Paul: principle vs expediency

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by Helen Parry (Word for the Week 18-02-08)

‘When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was in the wrong.’ Gal. 2:11

The story goes that, in his first job, the young Gordon Selfridge answered the phone for his boss. ‘Tell him I’m out’, said his boss. ‘Tell him yourself, sir’, Selfridge replied, passing the phone over. When the call was finished, his boss turned in fury to Selfridge, demanding an explanation. ‘If I tell a lie for you,’ he replied, ‘I could just as well tell a lie to you.’ He risked – but kept – his job. The rest, as they say, is history, as the London department store that bears his name testifies.

The apostle Paul was faced by a similar dilemma. He had worked hard to win Peter’s sanction for his ministry. With Barnabas he had established the first church in which Jewish and Gentile believers worshipped together as equals. Peter had endorsed this equality by eating with Gentiles. But then men came, insisting that Gentile converts adopt Jewish customs, and Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles. What a crisis for Paul. Should he retain Peter’s favour by following Peter’s example? Or should he risk potentially fatal disfavour by standing up for the principle?

Being Paul, he took the bull by the horns, opposing Peter openly, thereby most likely rescuing ‘the Way’ from becoming simply another sect of Judaism. He realised that the principle of justification by faith was at the core of the Gospel. If adherence to the law were to be grafted on to it, salvation would no longer be by grace alone.

Many of us are faced in our everyday lives with dilemmas like Paul’s – not so strategic, no doubt, but just as critical to maintaining the integrity of Christian witness. Temptations abound, particularly in the workplace. Corporate culture regards ‘whistleblowing’ as a sin; God regards condoning evil as a sin. Similarly, jumping onto a questionable band-wagon, ingratiating oneself with a corrupt colleague – such actions compromise Christian integrity, and contribute to the contempt that many feel for the church.

It is very hard to maintain this integrity. Paul got away with it. So did Gordon Selfridge. We will not always do so. We don’t have to be as confrontational as Paul, but have we the courage to be just as steadfast?