CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Melanchthon the Theologian ROBERT D. PREUS Luther and Melanchthon ERWIN L. LUEKER Melanchthon the Churchman GILBERT A. THIELE Galatians 2:1-10 and the Acts of the Apostles ROBERT G. HOERBER Brief Studies Theological Observer Homiletics Book Review VOL. XXXI August 1960 No.8 Galatians 2:1-10 and the Acts of the Apostles No doubt the chief crux in the comparison of Paul's Epistle to the Galatians with the Acts of the Apostles is the relating of Gal. 2: 1-10 to the account of Acts. To equate Gal. 2:1-10 with Acts 15 raises such serious difficulties in the judgment of many scholars that they have proposed various explanations. The essential difficulties of course would be: ( 1) Paul in Galatians, although concerned about every connection with Jerusalem in order to prove that his Gospel did not come from men, would be omitting the visit at the time of the famine recorded in Acts 11:27-30 and 12:25 and thus would be exposing himself to the charge of deceiving his readers. (2) It would seem strange, to say the least, that Paul in Galatians would fail to refer to the decree of the Council of Jerusalem, which could be one of his weightiest arguments for the thesis he develops in that epistle. (3) Several inconsistencies would appear between Gal. 2: 1-10 and Acts 15 -e. g., the private nature of the conference between Paul and James, Peter, and John in Galatians as against the public council described in Acts 15; the provision to abstain from certain foods in Acts (15:20, 28 f.; 21:25) as against Paul's claim in Galatians (2:6ff.) that the leaders in Jerusalem imposed on his work of converting the Gentiles no obligations concerning the Jewish Law; the strangeness of the incident with Peter at Antioch reported in Gal. 2 : 11-14 both concerning Peter, if his defection occurred after the decree of the council, and concerning Paul, since he fails By ROBERT G. HOERBER to cite the decree, which again could be his weightiest argument before Peter. Some of the attempts to explain the difficulties between Acts 15 and Gal. 2: 1-10 may be cited briefly: ( 1) Paul does not refer to the decree and letter of Acts 15 because he had nothing to do with their composition.1 ( 2 ) Galatians 2: 1-10 describes merely a private conference at Jerusalem on the "eve" of the council.2 ( 3) Paul ignores the visit of Acts 11 because he saw only the "elders" at Jerusalem at the time of the famine, for the apostles were absent at that time as a result of the persecution of Herod Agrippa J.3 (4) The council took place later than Acts 15-possibly at the visit of Paul to Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 18:22.4 (5) Acts omits the visit of Gal.2:1-10, which really occurred before Paul and Barnabas departed for Cyprus and Asia Minor.5 (6) Acts 11: 27-30 and 15: 2 ff. are in reality one visit, but the author made two visits out of 1 H. Windisch, Beginnings of Christianity, ed. Foakes·Jackson and Lake (London, 1922), II, 328; H. Lietzmann, The Beginnings of the Christian Church (London, 1949), pp. 10811.; O. Cullmann, Pet6f': Disciple, Apostle, Martyr (London, 1953), pp. 42 11. 2 J. B. Lightfoot, Galatians (London, 1890), pp. 125 f.; H. N. Ridderbos, Galatians (Grand Rapids, 1953), pp. 78 if.