Corpus-Paul

["David Inglis" <david AT colonialcommerce.com>]

Eric Zuesse wrote:
> Re: David Inglis note August 15, re.: Galatians vs. Acts:
> 
> Thanks, Dave, for your carefully thought-out timeline.

Thank you, Eric.
> 
> Questions and comments:
> 
> > ·  49 AD.  14 years after the Gal 1:18 trip, Paul, Barnabus and Titus made
> > the private trip to Jerusalem to see the leaders (Gal 2:10).  This trip is
> > not recorded in Acts precisely because it was private!
> 
> That may be the case, but it seems to me unlikely because Acts 15 and Gal. 2
> both describe a council meeting in Jerusalem debating the very same question
> of whether salvation is via faith or via obedience to the commandments of
> God.

Sorry Eric, but I don't read Gal 2 as describing a council meeting at all:

"I went there because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel
that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so only in a private meeting
with the influential people, to make sure that I was not running—or had
not run—in vain (Gal 2:2)  ... But from those who were influential ...
those influential leaders added nothing to my message. On the contrary,
when they saw that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised
just as Peter was to the circumcised ... and when James, Cephas, and John,
who had a reputation as pillars, recognized the grace that had been given
to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing
that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised." (Gal 2:6-9)

To me this reads rather like:  "I'm new to this, and I wanted to check
with you guys that what I have been doing is OK", to which the reply is:
"That's fine by us.  You go to the Gentiles and we'll go to the
circumcised."  This private meeting then provided Paul with the authority
to be able to challenge Cephas (I'm assuming this is Peter) in Gal 2:11-14
& Acts 15:1-2.

It is these prior events that then allow Paul to press his point of view
at the "Jerusalem Council", something he would not have been able to do
without the earlier backing of the "influencial leaders".  This meeting
(as described in Acts 15) is a much larger affair, with several
viewpoints, involving the "church and the apostles and the elders" (Acts
15:4), including "some from the religious party of the Pharisees who had
believed" (Acts 15:5).  IMHO this is clearly not the same meeting as in
Gal 2:2-9.

> The similarities between the two accounts are major; the differences
> are relatively minor (such as what precise demands James ended up placing
> upon Paul). Therefore, are you assuming here that there were *two* different
> climactic meetings in Jerusalem, at different times, at which Paul defended
> his faith-over-Law practises to the council?

As described above, I believe that the differences are *not* minor, and
that there were indeed two different meetings, although only the second
could be called "climactic".

David Inglis
david AT colonialcommerce.com
3538 O'Connor Drive
Lafayette, CA, USA