‘The Great Leveler’
Things are not always what they seem.
There are a lot of misunderstandings about the gospel. One of them, which is highlighted in this passage, shows that some have difficulty grasping the fact that it places every believer on the same level.
The early church in Antioch was composed mainly of non-Jewish converts. When a group of Jewish believers came down from Jerusalem, however, the apostle Peter left the table fellowship of the non-Jewish believers in order to eat with the Jewish arrivals who had separated themselves. The apostle Paul, who was in Antioch at the time, opposed Peter to his face and said that his behavior was not in line with the truth of the gospel.
The seriousness of this incident cannot be overstated and, sadly, it has been repeated many times ever since in various forms. It is a weighty reminder to the fact that the gospel places every believer in every age on the same level … justified in Christ, alone. Jesus’ death on the cross was for our sins and we receive this forgiveness through faith … it’s not about what we do but what He did for us. Factions in the church are a contradiction of the gospel.
The Gospel in Canberra 