2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the {i} face, because he was to be blamed.
(i) Before all men.
2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch. It is not certainly known when this event occurred, but probably not far from A.D. 51 Paul narrates it to show that Peter had no superiority over him, as the Judaizers claimed, and as the Romanists still assert.
I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. Peter did a wrong thing, and Paul rebuked him for it.
2:11 But - The argument here comes to the height. Paul reproves Peter himself. So far was he from receiving his doctrine from man, or from being inferior to the chief of the apostles. When Peter - Afterwards, Came to Antioch - Then the chief of all the Gentile churches. I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed - For fear of man, Gal 2:12; for dissimulation, Gal 2:13; and for not walking uprightly. Gal 2:14.
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death of Christ the partition wall between Jew and Gentile was taken down, and the observance of the law of Moses was no longer in force; as Peter's offence was public, he publicly reproved him.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.
