Corpus-Paul

[Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>]

Edgar Krentz wrote:

>Galatians beings with a strong statement of
>his apostleship (Gal 1:1; 1:12). Paul goes on
>to a fourfold argument that he is independent of 
>the Jerusalem authorities. (1) Gal 1:15-17: His
>call as apostle led immediately to his proclaiming
>the Gospel in Arabia, not going to Jerusalem;
>(2) Gal 1:18-23: when he did go to
>Jerusalem, he went up to interrogate Peter (check
>the Greek verb historesai, not to seek 
>the approval of Jerusalem; (3) when he went up after
>14 years, the Jerusalem leaders recognized his gospel
>as legitimate (Gal 2:1-10) and (4) when Peter did
>"not walk upright according to the gospel" in 
>Antioch, Paul faced him down. In short, Paul asserts
>his independence of Jerusalem forcefully.

Edgar,

These, of course, are texts and interpretations
commonly used to support the idea that Paul was
strongly independent of Jerusalem. But alongside
Paul's rhetoric stands another reality. What do you do
with Gal 2:2, for instance?

James Dunn offered a reasonable and balanced account
of Paul's subordination to/independence of Jerusalem,
in an essay called "The Relationship between Paul and
Jerusalem according to Galatians 1 and 2" (later
reprinted in his "Jesus, Paul, and the Law"). Dunn
made the following threefold distinction:

1. "Paul maintains the independence of his gospel and
apostleship as to its validity and authority. To be
more precise, Paul maintains the God-givenness and
divine authority of his interpretation of the gospel."
(Jesus, Paul, and the Law, p 118) Key texts here
include Gal 1:1, 1:11-12, 1:16b-17a.

2. "Paul acknowledges his earlier dependence on the
Jerusalem leadership." (ibid, p 119) Key texts are Gal
1:18, 2:2, 2:3, 2:6. (Note that 2:3 says Titus was not
compelled to be circumcised, clearly implying that he
could have been compelled to do so; ditto with 2:6 --
the pillars "added nothing", implying they had the
authority to do so if they chose.)

3. "By the time Paul wrote Galatians, he was no longer
prepared to acknowledge the authority of Jerusalem to
the same extent." (ibid, p 121) The key text here is
Gal 2:6: "What they once were makes no difference to
me..." But it's also implied throughout 2:6-9, where
Paul refers to the authority of the pillars without
acknowledging that authority himself. "The awkwardness
of these verses is almost entirely to be explained by
the fact that Paul was citing the backing of the
apostles whose authority in relation to his own
missionary work he no longer acknowledged to the same
extent." (ibid)

Years ago I accepted Dunn's distinction as the most
helpful one available (and in some ways I still like
it), but there are problems. With respect to (1), I
think he is only half correct. Paul, to be sure,
insists the independence of his **gospel** (with
respect to its source: God), but not, I think, the
independence of his **apostleship**. On the contrary,
he remained a member of the Jerusalem community to the
end (Rom 15), despite ongoing tensions. I see no
evidence that he ever threw in the towel and became an
independent missionary. With respect to (3), Dunn
seems correct only in a superficial sense. Paul is
rabid in Galatians, and his rhetoric does have the
effect of distancing himself from the influence of the
pillars. But it's not as if this applies to everything
post-Galatians -- least of all Romans. It's not so
much the time of Paul's career, but rather the
situation to which he is responding, which indicates
how much he's prepared to explicitly acknowledge
apostolic authority above him.

>And, just by the way, I do hold that Gal 2:1-10
>and Acts 15 refer to the same meeting. Try to work
>out a chronology of Paul that will fit 
>Galatians chronological data into what Acts says, and
>you will have difficulty coming to a different
conclusion.

Actually, I have worked out a chronology for Gal
2:1-10=Acts 11:29-30, with Acts 15:1-20 coming later
on. It works.

Loren Rosson III
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com 


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