Galatians 2:1

Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

II.

(1-10) The argument proceeds, still taking the shape of vivid personal retrospect:—The next visit at which I had any communication with the elder Apostles was after an interval of fourteen years. That, too, only served to bring out at once the independence and the soundness of my teaching. I spoke on the subject freely to the whole Church, and besides I had private conferences with the leaders; but no alteration was made either in my teaching or in my practice. One crucial instance was that of Titus, my companion, who, Gentile as he was, was not compelled to be circumcised, though his circumcision was urged upon me, not by the free motion of the Apostles themselves, but to silence the malicious rumours set on foot by certain Judaising spies who had found their way into our midst. To these Barnabas and I did not give way for a moment. And the upshot of the matter was that my mission was fully recognised by the leading Apostles, and that we agreed to go different ways—they to the Jews, we to the Gentiles—with the one condition, which I needed no prompting to accept, that we should not forget the poor.

Thoughts and arguments crowd in upon the Apostle with great vehemence. His amanuensis cannot take them down fast enough. Sentences are begun and not rightly ended, and much of the sense is left to be supplied by conjecture. The general drift of the passage is sufficiently plain, but there is much uncertainty about the details. This will appear in the Notes which follow.

(1) Fourteen years after.—From what date is this fourteen years to be reckoned? The phrase “I went up again” seems to be decisive in favour of reckoning it from the visit to Jerusalem just mentioned. We should therefore have to add the three years of Galatians 1:18, in order to reach the date of the Apostle’s conversion The relation of the present narrative to that in the Acts will be more fully discussed in an excursus. (See Excursus A: On the Visits of St. Paul to Jerusalem.)

In the meantime, it may be assumed that there appear to be sufficient reasons for identifying the visit to Jerusalem here described with that recorded in Acts 15, commonly known as the Council of Jerusalem, which is placed by the best chronologists about A.D. 50 or 51.

And took Titus with me also.—In the corresponding passage (Acts 15:2) we are told that “certain others” were sent with Paul and Barnabas. St. Paul mentions especially Titus because of the part which he subsequently played in the history of the Council, and because of the importance of this for his present argument.

Benson Commentary

Galatians 2:1. Then fourteen years after my conversion: I went up again to Jerusalem — This seems to be the journey mentioned Acts 15., several passages here referring to that great council, wherein all the apostles showed that they were of the same judgment with him. From the history which the apostle gives of himself to the Galatians in the preceding chapter, it appears that from the time of his conversion, to his coming with Barnabas from Tarsus to Antioch, he had no opportunity of conversing with the apostles in a body, consequently in that period he was not made an apostle by them. And by relating in a similar way, in this chapter, what happened when he went up from Antioch to Jerusalem, fourteen years after his conversion, in company with Barnabas, he proves to them that he was an apostle before he had that meeting with the apostles in a body; for at that time, instead of receiving the gospel from the apostles, he communicated to them the gospel, or doctrine, which he preached among the idolatrous Gentiles: not because he acknowledged them his superiors, or was in any doubt about the truth of his doctrine, but lest it might have been suspected that his doctrine was disclaimed by the apostles, which would have marred his success among the Gentiles. And took Titus with me also — Though he was uncircumcised, that I might therein show my Christian liberty, and assert that of my Gentile brethren, against those who are so zealous in their attempts to invade it. “This is the earliest mention that we meet with of Titus, for he is no where mentioned by St. Luke in the Acts; and what we read of him in the second epistle to the Corinthians, (2 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 7:6; 2 Corinthians 7:14; 2 Corinthians 8:6,) as well as in that to Timothy, (2 Timothy 4:10,) was later by some years. He is here said to have been a Greek, (Galatians 2:3,) and being born of Gentile parents, was not circumcised; but where or when he was converted is uncertain; only we may conclude he was converted by Paul, from the title he gives him of his own son after the common faith, Titus 1:4; and as he now took Titus with him from Antioch to Jerusalem, so he employed him afterward on several occasions, and appears to have regarded him with great affection and endearment.” — Doddridge.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-10 Observe the apostle's faithfulness in giving a full account of the doctrine he had preached among the Gentiles, and was still resolved to preach, that of Christianity, free from all mixture of Judaism. This doctrine would be ungrateful to many, yet he was not afraid to own it. His care was, lest the success of his past labours should be lessened, or his future usefulness be hindered. While we simply depend upon God for success to our labours, we should use every proper caution to remove mistakes, and against opposers. There are things which may lawfully be complied with, yet, when they cannot be done without betraying the truth, they ought to be refused. We must not give place to any conduct, whereby the truth of the gospel would be reflected upon. Though Paul conversed with the other apostles, yet he did not receive any addition to his knowledge, or authority, from them. Perceiving the grace given to him, they gave unto him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, whereby they acknowledged that he was designed to the honour and office of an apostle as well as themselves. They agreed that these two should go to the heathen, while they continued to preach to the Jews; judging it agreeable to the mind of Christ, so to divide their work. Here we learn that the gospel is not ours, but God's; and that men are but the keepers of it; for this we are to praise God. The apostle showed his charitable disposition, and how ready he was to own the Jewish converts as brethren, though many would scarcely allow the like favour to the converted Gentiles; but mere difference of opinion was no reason to him why he should not help them. Herein is a pattern of Christian charity, which we should extend to all the disciples of Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then fourteen years after - That is, 14 years after his first visit there subsequent to his conversion. Some commentators, however, suppose that the date of the fourteen years is to be reckoned from his conversion. But the more obvious construction is, to refer it to the time of his visit there, as recorded in the previous chapter; Galatians 2:18. This time was spent in Asia Minor chiefly in preaching the gospel.

