Galatians Journal: Chapter 2, verse 12

Galatians 2:12 “Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.”

Here is the reason why Paul confronted Peter – “certain men came from James” Are these the same men who “seemed to be important” in Galatians 2:6? Regardless, these are the same types “bewitching” the Galatians (3:1) – those who would claim that one must follow Jewish law and tradition in order to be right with God. Here is a “new” tradition – “new” in the sense that its different from circumcision, Sabbath, and feast day issues – the issue of table fellowship. It was an established Jewish tradition that a practicing Jew was not supposed to share a meal with those who were ceremonially unclean. This had been a big deal with Jesus in his dealings with the Pharisees, who were critical when the Lord fellowshipped over a meal with “blatant sinners.” Here the Judiazers were now arguing that Jews shouldn’t share a table with Gentiles, because technically, the non-Jew was obviously “unclean” under the law. Obviously, this is “clearly wrong” because of its blatant ethnic discrimination – it made all non-Jewish Christians second class citizens, creating a caste system in the church. But we need to remember that the whole social construct of the early church was that of a “house church” system. Folks met in peoples' homes -- worship services were in your living room or dining room (indeed, there is little historical evidence that meetings were held in big, auditorium type settings like we are used to today until the time of Constantine, when Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire, and they had to do SOMETHING with those old pagan temples, now vacant . . .). Gatherings of Christians in those days invariably centered around a meal. Even more so, such gatherings also centered around a new tradition instituted by Jesus – the Lord’s Supper. By adopting this position, the Judiazers were basically excluding Gentiles from their worship. Indeed, this is “clearly wrong.” In Peter’s defense, he did not participate in this because he agreed with the Judiazers in principle – he did so “out of fear.” When it comes to the issues of ethnic divisions in our churches and communities, this is where all of us usually wind up – we’re afraid to boldly cross ethnic lines, afraid that “our group” will reject us, or we’re afraid of being hurt or rejected by the “other group,’ or we’re afraid of the unknown, or afraid just because of our own prejudices. It is the spirit of fear that drives ethnic issues – things like “white flight,” fear for our safety, fear for our children, our property values, even just about our traditional way of life. Fear is the spiritual gatekeeper here. It is the first line of battle in the war against racism and ethnic prejudice.