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Wednesday 26 December 2018

Galatians 2:1,2 - After fourteen years

2:1
Fourteen years later Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem again. Some think that this could be the visit mentioned in Acts 11:30, others that it was the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) visit. No mention is made of the council here so the latter might seem unlikely, on the other hand circumcision was a big issue, so that would count in favour of it being the council visit. We are not given clear information on this point, so it is not actually that important.

2:2

“I went up by revelation”, this would count in favour of Acts 11:30, as that visit resulted out of the prophecy of Agabus.  Whatever the case, Paul told Peter and the others the gospel that he was preaching. He did this privately with the apostles. It seems that Paul was genuinely concerned that there might be discord between what he was preaching and what the Jerusalem apostles were preaching. If so it would have been a waste of time, for a key part of the gospel is the unity between Jews and Gentiles. All are saved by faith in Christ, there is no difference. This aspect will be so important in the disagreement with Peter that we will read about later.

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