Paul seeks to point out Peter’s hypocrisy. He is acting in a manner that is inconsistent with his true beliefs.1 When Peter was in Antioch, he did not observe the Jewish purity laws, certainly not before the men came from James. Now, all of a sudden, he is expecting Gentile believers to observe the laws that he himself has set aside.2 He requires the Gentile believers to keep the laws from which he is free.3
14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”