Rebuking in Love – Day 1

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 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. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" - Galatians 2:11-21


How’s this for a tense moment? What do you do when Peter and Paul – two of the most famous church leader of all time – have a disagreement? Paul knew Peter was tempted to drift back into his old ways, but those old way jeopardized the gospel. It would have taught people to live by works instead of grace. To Paul, the gospel was worth defending, even though it meant rebuking Peter in public. And in Peter’s letters we see no hostility whenever he mentions Paul. So we know this event didn’t ultimately divide them. The real question for you is this: Would you confront a friend in order to defend the gospel?

Is the gospel worth jeopardizing a friendship over? Why or why not?

Ask God to show you how to balance patience, love, and confrontation.