TRUE STORY: When Paul Got Peter In a Choke-Hold… made him tap out.
In Galatians… first two chapters. Read for yourself.
Peter came to visit the pagan brothers in Antioch. It was one of Paul’s churches.
At first Peter was having a great time. Pot luck suppers. Fellowship. Songs. Maybe even some good beer.
And then… the drama stated…
“CERTAIN MEN CAME FROM JAMES”.. the scripture says right there in Galatians. And you can just feel the bad vibes. These dudes from James were trouble.
When they showed up, Peter turned in to a real “self-righteous a-hole”.
It was so bad, Paul had to smack him around, “What are you doing?” type of thing. “I withstood him to the face” were his words.
You see, God had given Paul a different evangel. Entirely different. One filled with GRACE… and faith.
But the evangel given to Peter, James and John, well… that was one of grace and works. I’m telling you, the two gospels are wildly different. And they should not and cannot be mixed together.
If they could, there would have been no dust up between Peter and Paul that day.
I’m telling you Paul got him into a choke hold that day… and the fight continues to this day… “and certain men came from James”… is still with us as a pain-in-the-butt.
Most churches today across the landscape are totally infected with this James stuff. They all love works, works, works.
And most churches today, secretly hate Paul… and don’t understand his evangel; the evangel of grace.
I’ve spent many years thinking about this problem, looking at this verse, the one that says AND CERTAIN MEN CAME FROM JAMES…. and I’ve concluded that you actually come closer to God and God’s truth if you separate Paul from the rest of the Bible and look at it distinctly.
Two gospels. Two evangels.
- The evangel of the circumcision. (for the Jews).
- The evangel of the uncircumcision (for the nations)
If you mix the two, you’ll make a mess of things.
If you mix the two, you’ll find one contradiction after another.
One gospel says “faith without works is dead”.
The other one says “It’s not of works least any man can boast.”
One gospel is all about the Jews, and the kingdom, and the new Earth under the rule of Christ, etc.
The other one is all about the heavens, and our allotment with Him.
Paul told Timothy to “rightly divide” the word of truth.
Turns out, the “division” is not the Old Testament from the New Testament.. NO… the right division is to separate Paul’s message to the nations as different and distinct than the message to Israel.
Yes, Christ died for all… but His earthly ministry was… “I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” type of thing.
Keep in mind, that Jesus’ earthly ministry to the Jews makes sense given that they were given the law and all that.
But the gentiles… were never given the law, our allotment in Him is unique.
Jesus said many hard things to the Jews, like “if your eye offends you pluck it out, if you want to enter the kingdom” etc.
One thing is for sure… the gospel of the circumcision is all about WORKS… and it pissed Paul off, when CERTAIN MEN CAME FROM JAMES… and got Peter to act all uppity, and not gracious with the pagan brethern whom Paul had just introduced to the Lord.
Do yourself a favor… for the next 3 years… DON’T READ THE BIBLE… as a whole… just read Acts, and then all 13 of Paul’s letters… and let it sink in as a wonderful, powerful, message of GRACE not mixed in with the circumcision evangel at all.
I’m telling ya… it’s a powerful concept.
Martin Zender has a book on this very topic.
It’s called
THE FIRST IDIOT IN HEAVEN —
SECRETS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL AND WHY THE MEEK WILL MERELY INHERIT THE EARTH
https://www.amazon.com/First-Idiot-Heaven-Secrets-Apostle/dp/0970984995/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=idiot+in+heaven&qid=1600261293&sr=8-1
AND CERTAIN MEN CAME FROM JAMES… and they caused trouble. Big trouble. Works vs grace… you got it. Grace wins.
The Ace Theological Company 