Did Peter live as a Jew?

After comparing his journey in Judaism and Jewish ancestral ways—both before and after encountering Jesus (see the text on Paul’s so-called “conversion”)—the cherished Apostle explains to his Gentile Christ-following audience how he received this Gospel insight directly from God. Years later, he chose to visit Jerusalem to verify this message with the Apostles, who affirmed this critical point (Gal. 2:1-10). The parallels Paul draws between himself and Jesus across his letters are striking. Here, he notes that Jesus consistently declined to submit his Messiahship for approval, just as Paul refused to submit his Apostleship for validation. Both derived their authority from above, independent of Jerusalem’s authorities, whether Christ-following or not (John 10:23-26).

Once Paul establishes his authority as separate from the endorsement of Jesus’ apostles and the early Jewish Jesus movement’s elders, the narrative grows both intriguing and complex. This poses a challenge for modern readers—every reader being an interpreter—to discern the true weight of his words. Paul recounts how he openly challenged Peter’s inconsistency and hypocrisy when Peter, alongside Barnabas, withdrew fellowship from Gentile Christ-followers for not undergoing proselyte conversion (Gal. 2:11-13).

This tale is pivotal, largely because its conventional interpretation portrays Peter, the Apostle to the Jews (the circumcised), as a non-Torah-observant Jew. The implication is stark: if Peter, tasked with the circumcised, disregarded Torah and lived like a Gentile, how much more should Paul, sent to both Israel and primarily the Nations, abandon Torah observance?

In this standard view, Peter wavers on his Jewish identity and Torah-observant lifestyle—his covenant fidelity—shifting “forth,” then “back,” and presumably “forth” again after Paul’s rebuke. Let’s examine the text to explore if an alternative reading is plausible, diverging from the traditional take.

Reconstructing history involves weighing probabilities and plausibility, so caution is wise in any interpretation, traditional or novel. As I recently told a close friend, we should avoid saying, “Let Paul speak for himself.” If we lived in Paul’s era, we could seek clarification directly. Today, separated by vast differences, that’s impossible. Thus, not only Paul’s letters but also Luke’s writings (Acts) are essential to piece together this historical puzzle, as Luke observed and recorded Paul’s actions firsthand.

Peter and Gentiles

In Galatians 2:14, Paul writes: “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how do you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?’” Correctly interpreting this verse is crucial, as it underpins the traditional portrayal of the early Jewish Jesus movement—both Christian and Jewish—as largely non-Torah-observant and thus not truly Jewish, marking the rise of a new religion, Christianity.

On the surface, this fits neatly. Traditional readings, especially in Galatians, suggest Paul guides believers away from Torah observance—not because it lacks value, but because, in Christ Jesus, it’s deemed obsolete. Peter’s apparent non-Jewish lifestyle aligns with this view. His and Barnabas’s wavering is then misread as a shift from “not honoring Torah in their Jewish lives” to “reembracing it after influence from Jacob/Yakov/James’s emissaries.”

Yet, certain elements “stick out embarrassingly,” and for a discerning interpreter, this traditional take raises more questions than it resolves. We’ll revisit the phrase translated as “living like the Nations/Gentiles”—seen as Paul’s recognition, and implicitly his approval, of Peter’s non-Jewish ways—but first, let’s trace how Paul’s argument with Peter unfolds in Galatians 2:15a: “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles…”

This phrasing feels odd (I’ve dubbed it an “embarrassingly sticking out” expression), especially under traditional lenses. Speaking to Peter, Paul reminds his Gentile Galatian readers that both he and Peter were Jews by birth, not Gentile sinners! This clashes with our usual perceptions of Peter and Paul. Yet, it’s present, urging us to reconsider them within a first-century Jewish framework. Before delving deeper into these and prior verses, let me briefly outline various Jewish perspectives on Gentiles from Paul’s era to enrich our understanding.

Jews about Gentiles

Many Jews in Apostle Paul’s era—though it’s unclear what proportion—didn’t belong to any “Gentile admiration society.” In fact, labeling Gentiles as sinners was typical in a text likely penned by the Jewish Essenes before Paul’s birth, now known as the Damascus Document. For instance, it condemned Jews reporting others’ legal breaches to authorities to settle scores, a common evil practice. Thus, the new covenant’s brothers outlined strict rules:

“Any man who destroys a man among men by the statutes of the Gentiles is to be put to death” (CD A IX, 1).

The Damascus Document also barred travel that might lead business pursuits through Gentile towns, risking Torah compromise or close Gentile contact. It declares plainly: “Let no man rest in a place near Gentiles on the Sabbath” (CD A XI, 14-15). The Book of Jubilees, written in Moses’ name—a standard, accepted practice then—recasts Genesis and warns Israel against “forget[ting] the feasts of the covenant and walk[ing] according to the feasts of the Gentiles after their error and after their ignorance” (Jubilees 6:35).

First Maccabees, unrelated to 21st-century Jewish-Christian dynamics, blames Gentiles for the Temple’s ruin, noting:

The sanctuary was trodden under foot, men of an alien race held the Citadel, which had become lodging for Gentiles” (1 Mac. 3:45). Gentiles were idol worshipers (1 Mac. 3:48), allied to destroy God’s people (1 Mac. 3:50-52; 58-59), with future attacks anticipated (1 Mac. 4:60). Israel’s moral failings were likened to Gentiles’ to shame them (1 Mac. 7:21-23).

