In Christ There Is Neither Jew nor Gentile

Reading over Galatians 2:11-21 I had to pause and think for awhile about what might have occurred. Some things seem clear, but others are not so readily apparent. For example, were the Jews eating food that wasn’t kosher? It is evident that they were not abiding by some of their traditions, otherwise how could the presence of the “men from James” affect their behavior? The “men from James” used the subtle power of persuasion through their own separation from the others (cp. Galatians 4:17) to cause the Jews to retreat from what they had been doing, namely, eating freely with their gentile Christian brethren.