The Significance of the Gospel

An Evaluation of the Significance of The Antioch Crisis

This essay was for by New Testament course in seminary, Spring 2024. I deal with issues of church unity and the priority of the Gospel. I hope it encourages some of you, for what it’s worth.

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Evaluate the significance of the Antioch crisis (Gal. 2:11-14) for the early church. What applications can be drawn from this incident for the contemporary church?

Introduction

This essay is an evaluation of the significance of the Antioch crisis of Galatians 2:11-14. The Apostle Paul describes this crisis in his letter to the Galatian churches. His account is crucial, describing one of Christianity’s defining events. This essay will first explore the significance of the Antioch crisis to the early church by understanding the historical context and theological content of the passage. At the same time, this essay will also evaluate the significance of the event for the contemporary church.

The Significance of Time and Place

There are two views as to the time this event took place. “The majority view holds that Gal 2:1–10 relates to Acts 15 and that, therefore, the Antioch crisis occurred after the Jerusalem council.”[1] The minority view holds that Galatians 2:1-10 relates to Acts 11, and that therefore Galatians 2:11-14 occurs before the Jerusalem council. According to the minority view, Paul would have written Galatians after his first missionary journey, around 46-49 AD.[2] In the majority view, the crisis would have occurred after Acts 16:6 and 18:23, placing the crisis at least after 54 A.D, and likely during or after Paul’s third missionary journey (see Image 1).[3]

Image 1 – J. B. Phillips, “Book 9 – Paul’s Letter to the Galatians,” n.d., https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CPn09Galatians.htm

Both arguments for both the majority view and the minority view have credibility.[4] However, a full account of the arguments for and against each position would extend the scope of this essay.[5] While these considerations are important, coming to a conclusion concerning the time and location of the Antioch crisis does not drastically determine the significance of the event for the early church, or for the church today.

If (according to the minority view) the Antioch crisis occurred before the Jerusalem council, [6] on Paul’s famine relief visit in Acts 11:27-30,[7] or during his travels in Acts 13-14,[8] the crisis set the stage for the council and was likely a major consideration in its decisions. Acts 15 would therefore show the unification of the Apostles and the church around the Gospel. If (according to the majority view) the Antioch crisis occurs after the Jerusalem council, the reconciliation of Paul and Peter in this event saved the church from a schism unlike any other: a division between two Apostles on the Gospel. In either case, it is hard to imagine a more significant event for the early church. Equally, in either case, the significance of the crisis for the early church lies in the meaning and implications of the Gospel and the issues themselves, not in the time or location of the event itself, nor in what events precedes or follows the crisis.

The Main Issue

Paul writes that the real significance of the event lay in “the truth of the Gospel” (Galatians 2:14). Paul was not concerned about eating or not eating certain meats, or about Peter living a certain way out of custom.[9] After all, “To live as a Jew is nothing bad. To eat or not to eat pork, what difference does it make?”[10] The main issue was about maintaining the integrity of the Gospel.

When Peter first came to Antioch, he enjoyed freedom in fellowship with Jews and Gentiles.[11] However, when certain men came from Jerusalem (whether they were truly “from James,” or only claimed to be from James, is debated[12]), he withdrew and no longer fellowshipped with the Gentiles (Galatians 2:12). This led Barnabas and other believers who were Jews ethnically to act in the same way (Galatians 2:13).

Because Gentiles ate meats forbidden by the law,[13] when the law-keepers came to Antioch, they convinced the others to live in a way that hid the beauty of the Gospel by separating from the Gentiles.[14] They withdrew out of fear and for lack of principle,[15] returning to keeping Jewish dietary laws.[16] Peter and the other believing Jews acted as though Christ had not changed everything by removing the barrier between Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 2:11-22). When Paul confronts Peter, it is implied that he affirms that Peter knows that keeping the law does make one righteous, and that only faith justifies (Galatians 2:15-16).[17] Peter knows that he can eat pork and fellowship with those who are ethnically Gentiles. Yet, through his actions, he obligates the Gentiles to turn from Christ and turn to the Law. Peter gives “them reason to think that faith is not sufficient unto salvation.’”[18]

In the Antioch crisis, then, Paul was defending the freedom of the Gospel for all those who believe and repent, “without taking on any further obligation” as a requirement for new spiritual life.[19] In other words, he was defending justification by faith alone as the entrance into salvation, without adding the “works of the law.”