I went up again to Jerusalem - It is commonly supposed that Paul here refers to the visit which he made as recorded in Acts 15. The circumstances mentioned are substantially the same; and the object which he had at that time in going up was one whose mention was entirely pertinent to the argument here. He went up with Barnabas to submit a question to the assembled apostles and elders at Jerusalem, in regard to the necessity of the observance of the laws of Moses. Some persons who had come among the Gentile converts from Judea had insisted on the necessity of being circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas had opposed them; and the dispute had become so warm that it was agreed to submit the subject to the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. For that purpose Paul and Barnabas had been sent, with certain others, to lay the case before all the apostles. As the question which Paul was discussing in this Epistle was about the necessity of the observance of the laws of Moses in order to justification, it was exactly in point to refer to a journey when this very question had been submitted to the apostles. Paul indeed had made another journey to Jerusalem before this with the collection for the poor saints in Judea Acts 11:29-30; Acts 12:25, but he does not mention that here, probably because he did not then see the other apostles, or more probably because that journey furnished no illustration of the point now under debate. On the occasion here referred to Acts 15, the very point under discussion here constituted the main subject of inquiry, and it was definitely settled.

And took Titus with me also - Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles Act 15:2, says, that there were others with Paul and Barnabas on that journey to Jerusalem, but who they were he does not mention. It is by no means certain that Titus was appointed by the church to go to Jerusalem; but the contrary is more probable. Paul seems to have taken him with him as a private affair; but the reason is not mentioned. It may have been to show his Christian liberty, and his sense of what he had a right to do; or it may have been to furnish a case on the subject of inquiry, and submit the matter to them whether Titus was to be circumcised. He was a Greek; but he had been converted to Christianity. Paul had not circumcised him; but had admitted him to the full privileges of the Christian church. Here then was a case in point; and it may have been important to have had such a case before them, so that they might fully understand it. This, as Doddridge properly remarks, is the first mention which occurs of Titus. He is not mentioned by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, and though his name occurs several times in the Second Epistle to the 1 Corinthians 2 1 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 7:6; 2 Corinthians 8:6, 2 Corinthians 8:16, 2 Corinthians 8:23; 2 Corinthians 12:18, yet it is to be remembered that that Epistle was written a considerable time after this to the Galatians. Titus was a Greek, and was doubtless converted by the labors of Paul, because he calls him his own "son," Titus 1:4. He attended Paul frequently in his travels; was employed by him in important services (see 2 Corinthians the places referred to above); was left by him in Crete to set in order the things that were missing, and to ordain elders there Titus 1:5; subsequently, he went into Dalmatia 2 Timothy 4:10, and is supposed to have returned again to Crete, where it is said he propagated the gospel in the neighboring islands, and died at the age of 94 - Calmet.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 2

Ga 2:1-21. His Co-ordinate Authority as Apostle of the Circumcision Recognized by the Apostles. Proved by His Rebuking Peter for Temporizing at Antioch: His Reasoning as to the Inconsistency of Judaizing with Justification by Faith.

