2:14\u00a0 <\/b>But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, \u201cIf you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?\u201d\u00a0<\/b>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version<\/i>. 2001 (Ga 2:14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.<\/p>\n

I’d like to think that when I was younger I had some dance moves<\/a>.\u00a0 Well, let’s just be transparent, I’d like to think that I’ve still got some dance moves.\u00a0 To dance, it requires that we feel the rhthm and keep in step with the beat.\u00a0 The rhythm of God is felt through the move of the Holy Spirit, and it requires us listening to His voice to hear and feel that rhythm.\u00a0 Later in Galatians 5:25, Paul will challenge us to “keep in step” with the Spirit.\u00a0 This requires following His leadership to keep that rhythm.\u00a0 One may ask, “what does rhythm have to do with Galatians 2:14?”.<\/p>\n

It is interesting that Paul condones the behavior of Peter and some of the church leadership as he identifies their lack of rhythm.\u00a0 Their actions were not in step with the “truth of the Gospel”.\u00a0 The hypocrisy that he had confronted them on was being out of rhythm.\u00a0 It was out of line.\u00a0 It was a sinful step in the opposite direction of God’s design.<\/p>\n

The King James Version translaters chose to describe this conduct as “not walking uprightly”.\u00a0 Whereas as being in step provides imagery of a dancing rhythm, or marching orders; upright walking provides imagery of sly, inconsistent, and dishonest behavior.<\/p>\n

The implication of 2:11 is that Paul opposed Peter face to face, and seemingly in private.\u00a0 Here in verse 14 it is clear that at some point he publicly scolded Peter in front of the church.\u00a0 We are not sure, but perhaps Paul had followed Christ’s guidlines from Matthew 18 and had reached the place where he brought it before the church.\u00a0 1 Timothy 5:20 urges that “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.<\/p>\n

Given that Peter is seldom mentioned after Acts 12-15, it could be implied that Paul’s goal of public confrontation was more for the teaching and building up of the body, rather than for the correction of Peter.<\/p>\n

The challenge for us as we read this passage is that we must first sense and walk in step with God according to the Scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Walking in rhythm with Him will prevent us from living in sin and hypocrisy.\u00a0 Additionally, He will guide us through those difficult seasons of confrontation.\u00a0 The bottom line is that life can be a dance, where we follow the lead of our God and move in His time and in His way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2:14\u00a0 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, \u201cIf you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?\u201d\u00a0The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions\/174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}