Apostolic Division

This crisis, arguably, was a confrontation between the two most influential Apostles and theologians of Christianity. Peter and Paul were not in disagreement over what they believed[20] – “They were perfectly agreed about” that.[21] Peter had received a revelation directly from God that Gentiles were included in the Gospel (Acts 10:9-10), no longer to be considered unclean,[22] and he lived according to this truth at first (Acts 10:28-43). That is why Paul calls his behavior hypocritical (Galatians 2:13). He knew the truth, but he was not living according to it.[23]

If Paul “had not reproved [Peter], there would have been a sliding back of Christians into the Jewish religion, and a return to the burdens of the Law.”[24] Such a division within the church on the Apostolic level would have been absolutely devastating, resulting in two distinct churches: a church under Peter/under the law, and a church under Paul/under grace through faith, would have been irreparable. This confrontation averted that potential outcome.

Ethnic Tension

Antioch was the third largest city in the then known world, by far the largest city of that region,^[25] and extraordinarily ethnically diverse.[26] Because of the dramatic influence and growth of the church in Antioch, and the rich ethnic makeup of the church,

the name Christian was needed, because the church in Antioch wasn’t Jewish; it wasn’t Gentile; it was both … Regardless of ethnicity these believers united around a common belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—that was their unity.[27]

Gentiles had always had the ability to become Jewish through adopting the Jewish ethnicity and Jewish practices.[28] The question raised in Antioch was whether or not this applied within Christianity as well. The answer Paul gave is that church is the body of Christ made up of both Jews and Gentiles (Galatians 3:28), who came to Christ as Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles, therefore, could come to Christ as Gentiles, without ever becoming Jewish.

Today, is just as important for churches to remember that their unity is in Christ as their Head, and that they are one body in Him. Churches can be made up of all kinds of people, from all different backgrounds and ethnicities, yet what makes them the church is that they have come to Jesus on the basis of faith by God’s grace.[29] The true Gospel removes ethnic tension by placing Christ at the center of the congregation of believers.

The Gospel and Church Unity

Paul had a decision to make in Antioch: to keep quiet about Peter’s sins and safely conform, or reprimand Peter in public for his public error and openly risk the unity of the church. Seeing the threat to the Gospel itself, and recognizing the challenge to the fruit of Gospel ministry, Paul knew it to be too great a price to purchase unity by binding the minds of Christians to the works of the law. Staying quiet would mean burying the beautiful freedom that is in Christ Jesus under a weight of legalism.[30] It would have meant building up again what Christ had already torn down (Galatians 2:18)[31] – namely, the idea of the Law as means for salvation from sin. This would have led to the reestablishment of the hostility between Jews and Gentiles that the Gospel had removed (Ephesians 2:14-15). Therefore, Paul chose confrontation.

Paul would not compromise the “essentials of Christians unity”[32] – “the truth of the Gospel.” He recognized that reconciliation with God is the basis, and the only basis, for unity in God’s body (Ephesians 2:16).[33] Throughout Galatians, Paul expands on the interplay between the Gospel and church unity. The Galatians had originally welcomed Paul wholeheartedly and self-sacrificially (Galatians 4:13-14). When people who shared the theology of “the circumcision party” came, they welcomed them as well.[34] The fruit of their hospitality to Paul and to the law-keepers proved to be very different though. Whereas Paul’s influence led to more blessedness and unity, the influence of these people led to exclusion of Paul (Galatians 4:15-16), to the fruits of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-20), and to disunity (Galatians 5:25-26).[35]

Why did this happen? Because, unlike Paul who made much of Christ (Galatians 1:10, 3:1, 6:14), these influencers made much of the Galatian believers for a wicked purpose (Galatians 4:17a, 6:13). These people, on the pretense of being more spiritually zealous, led the Galatians away from relying on Christ and the Spirit (Galatians 4:17b). For Paul, this danger was so great that he wrote the letter of Galatians. He urged the believers to get rid of those aligned with “the circumcision party” (Galatians 5:12),[36] and encouraged them to rely on Christ from the beginning to the end as one body, not as many groups (Galatians 3:28). His courageous conviction is something Christian should understand and emulate today.

