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 – Galatians 2:12

As opinion leaders, wherever we are, it is instructive to know that we bring people along in whatever we do. Since predictability is critical for leadership and mentoring, we must bring integrity to our walk with Jesus. It is Christlike and appreciated by all people. Peter’s behavior in Antioch lacked predictability and exposed his wrong standing on integrity—spiritual hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11-16).

When Peter visited the believers in Antioch, he ate with the Gentile believers until the team from James arrived from Jerusalem. For fear of criticism from those who belonged to the circumcision group, Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles (12). How hypocritical was that! Because of his apostolic leadership, many Jewish believers, including Barnabas, followed his hypocrisy (13)—a pitfall we must all avoid.

The fear of humans is a snare. It is dangerous for our Christian walk and fellowship with each other. Grounding our decisions on the approval of men has an uncanny way of invoking fear in us in ways that distort our actions. Because of the fear of what people may say, we often lie about the issues or embellish the facts. Such situations make us wishy-washy and ruin our integrity. Paul could not allow that tendency to permeate the young church in Antioch, so he openly rebuked Peter.

We thank God for men like Paul, who model convictions and strong integrity. They are believers who could stand up to confront our hypocrisy and save us from ourselves and others (1 Timothy 4:16). We should appreciate people like Paul in our lives.

As Christians, we must seek to develop strong convictions in our faith and to allow them to consume our hearts. God’s will for us is to remain firmly rooted in integrity so that our walk with Jesus would have purpose and stability and bring Him honor. We should avoid spiritual hypocrisy and boldly confront the missteps of others for mutual edification.

May we, therefore, remain faithful to live by our Christian convictions beyond the walls of the church. The grace of God will then lead us to become positive influences on our families, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.

Shalom.