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Having concluded his reference to the approval given in Jerusalem, Paul brings up a confrontation he had with Peter. This is designed to emphasize the universality of faith as the heart of the Gospel, not only to the Gentiles, but to the Jews as well.
When Peter went to the home of Cornelius, it was in violation of a Jewish tradition. But it had been revealed to him in his vision that God showed no favoritism. After that experience, Peter had even eaten with Gentile believers in Antioch. Then, for an unexplained reason, Peter changed his attitude when traditionalists came from Jerusalem, and he began to separate himself from the Gentiles.
Paul was greatly disturbed at what he perceived to be inconsistency in Peter’s actions. There are no details in the text in regard to fellowship at meals, but it appears that the separation of Jews and Gentiles was based on legalist grounds. Evidently, in the presence of the traditionalists, Peter did not want to be looked upon as a violator of the Law. As a result he pulled back from what had been his practice.
Paul, in his public rebuke, appealed to Peter’s original relationship to Christ. (It cannot be determined from the text whether or not the confrontation was in the presence of the congregation or a smaller group.) Peter himself had originally turned from legalism to salvation in Christ by faith. Returning to legalism or showing hypocrisy is wrong. More than just meal fellowship was involved. At stake was the basic principle of justification by faith as opposed to justification by obedience to the law. Paul says, “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (vv.15-16a). In Ro 8:3 he writes, “What the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” “Justification,” wrote John Wesley, “is that act of God the Father whereby, for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of his Son, he . . . will not condemn. . .” (Sermons, 1:189).
If . . . we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners” (v.17). Both Jews and Gentiles are in need of God’s forgiving grace. Paul further declares that he died to the law so that [he] might live for God (v.19); [He had] been crucified with Christ (v.20). John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, wrote, “The apostle describes how he is freed from sin, how far he is from continuing therein.” His old life of sin has passed away, and he is living a new life in Christ by faith. The verb is in the perfect tense, implying a past event making for a present reality: “I am now in the condition of having been crucified!”