First shot.

11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

15" We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

17 "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

- Galatians 2:11-21

I find this passage interesting. I thought that Paul and the apostles all got along perfectly fine. The title for the passage in my Bible is "Paul apposes Peter." Funny how the problems that seem to be in the current church were very alive in the church of old when it was first born. Paul and Peter were two of the most fundamental church fathers and they were both from the same racial background. They were both Jews.

Peter was born most likely into what would be a Jewish middle-class family for that age. He was a fisherman until Jesus found him and made him a fisher of men. He was turned from a fisherman to one of the most studied church fathers.

Paul was born most likely into what would be a Jewish upper-class family for that age. He was born a Roman citizen and came to find Jesus on the road to Damascus. He was turned into one of the most influential church fathers and the writer of a good chunk of the New Testament when before, he was the leading persecutor of Christians.

What is interesting about that is that Peter was part of the Jewish crowd who was zealous about the customs of old. Circumcision and other rituals were still practice by Messianic Jews. The Messianic Jews of the time thought that to be a Christian, they had to follow the customs to the dot of the i and the cross of the t. Paul was part of the Gentile crowd who believed that you didn't have to follow the old customs as strictly as before. The Gentile crowd did not have to follow circumcision (unless for medical purposes).

The issues of customs and rituals was also mentioned at least once in the New Testament. In Romans 14, the church is being split in half because of the different beliefs on holy days and the sabbath between the Jews and Gentiles. Once again, funny how that is still seen in the church today, only it is found in differences of doctorines.

That brings us to the end of the passage. It doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong. It doesn't matter what race or heritage you are from. What matters is whether or not you believe you are justified by the grace of God and are forgiven by the works done by Jesus and the cross. Think about how much it would help the church if we would just realize that what really matters is being saved, not how sanctification happens or if you are once saved or always saved. What matters is getting people back to God and bickering over little things (in the grand scheme of things) is going to draw them away.

So, look inside yourself. Do you know that Jesus died for you and that His death is grace more than enough than following any ritual or law? That is what is important.

Hopefully this helped, even in the slightest way, you to know yourself better.

Keep strong.
You are loved.
Ben