Likewise, Jesus, another prominent Jew, used similar language, now jarring to modern ears. In an “embarrassingly sticking out” passage, he benevolently calls a Canaanite woman’s ill daughter a dog (Matt. 15:21-28). This has been misconstrued as Gentiles being “dogs before Christ’s acceptance” or Jews becoming “dogs for rejecting Jesus as Christ,” since the daughter was healed and her mother’s faith—contrasted with Israel’s faithlessness—was affirmed. These misreadings ignore first-century Jewish context.

In short, Paul’s Galatians 2:15 phrase—“We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles”—aligns seamlessly with widespread first-century Jewish views of Gentiles. Yet, intriguingly, for Paul, the “transformed and called by Christ Jesus Pharisee,” a profound shift begins, evident in the text. Bear with me a little longer, and it will soon fall into place.

Alive with Christ Jesus

Over a delightful lunch, I once asked Prof. Daniel Boyarin how his thought process unfolds. I was eager to understand how he crafts his bold, fresh, and often—by my reckoning—highly plausible theories. His response was along these lines: “I start by assuming the traditional theory is flawed, while asking, ‘What would its polar opposite look like?’ Then I test that alternative against the evidence to see if it holds up better than the conventional view.” I’ll confess, I briefly mused, “Of course… great minds think alike…” but quickly curbed my pride. Joking aside, let’s tackle our perplexing text, aiming for a sharper, clearer, and more coherent take on Paul’s words. He writes:

“But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how do you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Torah but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Torah; since by the works of the Torah no flesh will be justified’” (Gal. 2:15-16).

What does Paul mean by Peter “living like Gentiles”? To unpack this, consider Acts 17:28, where Paul, addressing Greeks at the Areopagus on Mars Hill, speaks of the Unknown God’s altar: “for in Him we live and move and exist.” (Pay close attention from here on.) In “you live like Gentiles” (Gal. 2:14), Paul uses the same word for “to live”—not hinting at a Greek/Gentile religious practice or halakha, but simply being alive as creations of this Unknown God (Acts 17:28).

Recall the pivotal event steering all of Paul’s letters: the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. There, regulations for Gentile believers in the Jewish Christ were set—what they should or shouldn’t observe. But what shifted the consensus away from demanding Gentiles in Christ become full Jews via proselyte conversion, as Ruth the Moabite did—a long-standing norm? (This question is key, so stay with me.) The answer should spur you to heed scripture closely and reject the notion that longstanding majority views are inherently correct.

What’s the answer? It’s straightforward: Peter’s testimony of the Holy Spirit descending on Cornelius’s uncircumcised household! The prophets’ promised heavenly blessing for Israel astonishingly poured out, before Peter’s eyes, onto Gentile God-fearers who trusted the Jewish Messiah without converting to Judaism. This couldn’t have occurred unless God granted Peter a fresh vision on a vital matter: Jews deeming all Gentiles unclean were mistaken. Peter was to label unclean only what God did, not invent rules. The Torah never calls Gentiles unclean—only certain animals and objects. Recall Peter’s vision of unclean food and God’s command to kill and eat? Often overlooked is what followed: a knock from Cornelius’s servants, Gentiles, right after.

There’s no hint Peter took this vision as license to eat ham at Cornelius’s home, as many assume today. We do know how he interpreted it: he entered a Gentile’s house. Don’t conflate two distinct terms. A proselyte is a former Gentile turned Jew; a God-fearer is a Gentile worshiping Israel’s God without converting. This distinction, muddled in typical Christian thought, is vital to decoding this tough passage.

While proselytes were fully embraced by Jews, debate swirled over God-fearers—could a meal be shared? Opinions varied, but many staunchly Torah-observant Jews leaned toward shunning them. Through Peter’s vision, God made a crucial point: God-fearers (and people broadly) are clean, not to be shunned. The Torah’s clean/unclean system isn’t about sin. Fellowship with Gentiles, especially those following the Jewish Christ, should be embraced! This was the crux: God’s order to kill and eat unclean animals meant accepting Gentile God-fearers, not scrapping what became kashrut (Jewish food laws). Before Peter’s eyes, a Gentile household—children and slaves included—sprang to life through his preaching of the Jewish Christ, a devout Jesus-following Jew, via the Holy Spirit’s renewing power.

Now, how did Peter and Paul come alive in Christ Jesus? Did their experience truly differ from the Gentiles’? Was it Torah-keeping that birthed new life, or encountering the risen Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s revival? Clearly, the latter. Peter lived in Christ as Cornelius and other Gentile God-fearers did—by grace through faith in the Jewish Messiah Jesus! Both Paul and Peter, Torah lovers, grasped this. No one, Jew or Gentile, could stand justified before God except through the equal gifts of faith and repentance! The theme of “being made alive with Christ” runs strong in Paul’s work. In his renowned letter to the Ephesians 2:4-6, we read:

“…God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”.

Here, too, the same verb—translated as “living as Gentiles”—appears, not as a lifestyle but as being alive in a profound sense. Paul, a Torah enthusiast, was so convinced of this that his argument continues:

“For through the Torah I died to the Torah, so that I might live to God [of the Torah]. I have been crucified with [Jewish] Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness [is] through the Torah, then Christ died needlessly” (Galatians 2:19-20).

Note Paul’s claim: the Torah taught him to die to it to live for its God, just as Jesus, another Torah lover, died and now lived in Paul’s heart and mind through the Holy Spirit’s power. The same “life and living” language from his rebuke of Peter recurs here. This isn’t about Peter waffling over Jewish lifestyle—religious practice or appearance—in a modern sense, but about his hesitation on Acts 10’s lesson: Israel’s God declared God-fearers aren’t unclean or to be shunned at all costs.