2:11-17 Why did Paul oppose Peter publicly?
2:11-17 Why did Paul oppose Peter publicly?
Because what Peter did was clearly wrong (cp V11).
Until the Judaizers - the legalistic Jews from the church in Jerusalem came to Antioch, Peter openly fellowshipped with the Gentile Christians. But as soon as the Judaizers came he stopped for fear of what they might do.
The Jewish Christians also stopped and it threatened to split the church, turning Jewish and Gentile Christians against each other. Barnabas even got involved too (cp Ga 2:12-13).
What Peter did was such a contradiction of the fundamental truth of the gospel of grace, and so hypocritical, that Paul had to publicly rebuke him (cp V14).
Why it was so hypocritical on Peter's part is because it was Peter whom God used to settle the issue of Jews and Gentiles fellowshipping in the first place (cp Ac 10:28-35 and 11:1-18).
By withdrawing from fellowship with the Gentiles, Peter was obeying the letter of the law he knew had been set aside by God, and was ignoring its significance - that it was a temporary measure for the time of the Old Testament dispensation, to be cancelled at the cross of Christ.
Peter knew as well as Paul that no one can be justified before God except by faith alone in Christ, yet he added works to the gospel of grace just to please men - the Judaizers from the Jerusalem church (cp Ga 2:15-21).
In publicly resisting Peter, Paul showed that his apostolic office gave him the right to stand against any wrong conduct in the church and demonstrated his independence as an apostle.
But we also learn from this that Christians must always remain in communion with each other regardless of sectarian affiliation (cp Lk 9:49-50).