2:1-13
2:1 Then after fourteen years
I went up again to Jerusalem
with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.
2:2 I went up in response to a revelation.
Then I laid before them
(though only
in a private meeting
with the acknowledged leaders)
* See notes below
the gospel that I proclaim among the
Gentiles,
in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain.
2:3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.
2:4 But because of false believers secretly brought in,
who slipped in to spy on the
freedom we have in Christ Jesus,
so that they might enslave us--
2:5 we did not submit to
them even for a moment,
so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.
2:6
And from those
who were supposed to be acknowledged
leaders {*See notes below}
(what they actually were makes
no difference to me;
God shows no partiality)
--those leaders contributed nothing to me.
2:7 On the contrary,
when they saw that I had been entrusted
with the gospel for the
uncircumcised,
just as Peter had been entrusted
with the gospel for the circumcised
2:8
(for he who worked through Peter
making him an apostle to the circumcised
also worked
through me in sending me to the Gentiles),
2:9 and when
James and Cephas and John,
who
were acknowledged pillars, {*see notes
below}
recognized the grace that had been given to me,
they gave to
Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship,
agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles
and they to the circumcised.
2:10 They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor,
which was actually what I was eager to do.
2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch,
I opposed him
to his face,
because he stood self-condemned;
2:12
for until certain people came
from James,
he used to eat with the Gentiles.
But after they came, he drew back
and kept himself separate
for fear of the circumcision faction.
2:13 And
the
other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy,
so that even Barnabas was led astray by
their hypocrisy.
Notes:
Gal 2:1-10
Who is Paul talking about
when he says "acknowledged leaders" and "acknowledged pillars"?He names "James and Cephas and John" as the "acknowledged pillars,"
so he must be referring to them also as the "acknowledged leaders,"
since they are the ones he met with in "a private meeting" in Gal. 2:6.Paul uses a very interesting choice of words for "acknowledged leaders."
The Greek word DOKOUSIN--translated here as "acknowledged"--means
"to be influential, be recognized as being something, have a reputation."
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature,
by Walter Bauer, ed. F.W. Danker, University of Chicago Press, 2000, p.255Paul's tone in speaking of James, Peter, and John is sarcastic and arrogant;
he disrespectfully refers to them as:
"those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders,"
then haughtily adds: "what they actually were makes no difference to me."He declares that "God shows no partiality" between them and himself,
and claims the same collaborative relationship with God as Peter:
"he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised
also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles."In Short, Paul is claiming equal status with the Genuine Apostles of Jesus.
Gal 2:11-13
From the angry tone of his letter, is Paul describing a definitive, angry, name-calling split between himself and Barnabus?