Off to Jerusalem

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false brothers and sisters secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us— we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those leaders contributed nothing to me. 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 (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognised 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. They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do (Gal. 2:1-10).

Paul met the Lord on his way to Damascus, not in the place where one might expect. It corresponds with the major point in Stephens’s speech in Acts 7 of how God showed up historically elsewhere. He is to be found but not always where we expect. He seems to make a great point in levelling things out – after 14 years. Not a short period of time. There he met with those were supposedly acknowledged leaders, not exactly a great strap line for the line up to the next world changing conference. (Come on now, surely you love this obnoxious not-so-gentleman that we call Paul. He does seem to have a way of cutting through religion and other such barriers.)

Here though we get a little nuance… ‘to make sure I was not running in vain’. He had never mentioned this aspect until this point. Underneath all the ‘no-one gave me this gospel’ presentation he is submissive. He is over-the-top strong as he wants to shock these readers (actually hearers) about their easy compliance and over-yieldeness to those who have come among them, and having done that balances out what they have been hearing.

The two he brings with him is illustrative also of how he is navigating this situation. Barnabas, the bridge builder, the one who sees the best in every situation, Mr. non-judgement (a #9????). Useful to have in any tricky situation, particularly useful for Paul who maybe just could go off on one. And Titus! A Gentile. The issue being over the gospel to the Gentiles, and Paul’s refusal to have converts submit to the law, and in particular the ‘works of the law’ marked by circumcision, food laws and Sabbath-observance. Titus was present. No discussion without it being personal. It can be so easy to make decisions about people, situations (right / wrong) but meet the person; talk and listen to the ‘other’. I have been challenged when I have sat with people who are different to me, such an experience has been the beginning of a change for me, a change even of my previous held beliefs.

Bridge building, listening, and presenting a human face to a tricky situation. It might not resolve every situation but it will certainly be a huge element in making space for the Holy Spirit. (I have much to learn.)

Another aspect that comes through is Paul’s sight of those he has a responsibility for – those false people came in to spy on their freedom (so it was NOT hidden) but he refused to give way for the sake of the Gentile converts.

They found a way of endorsing one another. Not of conforming each other to the other, but of agreement. Apostleship to a people group. In every generation, every situation there is the need for a new apostleship, the outworking of the ETERNAL gospel into a temporal or cultural setting. I might not understand what someone is doing into their setting (and in our world we have to also think beyond ethnic people groups, but into the very spheres of society) but they will have to be bold for the eternal gospel to enter, and they will have to do so without simply copying elsewhere. There are new expressions of the one gospel always… and a huge unifying part: ‘do not forget the poor’.