Antiochian incident

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In the New Testament exegesis, a dispute between Paul and Cephas (Simon Peter) is treated as an Antiochene incident , which took place in Antioch and is described by Paul in the New Testament letter to the Galatians ( Gal 2 : 11-21  EU ).

The Antiochian incident probably took place in the summer of AD 48, shortly after the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem .

The dispute is about the equal way of life of Jews and Gentiles , whereby Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians are meant in this context . The confrontation between Paul and Peter occurred after Peter had first eaten together with uncircumcised Christians, but then out of consideration for newly arrived Jewish Christians from the Jerusalem community led by James the Righteous , which the Jewish law ( Halacha ) - including the Rule not to have table fellowship with non-Jews - strictly obeyed, refrained from it and stayed away from the Gentile Christians. Paul was particularly outraged by the timid opportunism of Cephas and the fact that he, through his example, also Hellenistic Jewish Christians from Paul's circle, including even Barnabas , who was familiar with Paul , who usually did not adhere to the prohibition of intercourse with uncircumcised people when dealing with converted non-Jews , had induced them to separate themselves from the Gentile Christians as well. Paul insisted that uncircumcised Christians should be recognized and treated as full members of the community, and accused Peter of requiring the Gentiles to adhere to Jewish customs, even though he himself "lived pagan". He was alluding to the fact that, contrary to Jewish law, Peter had already had dinner with them before. He describes the behavior of Cephas and the rest of the Jewish Christians as "an action that does not conform to the truth of the gospel".

New Testament scholar Matthias Konradt (2011) takes a decidedly different view of the Antiochian incident . He explains that dating to AD 48 has little plausibility. It is mainly based on the mention of a conflict between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15  EU , behind which in the majority opinion the actual Antiochene incident, i.e. H. the conflict over eating together. Konradt, on the other hand, argues that if the Acts of the Apostles are already trying to harmonize, it is questionable why they are inventing another conflict. It is more likely that the division between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15 really took place because of a dispute over John Mark and that the event described in Gal 2: 11-21 took place at a later point in time. Konradt draws on the stay in Antioch in Act 18, which Acts scarcely reported. The unusual scarcity with which the Acts of the Apostles report here suggests that a conflict is being kept secret.

In addition, because of the date dated to 52 AD, it is much more likely that a common grinding practice between Jews and Gentiles has already been established.

Following the description of the dispute, Paul explains in Galatians his doctrine of justification based on faith in Jesus Christ , which he later elaborates in more detail in Romans (especially Rom 3: 21–31  EU ). Since it does not depend on the observance of the Jewish law, because no person is justified by the works of law before God, he rejects the incorporation of Gentile Christians into Judaism through circumcision and the associated obligation to observe the Jewish religious rules.

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  1. ↑ Dating according to Udo Quick introduction to the introduction to the New Testament. 5. through Ed., Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-8252-1830-9
  2. ^ Matthias Konradt : On the dating of the so-called Antiochian incident. in: Journal for New Testament Science 102 (2011) pp. 19–39.
  3. ^ Matthias Konradt: On the dating of the so-called Antiochian incident . In: Journal of New Testament Science and News from the Older Church . De Gruyter, Berlin 2011, p. 19-39 .