Galatians 2:11-21

Galatians 2:11-21
¹¹ When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For 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. ¹³ The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

There is a "don't judge me" attitude all over.  One post I've seen frequently on facebook is "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you."  We are supposed to judge and evaluate the actions of the church.  Notice I said the church, NOT the world.  When my non-Christian coworkers act like pagans I don't point out every one their sins.  They don't care, but when a person who claims to be a brother in Christ acts in a way contrary to scripture I have a duty to confront them.  First Luke 6:41-42 and then Matthew 18:15-19.  

Note that Paul confronted a Peter who is considered the head of the Church.  Therefore even what our culture considers laypeople have the duty to bring up sin they observe in their leaders.

Also note Peter became a stumbling block when he ignored one group by appeasing another and others followed him.  Be very careful what you do.  Others will follow.  Each of us will give an account for leading another astray.

¹⁴ When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Jewish males had to be circumcised.   Anyone who converted to Judaism had to be circumcised. There were those among the Jews who had accepted Christ, that were requiring Gentiles to follow the law of circumcision.

The gospel is Jesus died for our sins and paid the price once for all.  You cannot add to it.  If you add the law or add your churches traditions you consider Christ's death insufficient and therefore worthless. 

I'll give a modern day example.  Many Christians chose not to drink because they do not want to be a stumbling block to other brothers and sisters in Christ who do not have self control and they get drunk.  Or they want the world to see them NOT drinking and wonder why, thus providing an opportunity to share the gospel. This is a good thing.  The problem arises when a local church begins to add abstaining from alcohol as a requirement such as "Real Christians don't drink."  They have now added to the gospel and rendered it void.

God Bless.