Galatians 2:13

And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) The other Jews . . .—i.e. converts from Judaism, as distinct from Gentile converts, in the Church at Antioch.

Dissembled.—The “dissimulation,” or “hypocrisy” (the literal sense of the Greek word), consisted in suppressing their real convictions, and acting as if from a set of convictions different from their real ones.

Barnabas also.—Rather, even Barnabas, my own familiar friend, and so recently my ally in pleading the cause of the Gentiles. The beginning of the breach which soon afterwards led to the definite separation of the two Apostles would seem to be traceable here.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:11-14 Notwithstanding Peter's character, yet, when Paul saw him acting so as to hurt the truth of the gospel and the peace of the church, he was not afraid to reprove him. When he saw that Peter and the others did not live up to that principle which the gospel taught, and which they professed, namely, That by the death of Christ the partition wall between Jew and Gentile was taken down, and the observance of the law of Moses was no longer in force; as Peter's offence was public, he publicly reproved him. There is a very great difference between the prudence of St. Paul, who bore with, and used for a time, the ceremonies of the law as not sinful, and the timid conduct of St. Peter, who, by withdrawing from the Gentiles, led others to think that these ceremonies were necessary.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the other Jews - That is, those who had been converted to Christianity. It is probable that they were induced to do it by the example of Peter, as they would naturally regard him as a leader.

Dissembled likewise with him - Dissembled or concealed their true sentiments. That is, they attempted to conceal from those who had come down from James the fact that they had been in the habit of associating with the Gentiles, and of eating with them. From this it would appear that they intended to conceal this wholly from them, and that they withdrew from the Gentiles before anything had been said to them by those who came down from James.

Insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away ... - Concerning Barnabas, see the note at Acts 4:36. Barnabas was the intimate friend of Paul. He had been associated with him in very important labors; and the fact, therefore, that the conduct of Peter was exciting so unhappy an influence as even to lead so worthy and good a man as he was into hypocrisy and error, made it the more proper that Paul should publicly notice and reprove the conduct of Peter. It could not but be a painful duty, but the welfare of the church and the cause of religion demanded it, and Paul did not shrink from what was so obvious a duty.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. the other—Greek, "the rest."

Jews—Jewish Christians.

dissembled likewise—Greek, "joined in hypocrisy," namely, in living as though the law were necessary to justification, through fear of man, though they knew from God their Christian liberty of eating with Gentiles, and had availed themselves of it already (Ac 11:2-17). The case was distinct from that in 1Co 8:1-10:33; Ro 14:1-23. It was not a question of liberty, and of bearing with others' infirmities, but one affecting the essence of the Gospel, whether the Gentiles are to be virtually "compelled to live as do the Jews," in order to be justified (Ga 2:14).

Barnabas also—"Even Barnabas": one least likely to be led into such an error, being with Paul in first preaching to the idolatrous Gentiles: showing the power of bad example and numbers. In Antioch, the capital of Gentile Christianity and the central point of Christian missions, the controversy first arose, and in the same spot it now broke out afresh; and here Paul had first to encounter the party that afterwards persecuted him in every scene of his labors (Ac 15:30-35).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The fact was the worse, because those Christians which were of the church of Antioch, having been native Jews, followed his example, and made a separate party with him. Nay,

Barnabas, my fellow labourer, who was joined with me in bringing the decrees of the council in the case,

was carried away with their dissimulation. So dangerous and exemplary are the warpings and miscarriages of those that are eminent teachers.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him,.... Not the men that came from James, for they never acted otherwise, and therefore could not be said to dissemble; but the Jews that were members of this church at Antioch from the beginning; or who came along with Paul and Barnabas, and stayed with them there; see Acts 15:35 and who before had ate with the Gentiles, as Peter; but being under the same fear he was, and influenced by his example, concealed their true sentiments, and acted the very reverse of them, and of their former conduct:

insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation; so good a man as he was, full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost; who had been a companion of the Apostle Paul's in his travels among the Gentiles, had greatly assisted him in preaching the Gospel to them, was a messenger with him at the council in Jerusalem, heard the debates of that assembly, and the issue of them, returned with him to Antioch, and was one with him both in principle and practice; and yet so forcible was the example of Peter, and the other Jews, that, as with a mighty torrent, he was carried away with it, and not able to withstand it; such is the force of example in men who are had in great veneration and esteem: wherefore it becomes all persons, particularly magistrates, masters of families, and ministers of the Gospel, to be careful what examples they set, since men both of grace and sense are much influenced by them.

