The Origin of Paul's ReligionMachen, J. Gresham (John Gresham)
Religion
The Origin of Paul's Religion
Machen, J. Gresham (John Gresham)
Bible. Epistles of Paul -- Theology; Paul, the Apostle, Saint
(1) Galatians ii. 1-10 may be regarded as an account of the
famine visit of Acts xi. 30; xii. 25; and on the basis of this
identification the Epistle may be dated before the Apostolic Council
of Acts xv. 1-29. The course of events would then be somewhat as
follows: First there was a private conference between Paul and
the original apostles (Gal. ii. 1-10) at the time of the famine
visit (Acts xi. 30; xii. 25). Then followed the first missionary
journey of Paul and Barnabas to Southern Galatia (Acts xiii, xiv).
That journey brought a great influx of Gentiles into the Church
and aroused the active opposition of the Judaizers. The trouble
seems to have been accentuated by the coming to Antioch of certain
men from James (Gal. ii. 11-13). It is not clear whether they
themselves were to blame, or whether, if they were, they had any
commission from James. At any rate, Peter was induced to give up
the table companionship with Gentile Christians which formerly he
had practiced at Antioch, and Barnabas also was carried away. Paul
rebuked Peter publicly. But the Judaizers continued to disturb
the peace of the Church, and even demanded, as a thing absolutely
necessary to salvation, that the Gentile Christians should be
circumcised and should keep the Law of Moses. The Judaizing
activity extended also into Galatia, and Paul wrote the Epistle
to the Galatians in the midst of the conflict. At Antioch it was
finally determined to bring the matter to the attention of the
Jerusalem leaders in order to show that the Judaizers had no right
to appeal to those leaders, and in order to silence the Judaizers by
a public pronouncement of the Jerusalem Church. A revelation induced
Paul to agree to this plan. The result was the Apostolic Council of
Acts xv. 1-29.
Undoubtedly this account of the matter overcomes certain
difficulties. It has won considerable support, and can no longer be
regarded as a mere apologetic expedient.
(2) The Western text of the Apostolic Decree may be regarded as
correct. The Decree may then be taken as forbidding only the three
deadly sins of idolatry, murder, and fornication, so that it cannot
by any possibility be taken as a limitation of Gentile freedom or
an addition to Paul's gospel of justification by faith alone. This
solution has been adopted by Von Harnack and others; and by Kirsopp
Lake,[60] certainly without any "apologetic" motive, it has actually
been combined with (1).
[60] In _The Earlier Epistles of St. Paul_, 1911. It will be
remembered that Lake has now radically modified his views. See
above, p. 81, footnote 3.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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