Today you should read: Galatians 2:11-20
Have you ever had someone close to you correct you, someone ‘call you out?’
That’s what we see in today’s passage; Paul calls out Peter because of the lifestyle he’s living. In traditional Jewish culture, there were a lot of rules, many of which specifically dealt with what they could eat and with whom they could eat. Now Peter was eating with the Gentiles until some of his old friends came to town, then he stopped. His hypocrisy caused others to follow him, even Barabas. When Paul found out, he was not happy and publically rebuked Peter because he was living according to the old law, not the new covenant in Christ.
Here is the issue:
Peter was preaching one thing and living another. Even though he shared the good news of Jesus, a loving savior who accepts “everyone who calls His name,” Peter wasn’t living a life any different from the other Jewish people.That should hit us hard. As Christians we should live a life that different, we do not have to live in the old mindset of good deeds, moral behaviors, and corporate success. Christ has set us free from the yokes of slavery to this world. We should live our lives in such away that people recognize something different.
Paul reminds us in this passage, that
“a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” –vs 16.
If you are a believer today, you are justified before God through Jesus Christ. None of our good deeds matter to God, only the sacrifice and blood of Jesus. If I am truly a new creation with Christ living in me, then my life should look more like His and less like this world.
I like what Dr. Constable’s Expository Notes* comment on vs 20:
When a person trusts Christ, God identifies him or her with Christ, not only in the present and future, but also in the past. The believer did what Christ did. When Christ died, I died. When Christ arose from the grave, I arose to newness of life. My old self-centered life died when I died with Christ. His Spirit-directed life began in me when I arose with Christ. Therefore, in this sense, the Christian’s life is really the life of Christ (“Christ lives in me”)
How are you living you life? Does it look different from someone who doesn’t know Christ? If it doesn’t, what will you change today?
Posted by: Alex Boswell, ministry intern- Richmond campus
JumpstartCPC.com 
It’s an interesting passage with Peter living the double life of following different sets of rules depending on the people he is around, and it’s easy to shake our heads at Peter and think “C’mon, man. Get it together.”
But how easy is it for us to do the same thing? Pastor Rich asked yesterday if we’re staying connected with non-believers. For those of us that do seek them out, whether at work or just getting together as friends, how different is our behavior on Sunday morning than Monday morning?
Does our language get a little more colorful around people who use curse words like commas than when we’re around our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Do we share jokes at work with our lost friends that we wouldn’t even dream of sharing in church with other believers?
Do we try to fulfill both sides of the coin in Ephesians 5:18 (“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” -Ephesians 5:18 ESV) by knocking back a few too many cold ones Saturday night only to pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit come Sunday morning?
Do we show more patience towards fellow believers than we show the lost? Or the other way around?
There are so many ways to fall into the hypocrisy Paul rebukes Peter for in this passage without even realizing it. Perhaps that is why the Bible warns us to be vigilant about guarding our hearts from falling back into sin.