1. Translate, "After fourteen years"; namely, from Paul's conversion inclusive [Alford]. In the fourteenth year from his conversion [Birks]. The same visit to Jerusalem as in Ac 15:1-4 (A.D. 50), when the council of the apostles and Church decided that Gentile Christians need not be circumcised. His omitting allusion to that decree is; (1) Because his design here is to show the Galatians his own independent apostolic authority, whence he was not likely to support himself by their decision. Thus we see that general councils are not above apostles. (2) Because he argues the point upon principle, not authoritative decisions. (3) The decree did not go the length of the position maintained here: the council did not impose Mosaic ordinances; the apostle maintains that the Mosaic institution itself is at an end. (4) The Galatians were Judaizing, not because the Jewish law was imposed by authority of the Church as necessary to Christianity, but because they thought it necessary to be observed by those who aspired to higher perfection (Ga 3:3; 4:21). The decree would not at all disprove their view, and therefore would have been useless to quote. Paul meets them by a far more direct confutation, "Christ is of no effect unto you whosoever are justified by the law" (Ga 5:4), [Paley].

Titus … also—specified on account of what follows as to him, in Ga 2:3. Paul and Barnabas, and others, were deputed by the Church of Antioch (Ac 15:2) to consult the apostles and elders at Jerusalem on the question of circumcision of Gentile Christians.Galatians 2:1,2 Paul showeth for what purpose after many years he went

to Jerusalem.

Galatians 2:3-5 That Titus, who went with him, was not circumcised,

and that on purpose to assert the freedom of the

Gentile converts from the bondage of the law.

Galatians 2:6-10 That no new knowledge was added to him in conference

with the three chief apostles, but that he received

from them a public acknowledgment of his Divine

mission to the Gentiles.

Galatians 2:11-13 That he openly withstood Peter for dissimulation with

respect to Gentile communion.

Galatians 2:14-20 Expostulating with him, why he, who believed that

justification came by the faith of Christ, acted as

though it came by the works of the law.

Galatians 2:21 Which was, in effect, to frustrate the grace of God.

Fourteen years after; either fourteen years after the three years before mentioned, and the fifteen days; or fourteen years after the conversion of Paul, or fourteen years after the death of Christ. This journey seeming to be that mentioned Acts 15:2, it seems rather to be understood of fourteen years after the death of Christ.

I went up again to Jerusalem: motions to Jerusalem are usually in Scripture called ascendings or goings up; either because of the mountains round about it, or in respect of the famousness of the place: see Acts 15:2 21:4. The occasion of this journey we have, Acts 15:1,2. It was to advise with the apostles and elders, about the necessity of circumcision; some that came from Judea having taught the disciples at Antioch, that except they were circumcised they could not be saved.

With Barnabas, and took This with me also; Barnabas was chosen to go with Paul, Acts 15:2, and some others, whom Luke nameth not, but it is plain by this text Titus was one.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem,.... That is, either after it pleased God to call him by his grace, and reveal his Son in him; or rather after he had been at Jerusalem to see Peter, with whom he stayed fifteen days, and then went into Syria and Cilicia; so that it was seventeen years after his conversion that he took this journey to Jerusalem he here speaks of; and he seems to refer to the time when he and Barnabas went from the church at Antioch to the apostles and elders about the question, whether circumcision was necessary to salvation, Acts 15:1 which entirely agrees with the account the apostle here gives of this journey, and which he went not alone, but

with Barnabas: and took Titus with me also; Barnabas is mentioned in Luke's account as going with him at this time, but Titus is not; who, though he was not sent by the church, yet the apostle might judge it proper and prudent to take him with him, who was converted by him, was a minister of the Gospel, and continued uncircumcised; and the rather he might choose to have him along with him, partly that he might be confirmed in the faith the apostle had taught him; and partly that he might be a living testimony of the agreement between the apostle's principles and practice; and that having him and Barnabas, he might have a competent number of witnesses to testify to the doctrines he preached, the miracles he wrought, and the success that attended him among the Gentiles; and to relate, upon their return, what passed between him and the elders at Jerusalem; for by the mouth of two or three witnesses everything is established.

