Visual Theology – Galatians

The Visual Theology charts are designed to help you see the structure and movement of Scripture. They highlight patterns, contrasts, and developments that are often difficult to hold together when reading line by line.

These charts show the structure of the argument. The accompanying articles develop each part in full.

This approach follows a long tradition of visual teaching in the Church. The well-known charts of Clarence Larkin helped many grasp the broad outline of Scripture. In the same spirit, these charts aim to make visible what the Word of God is revealing.

Charts and teaching notes for the book of Galatians. Select a chart below to view the image and article.

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From the teaching in: Galatians - Christ in Me As Life - the Spirit as the Blessing of the Gospel

Galatians 2:11-14

Paul's Rebuke of Peter

Galatians 2:11-14 -- Paul's Rebuke of Peter

This chart shows the structure. What follows explains each part.

Having examined the confrontation at Antioch from the outside—seeing how Peter's withdrawal enacted a false gospel—we now turn to Paul's actual words in that moment. This article focuses on the precise theological mechanics Paul exposes in his rebuke: how fear-driven conformity creates a chain of hypocrisy that rebuilds walls Christ tore down. Here, Paul's argument becomes our text, showing that table fellowship is never neutral—it either embodies or denies the gospel of justification by faith alone.

The Antioch confrontation has been described from the outside and from the inside. Now Paul's words at that confrontation become the text -- because what he says to Peter's face is the precise argument that anchors the entire letter. The masks, the fear of the circumcision, the wall rebuilt between Jew and Gentile at a common table: these are not just sociological failures. They are theological statements. Every act of withdrawal implies a gospel, and the gospel Peter's behavior implied was one where a Gentile believer needed to become more like a Jewish one to be fully received. Paul will not let that implication stand, because it renders the cross unnecessary.

Galatians 2:11-14
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

The Mechanics of Legalistic Hypocrisy vs. Gospel Fellowship

Paul’s rebuke of Peter in Galatians 2:11-14 exposes the underlying mechanics of Legalistic Hypocrisy and contrasts them with the reality of Gospel Fellowship.

The false system begins with the fear of man, which forges an iron chain of peer pressure. Under its weight, believers adopt theatrical masks of hypocrisy, hiding their true state and conforming outwardly to the expectations of others. This hypocrisy does not remain a private matter; it builds a thick stone dividing wall between groups, separating those who are deemed worthy from those who are not. The process culminates in laying a heavy wooden yoke of Jewish customs and legal ordinances on the shoulders of others, demanding conformity to external rules as the price of belonging and acceptance at the table of fellowship.

A Denial of the Gospel

Paul’s confrontation with Peter reveals that this system is not merely a matter of personal inconsistency, but a denial of the very heart of the gospel. When Peter withdrew from eating with Gentile believers out of fear for those “which were of the circumcision,” he participated in this chain of hypocrisy and division. The iron chain of peer pressure bound even Barnabas, leading him away from “the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:13). The stone wall erected between Jewish and Gentile believers contradicted the unity secured by Christ.

The True System of Gospel Fellowship

By contrast, the true system of Gospel Fellowship is established on the free gift of Christ’s cross. Through his sacrifice, the thick stone wall of division is shattered. The torn temple veil stands as a sign in the background, declaring the abolition of external ordinances that once separated people from God and from each other. As Paul declares, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16), believers are invited to stand equally with unveiled faces in the light, no longer hiding behind masks or compelled by fear.

In this fellowship, the gathering is around an open, shared wooden communion table, with bread and wine symbolizing the unity and acceptance that flow from Christ’s finished work. There is no longer a yoke of the law to bear; participation is not earned by conformity to customs or ordinances, but is secured entirely by faith. The gospel proclaims that “if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21). Therefore, the community of believers is marked not by division and burden, but by freedom and equality, with all standing together as recipients of grace.

The Call to the Church

Paul’s rebuke thus calls the church to reject the iron chains, masks, walls, and yokes of Legalistic Hypocrisy, and instead to embrace the open fellowship of the gospel, where Christ’s cross has made all one and removed every barrier.

What Paul has now established through the Antioch narrative is the ground-level consequence of mixing law and grace: hypocrisy, fear, and a broken table. The argument has been biographical and historical up to this point -- Paul's own call, his independence from Jerusalem, the conflict with the Judaizers, the confrontation with Peter. Now the letter pivots decisively into doctrine. The next article takes up the formal question that all of this has been circling: how is a person actually justified before God? Not by the works of the law. But then how? The mechanics of justification by faith are the territory of Part Three.

Paul's rebuke has exposed the fatal contradiction between legalistic conformity and gospel fellowship. But what exactly is the alternative system? Having shown what the gospel destroys—walls, masks, and yorks—Paul must now define what it establishes. This leads directly into his foundational declaration of how a person is made right with God, which we examine next: the antithesis between justification by works of the law and justification by faith in Christ.

Orientation

Legalistic hypocrisy is driven by the fear of man, creating theatrical masks and dividing walls that contradict the gospel of grace.

The fear of man creates an iron chain of peer pressure and outward conformity.
Hypocrisy is not a private matter; it builds stone walls of separation between believers.
Religious customs can become a heavy yoke used to demand external rules as the price of belonging.

For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
— Galatians 2:12

Clarification

Gospel fellowship is not maintained by human effort or religious distinctives, but by the finished work of Christ alone.

Withdrawing from fellow believers based on external ordinances is a denial of the truth of the gospel.
Righteousness does not come by the law; if it did, then Christ died in vain.
Justification by faith removes the need for masks, allowing believers to stand with unveiled faces.

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
— Galatians 2:21

Structure

The cross of Christ shatters human divisions and replaces the yoke of the law with an open table of fellowship.

The torn temple veil signifies the abolition of external ordinances that once separated people.
The communion table represents a unity and acceptance secured entirely by faith, not by Jewish customs.
Believers are unified through their shared identification with Christ's sacrifice.

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
— Galatians 2:16

Weight-Bearing Prose

Paul’s rebuke of Peter exposes the mechanics of legalism as a systemic failure to walk uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. When Peter withdrew from Gentile fellowship, he was not merely being inconsistent; he was rebuilding a wall that Christ had already destroyed. This ‘dissimulation’ functions like a theatrical mask, where the fear of man compels even seasoned leaders like Barnabas to adopt outward religious pretenses.

Theological integrity demands the recognition that justification by faith is the only basis for fellowship. To impose the yoke of the law—or any cultural ordinance—on others is to suggest that Christ’s work was insufficient to qualify the believer. In Pauline categories, the cross is the power that shatters the stone wall of division and removes the veil of hypocrisy, placing all believers on equal footing at a shared table. Any system that requires a price of entry beyond faith in Christ is a departure from the grace of God.

Integration

Rest in the assurance that your acceptance at God’s table is secured by Christ, not by your ability to conform to the expectations of others. The pressure to perform or to hide behind a religious mask is removed by the reality of justification. You do not need to build walls or carry the yoke of legalism; Christ has already torn the veil and invited you into an open fellowship based on His finished work. In this light, we can stand honestly before one another, knowing that our righteousness is found in Him alone.

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