Paul never entertained the idea of maintaining unity without maintaining the truth of the Gospel, and neither should the church today. To Paul, there was no unity worth preserving if it was not a truly Gospel unity. He stood against Peter in the Antioch crisis, and he urged the Galatian believers to stand against those aligned with the circumcision party. He was not afraid to risk divisions for the sake of the Gospel, because a church unified without Christ is not only not unified, it is not a church.[37]

With or Without Christ

The real issue of the Antioch crisis was primarily about the Gospel, and specifically about justification. On a more fundamental level, it was a question about whether the church would move forward with or without Christ. Was faith alone in Christ that by which sinners were justified, or was more required? Was it faith in Christ by the Spirit that sanctifies believers, or was the work of the flesh also required (Galatians 3:1-5)? In short, is the church to rely wholly on Christ from the start to the finish of the Christian life, or not?

Paul emphasized throughout his ministry that the Gospel is the Christian’s daily food that fuels their Christian lives.[38] Paul says this explicitly in Galatians 3:3 – the same way Christians got into the family of God is the same way God wants to mature them as the family of God: by trusting Christ.[39] “The true believer starts the life of faith by pinning every hope on the work of Jesus, and the true believer continues the life of faith by continuing to pin every hope on the work of Jesus. You never move on from that.”[40] In fact, it’s the only way anyone progresses in the Christian life (2 Corinthians 3:18). Peter and the Jewish Christians in Antioch were regressing, turning away from Christ and back towards “the works of the law” – which justify no one (Galatians 2:16), and sanctify no one (Galatians 3:10-14). They were not merely losing hold of the doctrine of justification or method of sanctification; they were drifting away from the triune God Himself (Galatians 1:6-7)!

Conclusion

Today, Christians should ask themselves if they are adding anything to the Gospel, and thereby drifting away from Christ. Are they believing that faith alone in Christ both justifies and sanctifies by God’s grace? Are they wholly relying on Him in living their Christians lives? Or are they acting like something more than faith and repentance are needed in order for someone to truly be a Christian? Are some believers less than other believers because of the way they dress, look, or what background they come from, etc.?[41] Is church unity founded on reconciliation with God and “the truth of the Gospel,” or is unity based on humanly manufactured reconciliation between different ethnicities or groups of human beings (as is popular today[42])?

This essay has evaluated the significance of the Antioch crisis for both the early church and the contemporary church. To the early church, the main issue of the crisis was justification, and the outcome of the crisis proved that Christians would move forward united in trusting Christ, with both Paul and Peter working in harmony for the truth of the Gospel. The resolution of the crisis showed that the church was unified in Christ across ethic identities through the liberty of the Gospel. The contemporary church, looking back on this event, can see the priority for the Gospel it too should have. It can learn that unity as the church is only possible by setting Christ at the center of everything.

Word count: 2,184

Bibliography

Begg, Alistair. “Justification by Faith Alone.” No pages. Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/justification-by-faith-alone/

Bennema, Cornelis. “The Ethnic Conflict in Early Christianity.” JETS 56 (2013): 753-763.

Bowman, Ryan. “Hope for a Fractured World: A Biblical Response to Racial Prejudice.” No pages. Cited 2 April 2024. Online: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6SNCxTcWZs8bESeFTccsYx?si=13aab98a12744e41

Cole, R. Alan. Galatians. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Inter-Varsity Press, 1984.

Calvin, John. Commentary on Galatians and Ephesians. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, n.d.

DeWaay, Bob. “True and False Unity.” No pages. Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://cicministry.org/commentary/issue88.htm

Ferguson, Sinclair B. The Whole Christ. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2016.

