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From: Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14

Visit to Jerusalem

[1] Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking
Titus along with me. [2] I went up by revelation; and I laid before them (but priva-
tely before those who were of repute) the gospel which I preach among the Gen-
tiles, lest somehow I should be running or had run in vain. [7] But on the contrary,
when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised,
just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised [8] (for he
who worked through Peter for the mission to the circumcised worked through
me also for the Gentiles), [9] and when they perceived the grace that was 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 should go to the Gentiles and
they to the circumcised; [10] only they would have us remember the poor, which
very thing I was eager to do.

Peter and Paul at Antioch

[11] But when Cephas came to Antioch I opposed him to his face, because he
stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he ate with
the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing
the circumcision party. [13] And with him the rest of the Jews acted insincerely,
so that even Barnabas was carried away by their insincerity. [14] But when I saw
that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas
before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how
can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

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Commentary:

1-10. St Paul had ended his first apostolic journey by returning to Antioch in Sy-
ria, from where he had set out. We know that the Christian community in that ci-
ty, which was an important crossroads of race and culture, had developed as a
providential result of the dispersal of Jerusalem Christians following on Stephen’s
martyrdom (cf. Acts 11:19-26). Some of these refugees had brought the new faith
to Antioch but had confined themselves to preaching and converting Jews. Later,
through the activity of other Christians, Jews of the Diaspora, that is, domiciled
outside Palestine, and pagans also began to adopt the new religion. Barnabas
had been commissioned by the Jerusalem church to organize the young Chris-
tian community in Antioch (cf. Acts 11:19-24). He later chose Paul, who had
been living quietly in Tarsus, to act as his assistant (cf. Acts 11:25-26).

The disciples in Antioch, where the name “Christians” was first used to describe
them, belonged to the whole gamut of social and ethnic backgrounds, as we can
see from the short list of “prophets and teachers” of the church at Antioch (cf.
Acts 13:1-3): some were of African origin, like Symeon “who was called Niger”;
others came from the western Mediterranean, like Lucius of Cyrene; Manaen was
from the household of Herod the tetrarch; and there were Jews from communities
outside Palestine — for example, Barnabas and Saul themselves.

Among these different types, we find some Christians of Jewish background who
felt that pagan converts to Christianity should observe the prescriptions of the Mo-
saic Law (including the detailed precepts which Jewish tradition kept adding to
that Law); these guardians of the gate of entry into the chosen people were requi-
ring that pagan converts be circumcised, as all Jews were.

When these “Judaizers” from Jerusalem (cf. Acts 15:1) asserted that circumci-
sion was necessary for salvation, they were raising an issue which went much
deeper than simply conforming to the Law of Moses: was the Redemption
wrought by Christ enough, of itself, for attaining salvation, or was it still neces-
sary for people to become part of the people of Israel, conforming to all its ritual
requirements?

Clearly, this question was a source of considerable division. Acts 15:2 refers to
its causing “no small dissension”. The present passage of Galatians shows that
Paul, receiving a revelation from God, decided to grasp the nettle by stating un-
equivocally that Christ’s redemption — on its own, and alone — brings salvation.
In other words, circumcision was not necessary, nor did the elaborate ritual regu-
lations of Judaism apply to Christians. In Jerusalem Paul expounded “the Gospel”
he had been proclaiming to the Gentiles. He was accompanied by Barnabas, and
by a young disciple, Titus, the son of pagan parents, quite possibly baptized by
Paul himself (cf. Tit 1:4, where he calls him his “true child”), who would later be-
came one of his most faithful co-workers.

1. Between his conversion and the date of his letter, St Paul had visited Jerusa-
lem three times (cf. Acts 9:26; 11:29-30; 15:1-6). Of these three journeys he
here mentions only two, omitting the time he and Barnabas went there (cf. Acts
11:29-30), because that visit was not particularly significant.

The Judaizers’ demands were inadmissible and clearly dangerous. That was why
Paul and Barnabas had opposed them openly at Antioch, and in fact it was their
failure to achieve unity and peace on this point that had led them to go up to the
Holy City to obtain a decision from the Apostles themselves and the priests li-
ving in Jerusalem.

10. The Acts of the Apostles show us how concerned the early Church was
about looking after the material needs of its members. We can see this, for ex-
ample, when it tells us about “serving tables”, which refers to the work of giving
help to the needy: this began to take up more and more time, with the result that
the seven deacons were appointed to allow the Apostles to concentrate on their
own specific work — prayer and the ministry of the word or preaching (cf. Acts 6:
1-6).

St Paul was faithful to this charge about not forgetting the poor, as we can see
from many references in his letters to collections for the poor (cf. 1 Cor 16:1-3;
2 Cor 8:1-l5; 9:l5; etc.). Indeed, one of the reasons for his last visit to Jerusalem
was to hand over the monies collected in the Christian communities of Greece
and Asia Minor.

11-14. In his dealing with Jews, St Paul sometimes gave way in secondary mat-
ters, provided that this did not take from the essence of the Gospel: he had Ti-
mothy, whose mother was Jewish, circumcised “because of the Jews that were
in those places” (Acts 16:3), and he himself kept to Jewish practices in order to
allay suspicion and jealousy (cf. Acts 21:22-26). Similarly, he recommends pa-
tience and certain understanding towards those “weak” in the faith, that is, Chris-
tians of Jewish origin who held on to some Jewish observances connected with
fast days, clean and unclean food and abstinence from the flesh of animals sacri-
ficed to idols (cf. Rom 14:2-6; 1 Cor 10:23-30). But on the key issue of Christians’
freedom from the Mosaic Law, the Apostle was always firm and unambiguous,
relying on the decisions of the Council of Jerusalem.

Paul’s correction of Peter did not go against the latter’s authority. On the con-
trary, if it had been just anyone, the Teacher of the Gentiles might have let the
matter pass; but because it was Cephas, that is, the “rock” of the Church, he
had to take action in order to avoid the impression being given that Christians
of Gentile origin were obliged to adopt a Jewish lifestyle.

Far from undermining the holiness and unity of the Church, this episode demon-
strated the great spiritual solidarity among the Apostles, St Paul’s regard for the
visible head of the Church, and Peter’s humility in correcting his behavior. St Au-
gustine comments: “He who was rebuked was worthier of admiration and more
difficult to imitate than he who made the rebuke [...]. This episode serves as a
fine example of humility, the greatest of Christian teachings, because it is
through humility that charity is maintained” (”Exp. in Gal.”, 15).

12. When he speaks of these Judaizers as coming “from James”, this does not
mean that they had been sent by that Apostle. It is, rather, a reference to their
coming from Jerusalem, where, after the persecution organized by Herod Agrippa
and the forced flight of St Peter (cf. Acts 12-17), St James the Less remained as
bishop. But what is probable is that these Christians, who had not given up the
Mosaic Law and Jewish observances, made use of that Apostle’s name: as “the
brother of the Lord”, he enjoyed universal veneration and respect.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.