FREEDOM IN CHRIST: CONFRONTING HYPOCRISY

Speaker: Fred Sigle

SUNDAY LESSON, 6/30/24
 
GALATIANS: FREEDOM IN CHRIST
CONFRONTING HYPOCRISY
Galatians 2:11-21
 
Continuing our Summer Sermon Series on the book of Galatians, this Sunday our study will be how Paul confronts hypocrisy in the church.
When we think of hypocrisy, we tend to think about people who only pretend to be Christians but, in reality, are people of the world.  That is certainly the typical description of a hypocrite.   However, the hypocrisy that Paul confronts is found in a respected leader of the church who is both an elder and apostleSimon Peter.​  Paul said, “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong” (Galatians 2:11).
What was Peter’s hypocrisy?   What does Paul say to Peter?  Who else was involved?  How did it affect Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles?  These and more questions will be answered on Sunday.
So, come join us as we learn how Paul confronts the blatant hypocrisy of one of Christ’s chosen and what we need to be aware of in our own moments of hypocrisy.
GALATIANS 2:11-21

11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For 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 sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of 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[a] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be 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 now 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!”