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?” (Galatians 2:14 ESV) This passage teaches us the importance of standing one’s ground in terms of belief. It’s one thing to flip-flop on a scheduled or planned activity, such as not going to social event even after confirming your invite; but it is totally a different animal when people’s faith are shaken because you can’t decide whether you want to be accepted by a dominate culture group or not. What was going on here was that Peter (known as Cephas in this passage) had no problem “mixing it” up with recent converts to the faith. Meaning that in the beginning Peter went to the BBQs that were serving ribs and bacon. But as soon as people from his previous life came, things started to catch up to him and he decided to do things that he didn’t do while at Antioch (a city in Galatia) but he did while at Jerusalem. In fact, so that he could be looked upon favorably by his former peoples, he withdrew from his current peoples, as if he was ashamed of his new found friends. Then, he took it one step further– he told the new friends, who were distinctly unlike his old friends, to be more like his old friends, although he himself was nothing like them. In plain English, we call this “hypocrisy.” We’re not talking about hypocrisy in its general sense because at the end of the day, we’re all hypocrites. There are no “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts” about it. What we are trying to address is the issue of having a double standard and/or placing unnecessary burdens upon others piety. For example, I know for a fact that most people are far from perfect in their relationships. Despite their outward austerity, the chinks in their facade tell us ever so subtly that things aren’t as perfect. Yet, these imperfect people have the nerve to tell you that your imperfect relationships with your imperfect people need to be more perfect in order to be accepted into the “perfect relationship crew.” Yes, as ridiculous as that sounds, this is us on a daily basis. If that’s too abstract for you, take for example the person that tells you that your health problems are related to your poor eating habits. And they tell this to you as they eat their second Big Mac and Strawberry Milkshake, while complaining about their back problems. Enough said. The Apostle Paul makes it a point to the people of these churches to do two things: first, to stand in line with the Spirit of the Gospel; and secondly, to only hold people accountable to what you hold yourself to. As for standing in line with the Spirit of the Gospel (notice the capitalized “S” in Spirit), what I mean by this is to allow people the same grace that God allowed for you in forgiving your shortcomings. I know it’s easier to condemn everybody else, but really, the Spirit of the Gospel says, “stop and breathe and then be patient.” Just because a person is not what you want or expect doesn’t mean that they will never become. Likewise, you’re still an imperfect being currently being perfected throughout life. Realize that the Spirit of Good News is working in them also. As for the second point, and this is where I ask where your backbone is, somebody who is spineless holds people to a standard unattainable to even themselves out of fear of being found out. You see, there is an undermining psychology within us that says we will not be found out by a dominant culture if we ridicule and abuse a non dominant one. That’s a lie! It shows us to be spineless and it goes against the Spirit of the Gospel that tells us to walk with those who are unworthy of being walked with. The question for all of us today, as we prepare for Sunday’s message on Galatians 3 is this: how are we living a spineless life without the Spirit of the Gospel within us? And how can we start taking a stand for the Gospel that saves us every single day?
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