Geneva Study Bible

And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was {k} carried away with their dissimulation.

(k) By example rather than by judgment.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Galatians 2:13. And the rest of the Jewish Christians also played the hypocrite jointly with him—those, namely, living in Antioch, who previously, in harmony with the liberal standpoint which they had already attained to, had held fellowship at meals with the Gentile Christians of the place, but now, misled by the influential example of Peter, had likewise drawn back. This was hypocrisy on their part and on Peter’s, because, although at the bottom of their hearts convinced of Christian freedom, they, from fear of men (Galatians 2:12), concealed the more liberal conviction of which they were conscious, and behaved just as if they entertained the opposite view. It is true that the apostolic council had not decided anything as to the conduct of the Jewish Christians among Gentile Christians; but the immorality consisted in the inwardly untrue duplicity of their behaviour, which was more than a mere inconsistency (Baur) of reformed Judaism, conceived by Paul as being hypocrisy (Hilgenfeld). The view of Holsten, z. Ev. des Paul. u. Petr. p. 357 ff., is similar.

On συνυπεκρίθ., comp. Polyb. iii. 92. 5, v. 49. 7; Plut. Mark 14:17; Joseph. Bell. xv. 7. 5.

καὶ Βαρνάβ.] even Barnabas, who was my associate withal in the apostleship to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:9), and should consequently least of all have ventured insincerely to deny the principle of Christian freedom, to the disparagement of the Gentile Christians! So injurious was the effect of Peter’s example!

συναπήχθη] was jointly led away (led astray), namely, from his own standpoint. Comp. 2 Peter 3:17 (Romans 12:16, and Wetstein in loc.). ὥστε with a finite verb, in the secondary sentence (comp. John 3:16), denotes the consequence simply as a fact which has occurred. See Tittmann, Synon. II. p. 70; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 1012 f.; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 772. The infinitive would make the representation subjective (the seduction being conceived as a necessary result).

αὐτῶν] that is, αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν Ἰουδ. It is emphatically prefixed. The dative is instrumental: by their hypocrisy, not to their hypocrisy (Luther and others). No one can, without wronging Paul in respect to the choice of his strongly inculpating expression,[88] either call in question the fact that the conduct of Peter is here expressly designated as hypocrisy (Schwegler, I. p. 129), or reduce it to a mere supposition; although Ritschl, p. 145, is of opinion that the reproach thus used does not quite evince a clear and thorough conviction of the rightness of the non-Jewish practice. The purposely chosen expression in our passage shows, on the contrary, that Peter’s conviction, which was well known to Paul, agreed with the conviction of Paul himself, although it was hypocritically denied by the former. Peter’s ὑπόκρισις, according to the text, consisted in the Ἰουδαΐζειν, to which he had drawn back after his intercourse with the Gentile Christians, not in his previous fellowship with them, which is alleged to have been “a momentary unfaithfulness to his real conviction” (Baur, in the theol. Jahrb. 1849, p. 476; Schwegler, Zeller, Hilgenfeld). And the censure which Paul—certainly unwillingly, and with a complete realizing and appreciating of the moral situation to which it has reference—has directed against Peter expressly on the ground of hypocrisy,[89] exhibits plainly the agreement in principle of the personal convictions of the two apostles (comp. Wiesinger, de consensu, locor. Gal. ii. et Act. xv. p. 36; Lechler, p. 426).

