The news that Paul and Barnabas brought back from their tour of Turkey was well received at Antioch. The disciples there had been pioneers in setting the good news of the Kingdom of God before people who were not of Jewish birth. It was from Antioch the two travellers had set out to cast the gospel net into Gentile waters further west, and the obvious success of their mission, the miracles God had allowed them to work, and the many baptisms they had witnessed would bring a warm glow of excitement to their supporters and friends.
The rejoicing, unfortunately, was not universal, as we shall see. There seems to have been a regular line of communication at that time between Antioch and Jerusalem, and news of Paul and Barnabas' work filtered through to the capital. Before long Peter came up to Antioch, his visit being noted in Paul's letter to the Galatians (Galatians 2:11). Peter himself had no qualms about the baptising of Gentiles, and was happy to enjoy their fellowship and eat at their table, as he had done previously when he preached to Cornelius, the centurion at Caesarea.
However, while Peter was staying at Antioch a nasty cloud of dissension began to creep across the horizon. Most members of the congregation at Jerusalem were Jews, brought up in the Law of Moses. Some of them felt very strongly that Paul's Gentile converts ought to be circumcised, as Abraham's descendants had been for thousands of years. Zealous to put their Gentile brethren right, they took down their travelling cloaks and set off for Antioch, the centre of Christianity.
Their arguments were persuasive. Circumcision, they could argue, was the sign of the covenant between God and his people. It went back in time even further than the Law, to Abraham, the founder of the faith. Jesus and all the apostles had been circumcised, and Jesus had at no time called for the rite to be withdrawn. If God had once called circumcision an "everlasting covenant", what right had Paul to cancel it? They went so far as to insist that "unless you are circumcised … you cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1)
Peter was impressed by their arguments. He began to feel guilty at the way he mixed freely with Gentile Christians, and decided it was wrong to go to their houses. Peter was an influential person, being a chief apostle, and others followed his example. To Paul's disgust, Barnabas, his loyal friend, joined the opposition. "Even Barnabas", he writes bitterly in Galatians "was carried away" (Galatians 2:11).
How would you have felt if you were a newly baptised Gentile at Antioch, when your Jewish brothers and sisters, embarrassed, began to turn you the cold shoulder? Suppose these teachers from Jerusalem were right. Would you be prepared to undergo a painful operation, to ensure that you would be saved? The congregation rocked with argument and dissent, and the love and joy of a year ago was fading rapidly.
For Paul, the situation was a crisis of the first order. If circumcision was regarded to be essential, he could see his whole work among the Gentiles collapsing in ruins. Furthermore, he believed the visitors from Judea were less than sincere in their motives. "I saw" he writes "that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel" (Galatians 2:14). To Paul, their zeal for the Law was a form of egotism; they were like Red Indians, out collecting scalps to boost their own reputation. He knew something about zeal for the Law himself, but his early crusades against the Christians always sprang from a genuine desire to defend the Law from attack. These 'Judaisers' as they have been labelled, were trying to compromise following Jesus with their old, comfortable Jewish pride as the chosen race. With Peter and Barnabas already won over, the spotlight fell on Paul as those who were undecided looked for a lead.
Painting of Peter and Paul by El Greco 1541–1614
Paul was never one to give way on a matter of principle. To him, the 'truth of the gospel' was more important than his reputation and the reaction of his friends. He had proved that already, when he gave up his career as a Pharisee. He saw Peter as a key figure in the battle of Antioch. Peter, under pressure, was always inclined to be fearful when he most needed to be bold. He had knuckled under once before, at the trial of Jesus. Although the fisherman was older, and one of the original twelve, Paul decided on open debate with him. "I said to Cephas (Peter) before them all, 'if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile … how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?'" (Galatians 2:14).
