Grace Vs Ritual Hypocrisy

Very few Believers know that Paul directly confronted Ritual Hypocrisy amongst some Spiritual Leaders in his Letter to the Galatians in Turkey.

The implications of this confrontation have extremely important ramifications for todays Church, because the same exclusivity Game is being played today.

The Apostle Paul states Galatians 2:11 AMP , “But when Peter came to Antioch (Turkey), I protested and opposed him to his face concerning his conduct there, for he was blameable and stood condemned.”

This Protest is the foundation of the Protestant Reformation, but this is not an Anti-Catholic hysterical rant.

Notice that Paul is saying that he Protested against the Hypocritical Conduct of Peter.

This is an extremely bold move for a newcomer to the Team to oppose the conduct of the Apostle Peter.

This would be the equivalent today of a Charismatic Church leader publicly confronting a very prominent Roman Catholic Church Bishop for hypocritically refusing to fellowship with Protestants.

I am not here encouraging people to publicly challenge their Church leaders, as Paul specifically declares that his Revelations came directly from Jesus Christ, as exemplified in the Book of Acts.

Paul continues, Galatians 2:12 AMP, “For up to the time that certain persons came from James, Peter ate his meals with the Gentile converts, but when the men from Jerusalem arrived, he withdrew and held himself aloof from the Gentiles and ate separately for fear of those of the Circumcision party.”

So here Peter is being outed for Religious Game Playing.

The Temptation to Play Ritualism Games can affect any Believer, even prominent Bishops.

This is more easily understood if we paraphrase the above verse and put it in todays context.

2:12 Paraphrased, “For up to the time that certain Bishops came from Rome, Peter ate his meals with all the Believers, but when the Bishops arrived Peter withdrew and held himself aloof from the Believers and had fellowship exclusively with the Bishops for fear of those of the Roman Church.”

Now we can clearly understand what this confrontation is really all about, as it illustrates the Spiritual Warfare between Grace and Ritualistic Hypocrisy.

Bishop Pompous objects, “Our Rituals are completely exclusive and are actually handed down from Peter. We can’t be influenced by these Charismatic protesters. I must admit that there was a major move of the Holy Spirit in the Roman Church in the 60’s and 70’s that did bring fresh air into a very stagnant atmosphere. But we Bishops decided to stamp that Charismatic Movement out and return to our Traditional Rituals. The Catholic Charismatics started to ask the Bishops why we were contradicting Scripture and acting like Hypocritical Ritualists, and we can’t tolerate that, can we?”

Paul does not give up on his exposure of Ritual Hypocrisy.

We need to understand that this is not about Peter or any Church personality, but is a revealing of the Power of Grace over Traditional Ritualism.

All those deceived by Ritualism end up acting with Hypocritical insincerity by referring to themselves as the ‘Holier than thou Exclusive Brethren”.

Paul hammers this point, Galatians 2:14 AMP “But as soon as I saw that they were not straightforward and were not living up to the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter before everyone present,”

We continue, Paraphrased into todays context, “If you, though born into a Catholic Religious family, can live as you have been living like a Charismatic and not like a Catholic, how do you dare now to urge and practically force the Charismatics to comply with the Rituals of the Roman Church?”

Paul goes on to clarify what is the difference between Grace and Spiritual Legalism.

Galatians 2:16 AMP, “Therefore Even we ourselves have believed on Christ Jesus, in order to be Justified by Faith in Christ and not by works of the Law, for we cannot be Justified by any observance of the RITUAL of the Law given by Moses,”

We are not in any way denigrating the Law of Moses, but rather denying that Ritualism can put anyone in Right Standing with God.

This is very similar to the approach of Martin Luther in Germany in 1517, when he published the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences or 95 Theses.

Would you like to be Set Free from Ritualism?

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Craig Holme 2022/2023/2024/2025/2026