11But when Cephas came to Antioch I opposed him
to his face, because he stood condemned.
After agreeing in fellowship and on the honor of
primacy, which they accorded one another by the grace of God, something
happened which caused the apostles to fall out with each another, either by
negligence or because of some mistake they made. This had nothing to do with
themselves, but concerned the care of the church. Paul says that he opposed
Peter to his face. What can this mean except that he contradicted him to his
face? To which he added the reason: Because
he stood condemned. He was condemned by the truth of the gospel, which he
had done something against. Which of
them would have dared to oppose Peter, the chief of the apostles, to whom the
Lord had given the keys of the kingdom, except
someone on his own level who could rely on his election to know that he
was not inferior and could continually rebuke him for having done something
without thinking properly about it? (Ambrosiaster, Commentaries on Galatians–Philemon [ed.
Thomas C. Oden and Gerald L. Bray; trans. Gerald L. Bray; Ancient Christian
Texts; Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2009],
12, emphasis added)