Geneva Study Bible

Then {1} fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

(1) Now he shows how he agrees with the apostles, with whom he grants that he conferred concerning his Gospel which he taught among the Gentiles, fourteen years after his conversion. And they permitted it in such a way, that they did not force his companion Titus to be circumcised, although some tormented themselves in this, who traitorously laid wait against him, but in vain. Neither did they add the least amount that might be to the doctrine which he had preached, but rather they gave to him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, and acknowledged them as apostles appointed by the Lord to the Gentiles.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Galatians 2:1. On Galatians 2:1-10, see C. F. A. Fritzsche in Fritzschior. Opusc. p. 158 ff.; Elwert, Progr. Annott. in Gal. ii. 1–10, etc., 1852; Reiche, Comm. Crit. p. 1 ff. On Galatians 2:1, see Stölting, Beiträge z. Exeg. d. Paul. Briefe, 1869, p. 155 ff.

ἔπειτα] thereafter, namely, after my sojourn in Syria and Cilicia; correlative to the ἔπειτα in Galatians 1:21, and also in Galatians 1:18. Ἔπειτα joins the statement to what is narrated immediately before. Therefore not: after the journey to Jerusalem, Galatians 1:18 (Wieseler).

διὰ δεκατεσσάρων ἐτῶν] interjectis quatuordecim annis, after an interval of fourteen years: comp. Polyb. xxii. 26. 22, διʼ ἐτῶν τριῶν; Acts 24:17. The length of this period quite accords with the systematic object of the apostle, inasmuch as he had already, up to the time of this journey, laboured for so many years entirely on his own footing and independently of the original apostles, that this very fact could not but put an end to any suspicion of his being a disciple of these apostles. As to the use of διά, which is based on the idea that the time intervening from the starting-point to the event in question is traversed [passed through] when the event arrives (comp. Hermann, ad Viger. p. 856), see generally Bernhardy, p. 235; Krüger, § 68. 22. 3; Winer, p. 336 [E. T. 475]; Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 50, and in Fritzschior. Opusc. p. 162 f.; Herod. iv. 1, ἀποδημήσαντας ὀκτὼ κ. εἰκοσι ἔτεα καὶ διὰ χρόνου τοσούτου (after so long an interval) κατιόντας κ.τ.λ.; Deuteronomy 9:11, διὰ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν … ἔδωκε κύριος ἐμοὶ τὰς δύο πλάκας; Joseph. Antt. iv. 8. 12. Comp. the well-known διὰ χρόνου, Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. ii. 8. 1; διʼ αἰῶνος, Blomfield, Gloss. ad Aesch. Pers. 1003; διὰ μακροῦ, Thuc. iv. 15. 3; διʼ ἔτους, Lucian, Paras. 15; διʼ ἡμέρων, Mark 2:1, and the like; also 4Ma 8:20. Following Oeder (in Wolf) and Rambach, Theile (in Winer’s Neue krit. Jour. VIII. p. 175), Paulus and Schott have understood διά as within, “during the 14 years I have now been a Christian;” or, as Stölting, acceding to this explanation, gives to it the more definite sense, “during a space of time which has lasted 14 years from my conversion, and is now, at the time I am writing this epistle, finished.” But against this view may be urged the grammatical objection that διά is never used by Greek authors of duration of time, except when the action extends throughout the whole time (Valckenaer, ad Herod. iv. 12; Ast, ad Plat. de Leg. p. 399), either continuously, as Mark 14:53, or at recurring intervals, as Acts 1:3 (see Fritzschior. Opusc. l.c.). Even the passages which are appealed to, Acts 5:19; Acts 16:9; Acts 17:10; Acts 23:31, admit the rendering of διὰ τῆς νυκτός as throughout the night, without deviation from the common linguistic usage.[41] Moreover, how unintelligibly Paul would have expressed himself, if, without giving the slightest intimation of it (possibly by ἐξ οὗ ἐν Χριστῷ εἰμι, or in some other way), he had meant the present duration of his standing as a Christian! Lastly, how entirely idle and objectless in itself would be such a specification of time! For that Paul could only speak of the journeys which he made as a Christian to Jerusalem, was self-evident; but whether at the time when he wrote the epistle his life as a Christian had lasted 14 years, or longer or shorter, was a point of no importance for the main object of the passage, and the whole statement as to the time would be without any motive in harmony with the context.

