‘Before some came away from James, he [Peter] was eating with Gentiles. But when they came he shrunk back and separated himself, fearful of those from out of circumcision, 13 and the remainder of Jews also played the part with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away together with their acting the part’, (Galatians 2 v 12, 13).
Paul states that because of the free gift of the Messiah, when it comes to Christians there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. Previously, Jews, as God’s chosen ethnic group, separated themselves away from other nations, races and tribes – referred to in Scripture as ‘Gentiles’ or ‘Greeks’. Jews did not eat with Gentiles. But Peter, as a Christian Jew, had embraced what was for him this new equality and so he ate with Gentile Christians.
But in Antioch, some Jews came away from James, though they were not necessarily authorised by him, (Acts 15 v 24), and they were emphatic in re-emphasising traditional Jewish practices, including Jews not eating with ‘unclean’ Gentile ‘outsiders’. They also emphasised the requirement of Covenant law, that males who were seeking to serve God were to be circumcised. This was originally an instruction to Abraham, patriarch of the Jews, and later this instruction was enshrined in the written codes of divine law. It was the first injunction for Jews and it was also a requirement for Gentile males who sought to embrace the worship and service of YHVH by becoming Jewish proselytes.
So when these rather assertive Jews appeared on the scene, Peter became fearful of them, and he shrunk back and separated himself from eating with Gentiles, contrary to the gospel. Then other Jewish or Hebrew Christians also began to behave in the same way, carried away by this fear and by what their fellow Jews were doing. Even Barnabas was caught up in this. But Paul was not happy with this situation at all.