Gemmill, Andy. “2. Exposition for Expositors: 1 John.” No pages. Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://cornhill.scot/2022/01/31/audio-archive/

Gempf, Conrad. How to Like Paul Again. Presley Way, Crownhill, Milton Keyes: Authentic Media, 2013.

Longnecker, Richard N. Galatians, Volume 41. WBC. Zondervan Academic, 2017. Perlego edition.

Lightfoot, Joseph Barber. St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. New York, New York: Warren F. Draper, 1870.

Luther, Martin. Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians. Translated by Theodore Graebner. 1998. Perlego edition.

Lawson, Steven J. “Contending for the Gospel.” No pages. Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://beta.sermonaudio.com/sermons/103009837460/

Letham, Robert. Systematic Theology. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2019.

Moo, Douglas. Galatians. BECNT. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013. Perlego edition.

Mead, Peter. Galatians: The Life I Now Live. Leyland, England: 10Publishing, 2015.

Mead, Peter. “Paul and the Galatians: Background and Story – Peter Mead.” Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://youtu.be/WB4H-BduZqk?si=n48ggsGanuxE2NQz

Mead, Peter. “TC Sunday Service – 10/09/2023 – Overflow – Part 2.” No pages. Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://www.youtube.com/live/Ot6Y1RR-jFo?si=y9t-01vuvMhlvDGQ

Mead, Peter. “The Clash of Covenants – Peter Mead.” No pages. Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://youtu.be/-v_tedNXyBM?si=I8-HQi0Hxa3yjEv_

Ortlund, Dane C. Deeper. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2021.

Ortlund, Dane C. Edwards on the Christian Life. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2014.

Phillips, J. B. “Book 9 – Paul’s Letter to the Galatians.” Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CPn09Galatians.htm

Study Bible, English Standard Version. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011.

Tinker, Melvin. “Galatians 2:11-21.” No pages. Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://archive.org/details/Galatians211-21

Vasquez, Lauralyn. “Why Intentional Diversity Matters and How to Pursue It in Your Church.” No pages. Cited 2 April 2024. Online: https://www.faithward.org/why-intentional-diversity-matters-and-how-to-pursue-it-in-your-church/

Wiersbe, Warren. The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament Volume 1. Colorado Springs, Colorado: David Cook, 2008.

Vroegop, Mark. Weep With Me. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2020. Perlego edition.

Works Used But Not Cited

“A Crisis in Antioch.” No pages. Cited 2 April 2024. Online: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/a-crisis-in-antioch

Chirico, Leonardo De. “The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification: A Curtain on the Reformation?” No pages. Cited 2 April 2024. Online: https://www.unionpublishing.org/resource/the-joint-declaration-on-the-doctrine-of-justification-a-curtain-on-the-reformation/

Lawson, Steven J. “Paul Continues His Defense.” No pages. Cited 2 April 2024. https://sermonaudio.com/sermon/103009821230

Mead, Peter. “Galatians: An Epistle for Our Time – Peter Mead.” No pages. Cited 26 March 2024. Online: https://youtu.be/RBej0cTbD1A?si=D1UAW7Wz57MZgXoj

Schreiner, Thomas R. Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ. Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 2001.

Sproul, R. C. “Paul Verses Peter.” No pages. Cited 2 April 2024. Online: https://beta.sermonaudio.com/sermons/92418111899/

Sproul, R. C. “Paul & Circumcision.” No pages. Cited 2 April 2024. Online: https://sermonaudio.com/sermon/917181448412

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[1] Cornelis Bennema, “The Ethnic Conflict in Early Christianity,” in JETS 56 (2013): 753.

[2] Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011), 2,242.

[3] Joseph Barber Lightfoot, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (New York, New York: Warren F. Draper, 1870), 46-47.

[4] Peter Mead, “Paul and the Galatians: Background and Story – Peter Mead,” 6 February 2020, https://youtu.be/WB4H-BduZqk?si=n48ggsGanuxE2NQz

[5] Richard N. Longnecker’s provides a good, equally weighted summary of both positions in his commentary, and I would suggest starting there to dig deeper into these positions.

[6] Longnecker, Galatians, “Addresses.”