From what point has Paul reckoned the 14 years? The answer, From the ascension of Christ (Chronic. Euseb., Peter Lombard, Lud. Cappellus, Paulus), must at once be excluded as quite opposed to the context. Usually, however, the conversion of the apostle is taken as the terminus a quo (so Olshausen, Anger, Matthies, Schott, Fritzsche, Baumgarten-Crusius, Wieseler, Hilgenfeld, Ebrard, Ewald, apost. Zeit. p. 55, Stölting), an appeal being made to the analogy of Galatians 1:18. Thus the three years of Galatians 1:18 would be again included in the fourteen years. But πάλιν and the διά, indicating the interval which in the meantime had elapsed, point rather to the first journey to Jerusalem as the terminus a quo. The πάλιν points back to the first journey, and so διὰ δεκατεσσ. ἐτῶν presents itself most naturally as the period intervening between the first journey and this πάλιν. If Paul had again written μετά, as in Galatians 1:18, we might have inferred from the intentional identity of expression the identity also of the starting-point; but since he has here chosen the word διά not elsewhere employed by him in this sense (after an interval of fourteen years), the relation of this διά to πάλιν leads us to take the first journey to Jerusalem as the starting-point of the reckoning. This is the reckoning adopted by Jerome, Chrysostom on Galatians 2:11, Luther,[42] Ussher, Clericus, Lightfoot, Bengel, Stroth (in the Repert. für bibl. u. morgenl. Lit. IV. p. 41), Morus, Keil, Koppe, Borger, Hug, Mynster, Credner, Hemsen, Winer, Schrader, Rückert, Usteri, Zeller, Reiche, Bleek, and others, as also by Hofmann, who, however, labours under an erroneous view as to the whole aim of the section beginning with Galatians 1:21 (see on Galatians 1:22).

δεκατεσσάρων] emphatically placed before ἐτῶν (differently in Galatians 1:18), in order to denote the long interval. Comp. Herod. l.c.

