They so easily tend to error in works.


VERSE 13. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch
that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

It is marvelous how God preserved the Church by one single person. Paul alone
stood up for the truth, for Barnabas, his companion, was lost to him, and
Peter was against him. Sometimes one lone person can do more in a conference
than the whole assembly.

I mention this to urge all to learn how properly to differentiate between the
Law and the Gospel, in order to avoid dissembling. When it come to the
article of justification we must not yield, if we want to retain the truth of
the Gospel.

When the conscience is disturbed, do not seek advice from reason or from the
Law, but rest your conscience in the grace of God and in His Word, and
proceed as if you had never heard of the Law. The Law has its place and its
own good time. While Moses was in the mountain where he talked with God face
to face, he had no law, he made no law, he administered no law. But when he
came down from the mountain, he was a lawgiver. The conscience must be kept
above the Law, the body under the Law.

Paul reproved Peter for no trifle, but for the chief article of Christian
doctrine, which Peter's hypocrisy had endangered. For Barnabas and other Jews
followed Peter's example. It is surprising that such good men as Peter,
Barnabas, and others should fall into unexpected error, especially in a
matter which they knew so well. To trust in our own strength, our own
goodness, our own wisdom, is a perilous thing. Let us search the Scriptures