socially from other Christians. Paul and Barnabas had defended the stronghold of Christian truth with success. Now it seemed about to surrender without conditions.
With Barnabas gone, Paul had no one left beside him.
He had once been the strictest of Pharisees, full of zeal for the law. Yet by grace he held his ground. He stepped into the gap and preserved the truth for the whole Church of God. At that moment he was, you could say, the one strand of the rope that kept the whole from breaking.
The rebuke was public and humiliating. What it left behind in Peter is the surprise.
Peter forgot how Paul had opposed him to his face at Antioch, and had to shame him in front of them all. This is what grace can do. Grace is a fine thing, and this is a fine touch of it, as the curtain falls on the Apostle Peter. Whatever the scene at Antioch had stirred up in his heart was settled forever. He simply loved Paul, and loved him all the more because of his faithfulness.
- Fear starts it. Peter did not change his convictions; he gave way to opposition he feared. The snare is the fear of man, not bad doctrine.
- Reputation spreads it. The bigger our name, the weaker we are. The respect others give us becomes the channel our failure travels along.
- "Even Barnabas" measures it. Even a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, went along with it. No name is safe to follow with the eye off the Lord.
- The gospel pays for it. What looked like a question of who eats with whom was the old wall between Jew and Gentile going back up, and the truth of the gospel surrendered in practice.
- One man can hold it. Paul stood alone, the one strand that kept the rope from breaking. The friendship survived too, because grace outlasts a rebuke.