πάλιν ἀνέβην εἰς Ἱεροσ.] Paul can mean by this no other than his second[43] journey to Jerusalem, and he says that between his first and his renewed (ΠΆΛΙΝ) visit to it a period of 14 years had elapsed, during which he had not been there. If Paul had meant a third journey, and had kept silence as to the second, he would have furnished his opponents, to whom he desired to prove that he was not a disciple of the apostles, with weapons against himself; and the suspicion of intentionally incomplete enumeration would have rested on him justly, so far as his adversaries were concerned. Indeed, even if on occasion of a second visit to Jerusalem, here passed over, he had not come at all into close contact with the apostles (and how highly improbable this would be in itself!), he would have been the less likely to have omitted it, as, in this very character of a journey which had had nothing to do with any sort of instruction by the apostles (comp. Galatians 1:18), it would have been of the greatest importance for his object, in opposition to the suspicions of his opponents.[44] To have kept silence as to this journey would have cut the sinews of his whole historically apologetic demonstration, which he had entered upon in Galatians 1:13 and still continues from Galatians 1:21 (though Hofmann thinks otherwise). Comp. also Bleek, Beitr. p. 55. This purely exegetical ground is quite decisive in favour of the view that Paul here speaks of his second journey to Jerusalem;[45] and considered by itself, therefore, our passage presents no difficulty at all. The difficulty only arises when we compare it with Acts. According to the latter, the second journey (Acts 11:30; Acts 12:25) is that which Paul made with Barnabas in the year 44 in order to convey pecuniary assistance to Judaea; hence many hold our journey as identical with that related in Acts 11:30; Acts 12:25. So Tertullian c. Marc. i. 20, Chron. Euseb., Calvin,[46] Keil (Opusc. p. 160, and in Pott’s Sylloge, III. p. 68), Gabler (neutest. theol. Journ. II. 2, p. 210 ff.), Rosenmüller, Süskind (in Bengel’s Archiv. I. 1, p. 157 ff.), Bertholdt, Kuinoel (ad Act. p. xxv.) Heinrichs (ad Act. p. 59), Tychsen (on Koppe, p. 149), Niemeyer (de temp. quo ep. ad Gal. conscr. sit, Gott. 1827), Paulus, Guericke (Beitr. p. 80 ff.), Küchler (de anno, quo Paul. ad sacra Chr. convers. est, Lips. 1828, p. 27 ff.), Flatt, Fritzsche, Böttger, Stölting. So also Caspari (geograph. chronol. Einl. in d. Leb. Jesu, 1869). But the chronology, through the 14 years, is decisively opposed to this view. For as the year 44 A.D. or 797 U.C. is the established date of the journey in question (see Introd. to Acts), these 14 years with the addition of the three years (Galatians 1:18) would carry us back to the year 27 A.D.! Among the defenders of this view, Böttger has indeed turned δεκατεσσάρων into ΤΕΣΣΆΡΩΝ; but how little he is justified in this, see below. Fritzsche, on the other hand, has endeavoured to bring out the 14 years, by supposing the reckoning of Luke 3:1 to begin from the year of the joint regency of Tiberius, that is, the year 765 U.C., as, following Ussher, has been done by Clericus, Lardner, and others (see on Luke 3:1), and now also by Wieseler in Herzog’s Encykl. XXI. p. 547 ff., and especially in his Beitr. z. Würdigung d. Evang. 1869, p. 177 ff. It is assumed, consequently, that Christ commenced His ministry in 779, and was crucified in 781; that Paul became a Christian at the beginning of 783, and that 14 years later, in 797, the journey in question to Jerusalem took place. But against the assumption that the 14 years are to be reckoned from Paul’s conversion, see above. Besides, the year of the conversion cannot, for other chronological reasons, be put back beyond the year 35 A.D., that is, 788 U.C. (see on Acts, Introd.). Lastly, the hypothesis, that Luke in Galatians 3:1 did not reckon from the actual commencement of the reign of Tiberius, is nothing but a forced expedient based on extraneous chronological combinations, and finding no support at all in the plain words of Luke himself (see further, in opposition to it, Anger, rat. temp. p. 14 f., and z. Chronol. d. Lehramtes Chr. I.). The opinion, therefore, that the journey Galatians 2:1 is identical with that mentioned in Acts 11, must be rejected; and we must, on the other hand, assume that in point of fact those expositors have arrived at the correct conclusion who consider it as the same which, according to Acts 15, was undertaken by Paul and Barnabas to the apostolic conference. So Irenaeus, adv. haer. iii. 13, Theodoret, Jerome, Baronius, Cornelius a Lapide, Pearson, and most of the older expositors, Semler, Koppe, Stroth, Vogel (in Gabler’s Journ. für auserl. theol. Lit. I. 2, p. 249 ff.), Haselaar, Borger, Schmidt (Einl. I. p. 192 and in the Analect. III. 1), Eichhorn, Hug, Winer, Hemsen, Feilmoser, Hermann (de P. ep. ad Gal. tribus prim. capp., Lips. 1832), Usteri, Matthies, Schott, Olshausen, Anger, Schneckenburger, Neander, Baumgarten-Crusius, Baur, Hilgenfeld, Zeller, Lekebusch, Elwert, Lechler (apost. u. nachapost. Zeitalt. p. 394 ff.), Thiersch, Reuss, Reiche, Ewald, Ritschl, Bleek, Ellicott, Hofmann, Laurent, Holsten, Trip, Oertel, and others.[47] This result is, however, to be based in the first instance not on a comparison of the historical references contained in Galatians 2 and Acts 15, but on διὰ δεκατεσσάρων ἐτῶν; and the historical references of Acts 15 afterwards serve merely as a partial, although very material, confirmation. For the point of view, from which the journey is brought forward in our passage, is one so special and subjective, that it cannot present itself in the connected objectively historical narrative of Acts, whether we take it in connection with Acts 11 or Acts 15. By the search for points of agreement and of difference, with the view of thereby arriving at a decision, far too much room is left for argument pro and contra, and consequently for the play of subjective influences, to reach any certain result.

