A Study in GALATIANS (Chapters 1-2)

1: 11-12, 17-19
For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.

COUNTERPOINT: Acts 9: 19b-20
(Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”)

Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

COUNTERPOINT: Acts 9: 26a, 27
(And when he had come to Jerusalem. . . But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.)

1: 21-22
Then I went unto the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

Acts 9: 29-30
(And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, and they were attempting to put him to death. But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him to Tarsus.)
And I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ.

COUNTERPOINT: Acts 9: 26, 28
(And when he had come to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. And he was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.)

2: 1-3
Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. And it was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

COUNTERPOINT: Acts 15: 1-2
(And some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.)

COUNTERPOINT Acts 15: 4, 6-7, 12-13
(And when they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. And the apostles and elders came together to look into this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them . . . And the entire multitude kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. And after they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying. . .)

2: 4-10
But it was because of false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.

POINT: Acts 15: 1-2
(And some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.)

2: 6-10
But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality); well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me (??). But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. (For He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we might go to the Gentiles, and that they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor; the very thing I also was eager to do.

COUNTERPOINT: Acts 15: 13a, 19-20
(And after they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying. . . “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.”)

2: 11-14
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

POINT: Acts 11: 2-3?? (And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”)


Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
June 17, 2008
pbks@hotmail.com