What controversy so vexed the apostles that Paul rebuked Peter “to his face” before Peter’s own congregation at Antioch (Galatians 2:15)? It was the doctrine of justification by faith—the same controversy which led Martin Luther to oppose the Pope and break from the Catholic Church 1500 years later. Catholics can affirm with Protestants that we are justified by faith—but not by faith alone, as Luther taught. Paul’s succinct phrase, “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6), still has the power to heal divisions among Christians today.