[88] This expression is all the more strictly to be understood as it stands, since Paul has not anywhere else in his epistles or speeches used either the word ὑποκρίνεσθαι, or ὑποκριτής, or (with the exception of 1 Timothy 4:2) ὑπόκρισις. He would be the less likely to have omitted to weigh the gravity of the reproach conveyed in this very word otherwise strange to him, especially seeing that it was used after so long a time and was directed against Peter. This remark also applies in opposition to Schneckenburger in the Stud. u. Krit. 1855, p. 554 f., and to Möller on de Wette.

[89] Not merely (comp. de Wette) on account of an easily excusable want of firmness and clearness in conviction (Bisping), or of a momentary throwing of the same into the background under pressure of circumstances (Reithmayr). Even Erasmus exerts himself to come at length to the result, that “Pauli objurgatio nihil aliud fuit quam confirmatio parum adhuc sibi constantium.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

Galatians 2:13. συνυπεκρίθησαν … ὑποκρί σει The verb ὑποκρίνεσθαι is often used of playing a part as an actor in a play without any invidious meaning; but ὑπόκρισις corresponds throughout the N.T. to its English equivalent hypocrisy, and fidelity to the Greek text almost demands that rendering here. The men who had hitherto eaten with the uncircumcised and now withdrew because they shrank from giving offence were, in fact, affecting religious scruples which they did not feel, and the Apostle does not hesitate to denounce such insincerity by its true name hypocrisy.—καὶ Βαρνάβας: even Barnabas. The defection of Barnabas was a heavier blow to the cause of Gentile freedom than the vacillation of Peter. With the single exception of Paul himself, Barnabas had been the most effective minister of Christ for the conversion of Greeks; he had been of late deputed to appear with Paul as their representative in Jerusalem, and his withdrawal from social communion with Greek Christians fell upon them with the force of a betrayal. Yet Paul, who had been for many years his most intimate companion, and knew his heart, writes more in sorrow than in anger of his lamentable weakness in being led away by evil example. For he saw that he was the victim of stronger wills than his own. Jerusalem had been his early home and the place of his earliest ministry. The Twelve had been his first teachers in Christ: his cousin John Mark, who was even then in Antioch, was so dear to him that Barnabas, when driven to choose between him and Paul, chose Mark for the companion of his future ministry. What wonder then that he was tempted on this occasion for a moment to yield to the influence of Peter and the brethren from Jerusalem!

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. dissembled likewise with him] Lit. practised like hypocrisy. They believed and professed that they might eat with the Gentiles, they acted as if it were unlawful to do so.

Barnabas also] or, ‘even Barnabas’, who as Paul’s companion was familiar with his clear and unreserved teaching on the great doctrine of justification by faith—even he was swept away with the rising tide of dissimulation. This may have been the commencement of the dissension which took place so soon after between Paul and Barnabas, resulting in their separation (Acts 15:39).

Bengel's Gnomen

Galatians 2:13. Ὁι λοιποὶ) The others, believers.—καὶ) even Barnabas, whom you would by no means think likely to do such a thing.—συναπήχθη, was led away) The power of frequent example.

Galatians 2:13

Vincent's Word Studies

Dissembled with him (συνυπεκρίθησαν)

N.T.o. Peter's course influenced the other Jewish Christians as Antioch, who had previously followed his example in eating with Gentiles.

Was carried away (συναπήχθη)

Lit. was carried away with them (συν). In Paul only here and Romans 12:16, on which see note. In lxx once, Exodus 14:6.

With their dissimulation (αὐτῶν τῇ ὑποκρίσει)

Not to or over to their dissimulation. Paul uses a strong word, which is employed only in 1 Timothy 4:2. The kindred verb ὑποκρίνεσθαι to play a part, and the noun ὑποκριτής hypocrisy do not occur in his letters. Their act was hypocrisy, because it was a concealment of their own more liberal conviction, and an open profession of still adhering to the narrow Pharisaic view. It was "a practical denial of their better spiritual insight" (Wieseler).