Paul Confronts Peter at Antioch

At Antioch, the theological dispute becomes a table-fellowship crisis. Peter had been eating with Gentile believers, but withdrew when certain men arrived, and other Jewish believers—including Barnabas—followed him. Paul interprets the withdrawal as a failure to “walk uprightly according to the truth of the gospel” because it pressured Gentiles to adopt Jewish identity practices in order to enjoy full fellowship. The gospel’s truth is therefore not abstract; it reshapes who may eat together as one people in Christ.