In my last post, we learned about Herod Agrippa I’s Persecution of the Saints, including Kefa. In this post, we learn that Rabbi Sha’ul Mentions Kefa to the Galatians.

¹⁵ But when God, who picked me (Sha’ul) out before I was born and called me by His grace, chose ¹⁶ to reveal His Son to me so that I might announce Him to the Gentiles, I did not consult anyone; ¹⁷ and I did not go up to Yerushalayim to see those who were emissaries before me. Instead, I immediately went off to Arabia and afterwards returned to Dammesek. ¹⁸ Not until three years later did I go up to Yerushalayim to make Kefa’s acquaintance, and I stayed with him for two weeks, ¹⁹ but I did not see any of the other emissaries except Ya’akov the Lord’s brother. ~ Galatians 1:15 – 19 (CJB).

2 ¹ Then after fourteen years I again went up to Yerushalayim, this time with Bar- abba; and I took with me Titus. – ⁶ Moreover, those who were the acknowledged leaders – what they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by outward appearances – these leaders added nothing to me. ⁷ On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Uncircumcised, just as Kefa had been for the Circumcised; ⁸ since the One working in Kefa to make him an emissary to the Circumcised had worked in me to make me an emissary to the Gentiles. ⁹ So, having perceived what grace had been given to me, Ya’akov, Kefa and Yochanan, the acknowledged pillars of the community, extended to me and Bar-Nabba the right hand of fellowship; so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the Circumcised. ¹⁰ Their only request was that we should remember the poor – which very thing I have spared no pains to do. ~ Galatians 2:1,6-10. (CJB)

Sha’ul Rebukes Kefa

¹¹ Furthermore, when Kefa came to Antioch, I opposed him publicly because he was clearly in the wrong. ¹² For prior to the arrival of certain people from [the community headed by] Ya’akov, he had been eating with the Gentile Believers; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he was afraid of the Faction who favored circumcising Gentile believers. ¹³ And the other Jewish Believers became hypocrites along with him so that even Bar-Nabba was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, keeping in line with the truth of the Good News, I said to Kefa, right in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Goy and not like a Jew, why are you forcing the Goyim to live like Jews?  ~ Galatians 2:11-14. (CJB)

Sha’ul’s confrontation with Kefa in Antioch illustrates dramatically that Sha’ul ranked equally with the other emissaries, indeed with Kefa the leading emissary.

Before Ya’akov’s community had come, Kefa had been eating with the Gentile Believers. It is unlikely that Sha’ul aired his rebuke before un-Believers. This is important, for it is not to be thought that Kefa had abandoned Jewish tradition and now ignored keeping kosher. His loyalty to kashrut had been such that nothing treif had touched his lips before seeing Cornelius.

When they came, he (Kefa) withdrew and separated himself because he was afraid of the Faction. Why? What did the leading emissary have to be afraid of? Even though his explanation of Cornelius’ conversion satisfied those of the Circumcision Faction the issue had grown more troublesome.

Sha’ul’s rebuke of Kefa serves as one of the most dynamic statements in the Brit Hadashah on the absolute and unwavering necessity of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. Kefa’s apparent repentance acknowledged Sha’ul’s apostolic authority and his own submission to the truth.^[1]

In my next post, we will begin to unpack Kefa’s letters to the Messianic Community.

Click here for the PDF version.

^[1] The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible.