Corpus-Paul

["Roy E. Ciampa" <Roy_Ciampa AT compuserve.com>]

Jonathan Ryder asks:
>
>1) who was the first to propose that Paul was unsuccessful in convincing
>the Antioch church of the rightness of his position, and what are their
>arguments for this position? (references will suffice)
>
>2) does anyone hold the opposite position - that Paul was successful in
>convincing the Antioch church of the rightness of his position? (again
>references will suffice)
>
>3) what difference might either of the above make on the function of
>Paul's retelling of this incident in this letter?

I agree with Jim Hester that we cannot prove whether or not the Antiochians
were convinced.  On the other hand, I have argued elsewhere (on pages
157-158 of my book _The Presence and Function of Scripture in Galatians 1
and 2_ [WUNT 2:102; Tuebingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1998]) that the expression
Paul uses (based on LXX usage) strongly implies that he _did_ succeed in
opposing Peter - that he won the day (whether or not all parties would have
agreed is another issue).  In my view that point also helps clarify the
function of the retelling of the incident here:  Paul is saying that he has
been over this ground before and when he was in conflict over the issue
with Peter he won the battle (also proving that he is not a disciple of
Peter, but a match for him in theological conflict).

Roy E. Ciampa
College of Evangelical Theological Education
Tojal, Portugal