"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 from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group." (NIV)
Paul justifies this passage very clearly later in his letter to the Galatians when he says, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently" (Galatians 6:1). Peter's sin that Paul had to correct was that he (Peter) was refusing to dine with "unclean" Gentiles. And this was not the first time he had had trouble accepting the "unclean" as actually being clean: even after Jesus had taught that all animals were acceptable as clean food, Peter had to be reminded of this in a vision years later, and now he was being reminded again by Paul. Nothing God has made clean is to be called unclean, and that includes Gentile Christians.
Peter's sin was more than this, however. In verse 12, Paul writes that Peter used to eat with Gentiles, but when the deceivers came, he returned to his old ways. After experiencing God's grace and sharing it with Gentiles, he heard a teaching and changed his mind—he, Peter, the "rock" upon which Jesus would build the church, returned to sin because of something said by someone who had no testimony of a personal encounter with Christ. Why? "[Because] he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group." But Jesus said in Luke 12:4-5, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him." Obviously, Peter forgot these words, so Paul personally exposed his wrong and restored him to the right path: the path of total acceptance of all who have been saved by faith, not by works.
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