John Calvin Commentary Galatians 2:14

"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Cephas before [them] all, If thou, being a Jew, livest as do the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, how compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" — Galatians 2:14 (ASV)

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly. Some apply these words to the Gentiles, who, perplexed by Peter’s example, were beginning to give way; but it is more natural to understand them as referring to Peter and Barnabas, and their followers. The proper road to the truth of the gospel was to unite the Gentiles with the Jews in such a manner that the true doctrine should not be injured. But to bind the consciences of godly men by an obligation to keep the law, and to bury in silence the doctrine of liberty, was to purchase unity at an exorbitant price.

The truth of the gospel is here used by Paul in the same sense as before, and is contrasted with those disguises by which Peter and others concealed its beauty. In such a case, the struggle Paul had to maintain must unquestionably have been serious. They were perfectly agreed about doctrine; but since, laying doctrine aside, Peter yielded too submissively to the Jews, he is accused of halting.

Some apologize for Peter on another ground: because he was the apostle of the circumcision, he was bound to take a particular concern in the salvation of the Jews, while at the same time they admit that Paul did right in pleading the cause of the Gentiles. But it is foolish to defend what the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of Paul, has condemned. This was no affair of men but involved the purity of the gospel, which was in danger of being contaminated by Jewish leaven.

Before them all. This example instructs us that those who have sinned publicly must be publicly chastised, as far as the Church is concerned. The intention is that their sin may not, by remaining unpunished, form a dangerous example. Paul elsewhere (1 Timothy 5:20) expressly lays down this rule to be observed in the case of elders: Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear; because the station they hold renders their example more pernicious.

It was particularly advantageous that the good cause, in which all had an interest, should be openly defended in the presence of the people, so that Paul might have a better opportunity of showing that he did not shrink from the broad light of day.

If thou, being a Jew. Paul’s address to Peter consists of two parts. In the first, he expostulates with him for his injustice toward the Gentiles in compelling them to keep the law, from the obligations of which he himself wished to be exempt. For, besides the fact that everyone is bound to keep the law they lay down for others, Peter’s conduct was greatly aggravated by compelling the Gentiles to observe Jewish ceremonies, while he, being a Jew, left himself at liberty. The law was given to Jews, not to Gentiles, so he argues from the lesser to the greater.

Next, it is argued that, in a harsh and violent manner, he compelled the Gentiles by withdrawing from their communion unless they chose to submit to the yoke of the law, and thus imposed on them an unjust condition. Indeed, the whole force of the reproof lies in this word, which neither Chrysostom nor Jerome has remarked. The use of ceremonies was free for edification, provided that believers were not deprived of their liberty or placed under any restraint from which the gospel sets them free.