[41] See on these passages the Commentary on Acts. There is no cause for accusing (with Fritzsche) Luke of an improper deviation from the Greek usus loquendi. Comp. on διὰ νυκτός, Thuc. ii. 4. 1; Xen. Anab. iv. 6. 22. On the Homeric διὰ νύκτα, during the night, see Nägelsbach on the Iliad, p. 222, ed. 3.

[42] In the Commentary of 1519 (Opp. Jena 1612, I. p. 336 B), “Post annos 14, quibus si annos tres, quos supra memoravit, adjunxeris, jam 17 aut 18 annos eum praedicasse invenies, antequam conferre voluerit.” Even with this reckoning, his conversion still remains “the great event by which Paul measures for himself all Christian time” (Ewald); for the whole reckoning begins at Galatians 1:18 from this event as its starting-point.

[43] Very correctly put in the Chron. Euseb., ὅ εἶπε πάλιν, δηλονότι ἑτέρα ἐστὶν ἀνάβασις αὕτη.

[44] Wieseler’s objection that Paul, according to our view of his historical argument, would also have left unmentioned the journey spoken of in Acts 18:22, where by the reasoning above would fall to the ground as nimium probans, is incorrect. For if he had shown that up to the apostolic council (see the sequel) he could not have received the instruction of the apostles, his task of proof was completely solved; because on occasion of his presence at that council he received formal acknowledgment and sanction as the apostle to the Gentiles. If up to that time he had not been a disciple of the apostles, now, when he had received in an official way the fullest acknowledgment as an independent apostle, there could no longer be any discussion as to his having at some subsequent date procured apostolic instruction in Jerusalem. It would therefore have been purely unmeaning, and even absurd, to have continued the history of his journeys to Jerusalem beyond the date of the apostolic council. But up to that date he could not omit any journey, without rendering his historical deduction nugatory as a proof.

[45] Bloch, Chronotax. p. 67 f., and Schott find two journeys mentioned in ver. 1 : the former obtains them from πάλιν (after 14 years I made the second journey to Jerusalem, undertaken with Barnabas); and the latter brings them out thus: “intra 14 annos iterata vice adscendi Hierosolymas, cum Barnaba quidem (Acts 11:30), posthac (Acts 15) assumto etiam Tito.” Both views are introduced into the passage inconsistently with the text. For according to Bloch’s explanation, Paul must have spoken previously of a journey made with Barnabas; and in Schott’s interpretation not only is διά wrongly understood (see above), but it would be necessary at least that instead of συμπαραλ. καὶ Τίτον the text should run, εἶτα δὲ συμπαραλ. κ. T. Nevertheless Lange, apostol. Zeitalt. I. p. 99 f., has again resorted to the evasion that πάλιν is to be referred to μετὰ Βαρν. and presupposes an earlier journey already made with Barnabas (Acts 11).

[46] Among the older expositors, J. T. Major is also named as in favour of this view, whose Annotata ad Acta Ap. Jen. 1647, 8vo, are quoted by Gabler and Winer. But in the second edition of Major’s Annotata, which appeared after his death, Jena 1670, 4to, Major (p. 410 ff.) pronounces decidedly for the view which holds the journey mentioned in Galatians 2:1 to be identical with that in Acts 15.

[47] Rückert does not come to a decision, but (in his Commentary and in the (exeget. Mag. I. 1, p. 118 ff.) denies the identity of our journey with that related in Acts 11, 12, and leaves it a matter of doubt whether the journey mentioned in Acts 15 or that in Acts 18:22 is the one intended.

