11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
There are several factors here. Why was Peter so slow in grasping the truth, and so grudging in submitting to it? Because it was going to be a costly thing for him to face the implications of this step and maintain the new position to which the Spirit was challenging and calling him. Was this one reason why he could slip back so easily? It is certainly true that when our commitment to any position in the spiritual life is half-hearted and fitful, trouble will inevitably come of it. But, to look deeper, it may be said that the real problem was that Peter's attitude was a flashback to his old weakness, his old refusal of the cross. He was simply unwilling to die to his stubborn, ingrained religious prejudices - and it is this that costs many a man the blessing of God in his life and ministry! There was a death that Peter was refusing to die. This is how it was with him in his early disciple days, and what led him to deny his Lord. And here, once again, we see this ugly, dangerous tendency re-asserting itself in the moment of pressure - the same refusal of the cross, the same cowardice which he showed in Pilate's judgment hall - and for the same reason: fear of the Jews. The old Peter gained the ascendancy, the carnal, the uncrucified man reappeared. In the deepest sense, therefore, this was not only a spiritual or doctrinal issue; it was a moral issue. Peter was defaulting in the moral challenge of the cross. He was faced with a new 'death', which he refused to die.