"I am amazed tha that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel." Galatians 1:6
Several times in Paul's writings, we see the frustrations that the apostle was experiencing boil over into his writing. One is in 1 Corinthians, for a wide variety of reasons, from lawsuits, immorality and divisions in the church among other things. They truly tested Paul's patience. The other is in the little letter to the churches in the region of Galatia. The frustration was both with the people of this region and Paul also mentions his frustration with Peter, who got caught up in hypocrisy.
The problems in Galatia were similiar to those in Colossae, that some Jews, probably from Jerusalem, were coming into the area to try and tell the people that they needed to not only follow Jesus, but to obey the law of Moses. This is the "different gospel" that Paul was alluding to. They were trying to say that a person is not saved through faith alone in Christ, but wanting to add conditions and rules and regulations to what should be done. Paul's answer to that is found in Galatians 2:16-17 which basically says that through the law nobody can be justified. In fact, in Galatians 2:21 Paul says, "if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
The other area of contention was with Peter himself. Paul mentions that when he was converted he spent 15 days with Peter and also met James the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:18). When I read that I wonder at what these two pillars of the church talked about. Did they go out to do evangelism together? Did they pray together? I would have loved to have been there and heard some of the conversations they had together. Peter could tell Paul firsthand some of the journeys that Jesus had with his disciples. What an exciting time of fellowship they must have had. That was the good time, but there was also the bad moments also.
Paul mentions this in Galatians 2:11 when Cephas, or Peter, came to Antioch Paul opposed him. I mention this not because it is beat up on Peter week, but because I can relate to Paul's story. There are highs and lows in any ministry. Paul seemed to have the extreme of both of them. It says that Peter was holding himself aloof when Jews would come up from Jerusalem and not eat with the Gentiles. He was being two-faced and Paul didn't let him get away with it. That's the sign of a good friend. He called him on it because he cared about Peter, but also the witness of Peter and the hypocrisy of his actions. The great thing about it is, that Peter accepted the rebuke it appears and corrected his actions. It takes a big person to sometimes admit your wrong.
Having done ministry in a wide variety of settings, I can tell you that sometimes the best thing that could happen to you is to be corrected. It doesn't feel good when it happens, but it is a sign that a person truly cares about you. It takes honesty and sometimes a "tough love" for someone to be honest with us sometimes. It risks confrontation and the other person going off and exploding in anger. Who really wants to deal with that? Most of us would want to avoid it.
The thing is, that God also sometimes corrects us when we need it. It is not a sign of anger only, but of love that he does this. Hebrews 12:11 says "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." God does this sometimes by allowing us to experience the natural consequences of our actions and sometimes God reveals it to us in other ways. Peter experienced a broken heart over his denial of Jesus and wept, but then was stronger afterward. God loves us too much to allow us to not say anything.
