Who was pressuring Paul to require circumcision and Law-keeping for the Gentiles?
The Judaizers and the Jewish leaders, including Peter and the eleven, pressured Paul to require circumcision and Law-keeping for Gentile believers. They came down hard on him for teaching grace, trying to convince him that Gentiles had to practice circumcision and keep the Law. Paul adamantly refused.
Les explains that the Judaizers and the Jewish leaders, including Peter and the eleven, were coming down hard on the Apostle Paul for teaching his message of grace to the Gentiles. They tried to convince him that he had to practice circumcision and keep the Law for these Gentile believers. But Paul adamantly refused. Then in Acts chapter 15, Peter wakes up, realizing that years earlier in Caesarea God had used him to take the Word to a Gentile, Cornelius, and Peter witnessed that Gentile's salvation. Peter says a good while ago God by his mouth opened the Word to the Gentiles. In verse 10 he asks why they should test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples. Les points out that the word 'disciples' here does not mean the twelve but the believers in Antioch, who had become believers of Paul's Gospel and were not under Law or legalism, yet the Judaizers were trying to put them there.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
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