Controversy among the first Christians: Must Non-Jews (“gentiles”), when they become Christians, observe the Jewish Law (Halachah), i.e. circumcision, holy days, the Sabbath, dietary rules, purity regulations?
Peter
“But when Cephas (= Peter) came to Antioch I opposed him to his face,
because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James,
he used to eat with the Gentiles; but after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate,
for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy.” (Gal. 2.11–13)
Paul
“But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel,
I said to Cephas (= Peter) before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile
and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? We ourselves are Jews
by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of
the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that
we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one
will be justified by the works of the law’.” (Gal. 2.14–16)