[7] J. B. Phillips, “Book 9 – Paul’s Letter to the Galatians,” n.d., https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CPn09Galatians.htm

[8] Bennema, “The Ethnic Conflict in Early Christianity,” 756

[9] Douglas Moo argues that the issue was about contact with Gentiles more than it was about eating certain foods; and that Peter accommodated the Jews from Jerusalem out of a concern to include them, which resulted in the exclusion of the Gentiles from the fellowship [Douglas J. Moo, Galatians, BECNT (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013), Perlego edition, “An Incident at Antioch”]. In this essay, I hold loosely to a both/and position.

[10] Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, trans. Theodore Graebner, (1998), Perlego edition, “Chapter 2, Verse 14.”

[11] Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament Volume 1 (Colorado Springs, Colorado: David Cook, 2008), 693.

[12] R. Alan Cole, Galatians, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Inter-Varsity Press, 1984), 75.

[13] Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, “Chapter 2, Verse 12.”

[14] John Calvin, Commentary on Galatians and Ephesians (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, n.d.), 48.

[15] Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, “Chapter 2, Verse 12.”

[16] Peter Mead, Galatians: The Life I Now Live (Leyland, England: 10Publishing, 2015), 12.

[17] Cole, Galatians, 78.

[18] Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, “Chapter 2, Verse 14.”

[19] Robert Letham, Systematic Theology (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2019), 702.

[20] Melvin Tinker, “Galatians 2:11-21,” 27 March 2019, https://archive.org/details/Galatians211-21

[21] Calvin, Commentary on Galatians and Ephesians, 48.

[22] Mead, Galatians: The Life I Now Live, 12.

[23] Alistair Begg, “Justification by Faith Alone,” 30 April 1989, https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/justification-by-faith-alone/

[24] Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, “Chapter 2, Verse 12.”

[25] Steven J. Lawson, “Contending for the Gospel,” 6 April 2008, https://beta.sermonaudio.com/sermons/103009837460/

[26] Mark Vroegop, Weep With Me (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2020), Perlego edition, “Introduction, Dream.”

[27] Ryan Bowman, “Hope for a Fractured World: A Biblical Response to Racial Prejudice,” 28 June 2020, https://open.spotify.com/episode/6SNCxTcWZs8bESeFTccsYx?si=13aab98a12744e41

[28] Bennema, “The Ethnic Conflict in Early Christianity,” 755.

[29] Peter Mead, “TC Sunday Service – 10/09/2023 – Overflow – Part 2,” 10 September 2023, https://www.youtube.com/live/Ot6Y1RR-jFo?si=y9t-01vuvMhlvDGQ

[30] Calvin, Commentary on Galatians and Ephesians, 48.

[31] Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Whole Christ (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2016), 123.

[32] Alistair Begg, “Justification by Faith Alone,” 30 April 1989, https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/justification-by-faith-alone/

[33] Dane C. Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2014), 121.

[34] Conrad Gempf, How to Like Paul Again (Presley Way, Crownhill, Milton Keyes: Authentic Media, 2013) 32.

[35] Peter Mead, “The Clash of Covenants – Peter Mead,” 6 February 2020, https://youtu.be/-v_tedNXyBM?si=I8-HQi0Hxa3yjEv_

[36] Gempf, How to Like Paul Again, 58.

[37] Bob DeWaay, “True and False Unity,” May/June 2005, https://cicministry.org/commentary/issue88.htm

[38] Dane C. Ortlund, Deeper (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2021), 95.

[39] Peter Mead, “The Clash of Covenants – Peter Mead,” 6 February 2020, https://youtu.be/-v_tedNXyBM?si=I8-HQi0Hxa3yjEv_

[40] Andy Gemmill, “2. Exposition for Expositors: 1 John,” 17 June 2015, https://cornhill.scot/2022/01/31/audio-archive/

[41] Melvin Tinker, “Galatians 2:11-21,” 27 March 2019, https://archive.org/details/Galatians211-21

[42] Lauralyn Vasquez, “Why Intentional Diversity Matters and How to Pursue It in Your Church,” 9 August 2022, https://www.faithward.org/why-intentional-diversity-matters-and-how-to-pursue-it-in-your-church/

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