Paul’s visits to Jerusalem (cont.)
Alternative 4
Acts 15:1-6 (WEB) Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are
circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.” 2 Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. 3 They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers. 4
When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them. 5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” 6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.
This visit to Jerusalem by Paul and
Barnabas took place after they returned from their first missionary journey, and certainly did take place against a backdrop of conflict. Visitors from Jerusalem were insisting that Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. Paul and Barnabas strongly opposed this demand, and the conflict resulted in a major council in Jerusalem which agreed with Paul and Barnabas that the demands were wrong and composed a circular letter to be distributed to Gentile congregations.
This context seems to fit closely with the situation described in Galatians 2. Galatians 2:2 describes private discussions with the leaders in Jerusalem (as described in Acts 15:2), followed in Galatians 2:3-5 by a demand from false brothers that Gentiles be circumcised and keep the law of Moses (see Acts 15:5). Acts 15 describes the consideration and subsequent rejection of this demand and seems to include conclusions that align broadly
with Paul’s descriptions in Galatians 2:6-10.
Visits: Conclusion
Overall, I conclude that the visit in Acts 15 is the one Paul is referring to as happening after 14 years. However, I have to acknowledge that I can’t be certain because it is also possible that it was another visit that is not described in Acts but had a similar background of conflict.
John Mark
One minor point of interest is
the location of John Mark, who abandoned Paul and Barnabas in Perga during the first missionary journey and returned to Jerusalem.[3] However, by the time Paul and Barnabas were discussing a second missionary journey in Acts 15:36, John Mark was with them in Antioch. The visit described in Acts 11:29-30/12:25, where Paul and Barnabas delivered aid to poor believers (and returned to Antioch with John Mark), cannot have occurred before the first missionary journey because the 17 years
specified between his conversion and his second subsequent visit to Jerusalem will not fit in. It could possibly have taken place after their return from the first missionary journey, but before the visit described in Acts 15; however, for this to be the second visit referred to by Paul in Galatians 2, the background of conflict in Galatians 2 must also have existed, despite not being mentioned in Acts 11/12. On balance, it seems more likely that the visit in Acts 15, although
triggered by doctrinal conflict, also delivered the aid collected for the poor believers in Judea and ended with John Mark returning to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas as described in Acts 12:25.
Checking the numbers
The last piece of the jigsaw that we should discuss is the three- and fourteen-year time periods. A simple reading of Galatians 1:15 to 2:10 suggests that the
three years would start from Paul’s return from Arabia and end with his first visit to Jerusalem, while the fourteen years would begin with that same visit and end with the second visit. A careful reading of the three-year period suggests that it could mean three years from Paul’s conversion, the point in time where he states that he didn’t consult with others immediately,[4] but rather waited three years before going to Jerusalem.[5] Given the number of years available in this period of
history, I believe that this is the more likely meaning. This would place Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem about three years after his conversion and the second about 17 years after his conversion. We can look at some dates put forward by historians in the list below. Paul’s conversion and the Jerusalem council are highlighted.
Some events from the first century:
- Tiberius becomes Roman emperor, Sept, 14AD
- Jesus’ crucifixion c. 30AD
- Paul’s conversion c. 33-34AD
- Tiberius dies and Caligula becomes Roman emperor, Mar, 37AD
- Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion
- Caligula dies and Claudius becomes
Roman emperor, Jan, 41AD
- Agrippa I becomes king of Idumea, Judea and Samaria, 41AD
- Agrippa I dies, 44AD
- Paul’s first missionary journey (about 4-24 months)
- Jerusalem Council (Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem), c. 48-50AD
- Paul’s second missionary journey (2.5-3 years)
- Felix becomes procurator of Judea, 52AD
- Agrippa II becomes king of Iturea, Trachonitis, Batanea, Gaulanitis,
Auranitis and Paneas and Abila, 53 AD
- Paul’s third missionary journey (4-5 years)
- Claudius dies and Nero becomes Roman emperor, Oct, 54AD
- Paul arrested in Jerusalem c. 57, then imprisoned in Caesarea for two years
- Festus replaces Felix as procurator of Judea 59-60AD
- Paul travels to Rome, which took about 1 year
- Paul in own hired house in Rome for 2 years
- Nero dies, Jun, 68AD
This simple framework places Paul’s conversion in 33-34AD, about 3-4 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and ascension (which probably happened in about 30AD). Adding 17 years would locate Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem in about 50-51AD. Since common estimates place the Jerusalem Council in 48-50AD, this seems reasonable.
On this basis, I have interleaved the records of Paul’s conversion and the
events he mentions in Galatians 1 & 2.
Summary
In Acts, Luke writes in episodes, threads, scenes and themes, sometimes starting or ending them with brief summaries. His telling of this astonishing explosion of preaching across the Roman world is gripping and has inspired readers across the world for almost 2,000 years. The conversion of Paul is pivotal to Luke’s
presentation of this phenomenal upending of the empire’s foundations.
In Galatians, Paul felt the need to emphasise the fact that the inclusion of the Gentiles did not come from him or any other disciples of Jesus, but from Jesus himself. Peter and others had tinkered with that inclusion, accepting it in theory and a little in practice, but it was clearly not enough to satisfy Jesus as commander of his preaching army. Paul was given
his orders directly from Jesus and executed them without needing immediate confirmation from earlier followers. In short, Paul was not beholden to “the establishment”, but to the commander-in-chief.
This incorporated Gentiles inescapably within the body of Jesus and dragged Jewish believers to the conclusion expressed in Hebrews 7:12 after a discussion of Jesus as an eternal priest, replacing the priests descended from Levi:
“For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.”
Hebrews 7:12
Jesus had replaced not only the priests of Aaron’s line, but the law of Moses as well. No longer was
salvation focused on being a Jew by birth. Instead, it was about becoming a descendant of Abraham by having the same faith as Abraham.
Jews were still welcome, and salvation had still come through the Jews, but since most of the Jews had rejected the salvation offered, Gentiles had – and still have – been offered an opportunity to grasp the salvation Jesus offers.
Paul saw
the urgency of this and took every opportunity to progress the work Jesus was inspiring him to do. Now that Paul, the twelve disciples and the other energetic preachers like Luke are all dead, the responsibility to spread that news has fallen to us. We are now the ones who must turn the world upside down through our preaching, attacking the idolatry and atheism that have conquered so much of the world.
