Why does the Bible say Peter was two-faced in Antioch?
Peter acted inconsistently at Antioch: before Jewish emissaries from James arrived, he ate freely with Paul’s Gentile converts. After they came, he feared them, withdrew, and separated himself, refusing to eat with Gentiles. Paul confronted this hypocrisy because it compromised the Gospel of Grace and the freedom from dietary laws.
Les teaches that the reason centered on the arrival of Jewish emissaries from James in Jerusalem. Before they came, Peter ate with Paul and the Gentile believers, regardless of what the meal was. After they came, Peter was scared and afraid of them. He should have continued maintaining the testimony of Paul’s Gospel of Grace, proving to these Jews that believers are free to eat whatever they want, no longer under the dietary laws. Instead, Peter gave in and refused to go in and eat with Paul’s Gentile converts. Paul got upset and effectively said, Peter, you’re being two-faced: when no one from Jerusalem was there, you had no problem eating with us, but as soon as those people came, you said, I’m a good Jew, I can’t do that. Paul called him on it, noting that Peter withdrew and separated from the Gentiles, fearing not God but the men from Jerusalem. Les still gives Peter credit.
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.