Galatians Journal: Chapter 2, verse 8

Galatians 2:8: “For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.”

SIDENOTE: Before we start on an analysis and meditation on Galatians 2:8, I did some deeper research into the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15, which was discussed at length in the previous entry on Galatians 2:7. Many scholars believe that the visit to Jerusalem Paul speaks of in Galatians 2 is actually an earlier visit Paul made to the city at the center of Judaism and Christianity – the “famine visit” of Acts 11:27. This makes a lot of sense, in that in the Galatians 2 visit, Paul submits the issue to the elders in private – a situation not borne out by the Acts 15 account. This also appears to fit into the chronology of New Testament history more conveniently. If we plot this out on a time line, Paul was born about 5 AD (between 6 BC and AD 10); Paul had his conversion experience around AD 35; his time in the Arabian desert in Galatians 1:17 would be from about AD 35-38; Paul’s first trip to Jerusalem (the two week stay in Galatians 1:18-19, Acts 9:26-29) took place around AD 38; Paul’s ministry in Antioch and Syria was in AD 38-43 (Galatians 1:21; Acts 9:30); the Galatians 2 visit to Jerusalem would fall in AD 43 or 44; then Paul’s first missionary journey (including establishing the Galatian churches) in AD 46-48; the letter to the Galatians would have been composed around AD 48/49; and the Acts 15 Council would have occurred after the writing of Galatians in AD 49 or 50.

This makes sense. I don’t think it changes any of the basic concepts I have meditated on or discussed in previous entries when I considered the Acts 15 Council coincided with the Galatians 2 visit. The Judiazing/ethnic issue was still the “hot topic.” The issue of Paul’s attitude toward authority did not change. Even in a private audience with the elders, he probably had to deal with a faction that argued against him, though probably not James or Peter or any of their peers.

Now back to Galatians 2:8: Here is the evidence why these issues were unimportant, that is, why issues of ethnicity are so unimportant. “for God was at work” This was what the Pharisees in the Church could not deny, here in Galatians 2, and later in history, at the Council in Acts 15 – the same power, the same miracles, the same manifestations, the same concept of faith and repentance, the same Holy Spirit, the same gifts, the same fruit, the same harvest – its was all plainly evident among the Jewish Christians -- and now also the Gentile believers. The final conclusion of Peter at Cornelius’ house, and at the Jerusalem Council were the same. God had chosen the Gentiles, too. God is at work among them. In Acts 15, James also points out that his is a fulfillment of prophecy involving the Messiah. Ethnic unity is a sign of the coming of the Messiah!! (See Acts 15:15-19, where James quoted the prophecy from Amos 9:11-12, where the Lord promises to "rebuild David's fallen tent," and that "the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name.") Can this also be true, today, for the second coming of the Messiah? That supernaturally inspired ethnic unity is a sign of the soon return of Christ?