Thank you for joining us for another week. This week we will continue in chapter 2, as we make our way through the whole book of Galatians. Last week we touched on the issues Paul is addressing in his letter to the Church of Galatia. This week we will discuss a topic I feel is usually glazed over or just ignored in the modern church. The problem of conflict resolution. We will look at church conflict Paul faced and see the biblical approach he took fixing the problem. I want to remind everybody of the theme of our study of Galatians, Truth. Truth is unchanging, it is consistent, Truth transcends humans, and predates the world. God is truth and the Bible is the written embodiment of the Truth. Truth is not bent to our will, instead we shape our lives around Truth.
Galatians 2:11-14 “11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?””
Last week we talked about Paul facing the problem of false teachers. These false teachers were instructing gentiles to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul quickly countered this false teaching with the Truth. We saw how Paul went to the church and met with church leaders on this issue, ensuring his teachings where inline with God’s Truth, and that the Church as a whole taught the same doctrine. Paul was only able to meet with James on his visit, but as we will see will seek Peter out. The passage for this weeks picks up Pauls journey, as he seeks out Peter, who is also called Cephas. Cephas means “Rock,” and is commonly translated to “Peter”. This is the name Jesus gave to Simon when He called Peter to be a disciple, John 1:42. This passage is believed to be a reference to Jesus choosing Peter as the leader of the Church.
Peter in fact did become the leader of the church, and the whole Christian community looked to Peter for direction in the new world of Christianity. This helps to provide context for why Paul felt so passionately about seeking Peter out and confronting him on the issue of circumcision. At this time Peter and James both Jews were integrating themselves with Gentiles in private, but when Jews came along they would separate themselves from the gentiles to be with the Jews. I imagine this to look something similar to having a friend group you are always with. Your little group has its own code of conduct, its own style, and fashion, it has its own personality. Now lets say there is another group of friends you like but they don’t get along with your normal circle of friends. When your normal friends are not around you go hang out with this new group, but as soon as your original friend group comes by you leave the new friends and act as if you don’t know them. This is an overdramatized example of what I see as happening in the passage, but I hope lends to some clarity.
Now I will not be as harsh on Peter as Paul was, after all looking back on history you always have 20/20 vision. Peter was born a Jew, and is navigating through uncharted waters with a crew who are inexperienced. The Jewish Christians were despised by the Jewish society, and grew up to despise the Gentiles. Peter is trying to figure out what the churches relationship should be with a body of mixed believers of Gentiles and Jews.
Acts 10, tells the story of how this conflict for Peter began. God one night gave Peter a vision of animals being brought down to him. God tells him to eat any of these animals, but Peter was conflicted, for the animals set before him were unclean and forbidden to him by Jewish law. God instructs Peter to not forsake anything God had made. This led to Peter meeting, witnessing and seeing Gentiles becoming saved and joining the Church. It can be reasonable assumed that Peter took this vision way beyond its meaning, and forsake all his Jewish heritage joining in all the forbidden delights that Jewish law would not allow, like bacon. Side not: can you imagine where the church would be without bacon? I can, it would be way less enjoyable. Ok, back on track. The Jewish Christians saw Peter living like the Gentiles, but would then leave the Gentiles to go live like a Jew. Peter was essentially living a double life, coming off as hypocritical.
Now, I’m not sure what the doctrine being taught was, but it seemed to be leaving many of the Christians confused. But it sounds like Peter was attempting to make the Gentiles live more like Jews, and Jews live like Gentiles. Attempting to blend the two cultures, without addressing the issue and attacking it head on, laying out a firm path for the church to follow. Paul intends to fix this, and this is what leads us into our conflict resolution piece.
Now before we dive into this I would like to let everybody know that we are not going to dive into the actual reasoning and justification of the argument Paul makes with Peter. This week we will just speak on the conflict resolution process in general, and dive into the reasoning behind this particular argument next week. I want to do this for two reasons; first we simple do not have the time to touch on both issues. Secondly, I believe it’s important to understand the conflict resolution process, and this passage is a great Segway for doing so.
We already know what the conflict is, as we spent the first half of this study going through it. Now we will see what Paul does to resolve the issue. We are going to look at specific elements here. 1. Paul recognizes an issue that is effecting the church as a whole. 2. He reaches out to the appropriate figure head. 3. He does not gossip or cause dissension. 4. He address the issue with witnesses who are appropriate for the issue. 5. Paul forgives and allows healing to begin.
I want to begin first with a general statement that most arguments and issues can be solved with the sound advice of James 1:19-20 “19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” I believe Paul exhibits the elements of this verse, as we will soon see. Paul through his ministry and experience recognized an issue that truly was effecting the Church. This was not a petty selfish desire that he wanted to see changed. This was an issue that effected the ministry Christ had given to Paul, and effected the whole Church. Too often I have seen issues arise in churches that stem from selfish petty grievances that do not need to be addressed, or at least not brought to the level of attention they usually are. Churches split over conflicts not resolved properly, and new denominations and doctrines are created wrongly when conflicts are not resolved. Paul sees a split coming, he sees the church becoming divided and wants to correct it. Paul understands that this issue is not something of selfish intent, he does not bring this up to make himself more popular in the church. Paul is not seeking attention, he is seeking to make the Church stronger.
