You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
11 But [de] when [hote] Peter [Petros] was come [erchomai] to [eis] Antioch, [Antiocheia] I withstood [anthistemi]
him [autos] to [kata] the face, [prosopon]
because [hoti] he was [en] to be blamed. [kataginosko]KJV-Interlinear
11 But when
Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. NASB
The Galatians were being intimidated with false beliefs which tried to incorporate circumcision into the salvation principle.
When Peter and James had both been there in prior times and on prior trips, they met with and dined with the gentiles as fellow Christians.
But when Jewish folks came around, they withdrew from the gentiles as though they were embarrassed by their association with them.
This causes certain unrest among the Galatians and uncertainty as to their own spiritual beliefs and understanding. Those trips were from many years prior.
And now Paul who is now in and among the Gentile believers, tells then straight out that he will not back down in some hypocritical form as did James and Peter, when Jewish folks come around.
So in this setting, Paul reassures the Galatians, while at the same time reprimands Peter and James for their double standard when with either gentile or Jewish believers.
This tells us that even in those early times, which covered a couple of decades, that Peter still exercised some decree of embarrassment while being associated with gentiles, when in view of Jewish folks.
Peter denied the Lord three times when Jesus was arrested, and now many years later he still demonstrates some degree of embarrassment and not a very strong adherence toward Christian principle. Tradition was still controlling his soul, as it were.
Remember that when Paul was first contacted by Jesus, on that road to Damascus, he went to learn for three years and then was away from Judea for another fourteen years before his well known travels and writing began. This meeting now with Peter was then quite some time after the events of the cross.
By then, Peter and especially James who were viewed as pillars of that early church, should have known better, but still had their weaknesses, obviously.
Paul stood firm in the truth. They vacillated in their beliefs.
Most folks consider the apostles as all being unmovable pillars in Christianity, but as we can seem, they had their flaws.
Every Christian has flaws and even though we all have varying degrees of knowledge and faith, we all are still exposed to flaws and failures. We can all stumble.
But the very best way to avoid stumbling is to glue yourself to a daily bible study and stay glued for the rest of your life.
No matter who you are, and no matter who you think you are, you will never know it all even in a thousand lifetimes of study. So make the best of this one single life that God has given you, and learn as much as you possibly can.
If you cannot learn it all in several lifetimes, then you cannot afford to waste time in this one life which is all that you have.
And once you learn doctrine, then expect that God will test your faith. Problems will come along in your life and that is when your true faith and stability come out.
Throughout history, people are tested in many ways. Often times those tests can go on for years or even decades and under the most dire of circumstances. This then is your test.
Where is your breaking point? It is a day of hardship, a month, a year, a decade?
What is your breaking point, a broken finger nail, a lost job, a lost family, a death, a handicap, simply the unknowns of tomorrow?
The circumstances of your life are irrelevant. What is relevant, is your knowledge of doctrine and your application of doctrine to your life. That application, builds up faith and faith is the muscle and strength for your endurance against any hardship or challenge from life.
And it all begins with your daily study. That is the only mechanism for your learning doctrine. Do not diminish it. Do not mock it. Do not waste your learning opportunities.
