Peter Was Led Astray
by Hugh DeLong
Error can affect any of us. Peter was used to convert Cornelius and his household. Then he defended that action: "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" (Acts 11:17). Here, Peter stands up against those perverting the gospel message and demanding that Gentiles had to not only believe in Jesus and be baptized but also be circumcised and keep the demands of the law of Moses. (Read Peter’s defense in Acts 15:7-11 again.)
Yet, at some point, even he was influenced by these false teachers: “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy” (Galatians 2:11-13).
Knowing the truth is the beginning, but then we must have stick-to-it-ness! Peter was said to have ‘feared the party of the circumcision’. He was an apostle! He had been told not to call unclean that which God has called clean (i.e., the Gentiles were to be accepted!). If he could be led astray, if he could be pressured into acting contrary to what he had known to be true, then we can be misled!
Later, Paul would exhort Timothy: "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:14-17). Are you still continuing in the things you have learned?