Paul determines that his issue with Peter and the leadership of the Church was not petty or selfish in the previous chapter of Galatians, when Paul sought out advice from the Church leaders. He did not see his issue as corruption, or ill will, he only wished to prevent these things, Ephesians 4:29. Peter was one of those he sought out for advice, and left with Peters blessing. Paul had already brought this problem up in private with Peter, and the other Church leaders. Matthew 18:15, tells us to confront those we have conflict with first in private. Paul already had confirmation that the issue he has over the doctrine of circumcision is based in the Gospel. Paul has confirmed that his actions are not for selfish motivation. This is really important to note, we need to investigate our perceived conflicts and seek wise counseling ensuring our conflicts are grounded in the Gospel not in selfish pride.
Paul, after first recognizing that he has a legitimate issue, moves on to step two. Paul confronts the appropriate figure head in person. Paul does not hide behind his Facebook or Twitter account attacking Peter. Often times we become angry with someone, and will immediately go on the attack, using our media platforms as a shield and platform. Ephesians 4:26, tells us to not sin in our anger, but to also not let our anger go without resolution. Paul I’m sure is very angry at this point, and he could have continued in his ministry preaching against Peter to his various congregations. Instead Paul went to Peter, and confronted him directly. This is very important, and I really want to drive this point home. We are called to love one another, John 13:34. With love comes our responsibility to handle the sins of each other in a loving manner as directed in 1 Peter 3:8-11. It is safe to say that if you are unable or unwilling to confront a person you have grievances with, then you may need to reflect on your grievances longer, while continuing to seek out wise Biblical counsel.
Paul’s third step, that we lightly have touched on is to not gossip or cause dissension among the other Church members towards the person you have issues with. Too often we are readily, able, and willing to begin gossiping or sharing on our social media platforms about the issues we have against someone. This only causes more harm, and builds bitterness within the Church. Those who hear your complaints do not get to see the full picture, and may be brought into sin, and, anger due to your unjustly handling of the conflict. We are told not to gossip or spread unwholesome talk in Ephesians 4:29, James 4:11. Gossip does not lead to healing, but only adds to the conflict and makes the chasm we are trying to heal even wider, Proverbs 11:13, Proverbs 16:28, Proverbs 26:20.
Pauls fourth step is to address Peter with appropriate witnesses. He has followed Mathew 18:15, by first going to him in private. The matter was not rectified so he continues with Matthew 18:16-17, and addresses Paul in front of witnesses. Now Paul does not confront Peter in front of just anyone, but waits to confront him with witnesses that are effected by the conflict, and in this case it was the Church as a whole Acts 15. We want to make sure that when we seek to resolve a conflict, that we do so with only those involved, those that are effected by the conflict, or have authority over resolving the conflict. This helps to protect the dignity of both parties while not creating additional conflicts with others not originally involved.
Pauls fifth step, which can be seen in Acts 15, shows that the matter was resolved, and the relationship between Paul and Peter healed. This healing does not always come easy. We have talked in length in past studies about forgiveness, and I would recommend everyone to review those. To reach forgiveness we need to seek resolution to our conflicts, and when that resolution is reached we put it behind us Ephesians 4:31-32. Another important note is that with the resolution comes restoration. This restoration is an internal restoration. You must allow the person you had a conflict be restored to their position of respect in your life. Paul did not seek to have Peter removed from a position of leadership, and after the conflict was restored Peter is seen continuing as the leader of the Church. Peter creates a path forward to ensure that the resolution brought between Paul and Peter could be taken effect throughout the whole Church. Paul did not want to create or allow further dissension among the Church. He did not want the Church separating to follow different leaders, or a church divided by Gentiles and Jews. Paul sought the Church to follow the Gospel and continue as one body.
Conflicts will arise among the Church, and this is fine. Conflicts are Satans attempt to separate us, and Gods opportunity to show his redemptive power to the unbelieving world. Its is our responsibility as Christians to take conflicts serious, and follow the conflict resolution steps outlined in Gods word. 1. Recognize the conflict and pray. Making sure the conflict is not something selfish. 2. Seek out wise biblical counsel on the conflict. 3. Confront the individual(s) you have a conflict with personally. 4. Do not gossip or create dissension towards anyone. 4. If further resolution is need seek to confront that individual with appropriate witnesses. 5. Forgive, and allow healing be made with the resolution. Do not hide the resolution but let others see, and use the wisdom you gained from the experience to build the Church stronger.
Thank you for joining us this week. I do hope this passage helps with conflicts in your own life. These same principles can be applied to your family, work, and friendships, even if your conflicting party is not a believer. I encourage everyone to be self critical, slow to speak, slow to anger and quick to listen. Avoid gossip and slander, but always seek wise counseling and mediators who are appropriate to the situation. Often times Christians are scared to recommend counseling, I am not one. I believe counseling is a tremendous gift that God has given to us, and He has blessed many with the spiritual gift of counseling. Seek those individuals out, seek out counseling, and let God heal all wounds. Below are our reflection questions fro this week.
What examples have you seen of others not handling conflicts appropriately?
What conflicts have you not handled appropriately?
Do you have unresolved conflicts in your life that need mending?
Who do you need to forgive?
Who do you need to humble seek forgiveness from?
Do you have mentors or wise counselors in your life?
What wisdom have you gained from past conflict/resolutions that you can share with others?
God Bless
Kyle Statham
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