I. Thus in support of the identity of the journey

Expositor's Greek Testament

Galatians 2:1-10. NARRATIVE OF THE AUTHOR’S VISIT WITH BARNABAS TO THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM, HIS FRUITLESS NEGOTIATIONS WITH PARTY LEADERS, AND THE BROTHERLY WELCOME AND RECOGNITION HE RECEIVED FROM JAMES PETER AND JOHN.—The author has shown by a rapid glance over the first thirteen years of his Christian life how independent he had been of human teaching at his conversion and subsequently. He now proceeds to record the true history of the negotiations which he had undertaken at Jerusalem in conjunction with Barnabas in the fourteenth year of his ministry. (On the identity of this conference with the Apostolic Council, whose proceedings are recorded in Acts 15, see Introd., pp. 141–144). The Galatians were well aware of the position of Paul and Barnabas in the Church of Antioch: it was not therefore necessary to state in express terms that they were deputed to represent that Church. Enough that their first act was to lay before the Church of Jerusalem an account of the Gospel they were preaching to the Gentiles, and that their divine commission to the Gentiles was fully recognised by the leaders of the Church at Jerusalem. They knew already the general outline of events: for the resolution adopted at Jerusalem, and subsequently approved at Antioch, had been duly communicated to them by Paul himself. His object in this Epistle is to remove misconstruction as to his own position. His reference of this question to the Church of Jerusalem had been misrepresented as an act of submission and acknowledgment of his own inferiority, whereas he had really procured the condemnation of the false brethren who denied his authority, had silenced his opponents, and met with brotherly fellowship and full recognition at the hands of James Peter and John.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. fourteen years after] This is not to be reckoned from the time of the first visit, mentioned ch. Galatians 1:18, but from the date of St Paul’s conversion; and this visit may therefore be assigned to a.d. 51. It was on the occasion described in Acts 15.

St Paul had gone to Jerusalem once during the interval, to carry relief to the poor brethren who were suffering from the famine, Acts 11:30; Acts 12:25. But he does not here refer to that visit, because its object and attendant circumstances are foreign to the purpose of his present argument, and because he had probably no opportunity then of conferring with the Apostles. The visit was purely one of benevolence, and may have been brief in duration. Calvin, however, and others identify the visit of this verse with that of Acts 11:30. Twice after this, St Paul revisited the Holy City—in a.d. 54, of which visit a cursory mention is made Acts 18:21-22, and finally in a.d. 58 (Acts 21:17).

with Barnabas] This name, which signifies ‘the Son of Exhortation’, was given by the Apostles to an early convert, whose original name was Joseph or Joses. He was a Levite of Cyprus, and was associated with Paul in the commencement of his missionary work among the Gentiles. He accompanied him on this occasion, as well as on the previous visit to Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 11:30. Like St Paul, though not of the number of the Twelve, he was included in “the glorious company of the Apostles”[26] (see Lightfoot, p. 93).

[26] His festival is retained in the Calendar of the English Church, with special Collect, Epistle and Gospel. In the Collect he is termed ‘thy holy Apostle Barnabas’. Under June 11, to the bare name Barnabas in the Calendar was prefixed in 1663 ‘S.’, and added, ‘Apost. and M.’

At the conclusion of this visit, owing to a dispute with St Paul, Barnabas separated from him, and is not again mentioned in St Luke’s narrative.

Titus also] He was one among the ‘certain others’ appointed by the Church in Antioch to go up to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:2). He is specially mentioned because of the incident narrated in Galatians 2:2 foll.

Bengel's Gnomen

Galatians 2:1. Διὰ, after) At an interval of fourteen years between the two journeys to Jerusalem.

Galatians 2:1

Vincent's Word Studies

Fourteen years after (διὰ δεκατεσσάρων ἐτῶν)

Rev. after the space of fourteen years. Comp. δἰ ἐτῶν πλειόνων after several years, Acts 24:17; δἰ ἡμερῶν after (some) days, Mark 2:1. Διὰ means after, that is, a given number of years being interposed between two points of time. Not, in the course of (Rev. marg.).