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THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION 57
The author's own summary is as follows:
(1) By this view no visit of Paul to Jerusalem is suppressed.
(2) The most forcible arguments that could be used at the time are used.
(3) No inconsistency is intruded into the Acts.
(4) Every phrase which bears upon the date is simply and naturally explained.
(5) The authority of the Council at Jerusalem, and the decree made, remain unimpaired.
(6) The epistle was written from Antioch or the neighbourhood.
(7) The churches of Galatia were those of Pisidia, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.
(8) The epistle is probably the earliest book in the New Testament.
CHAPTER 9
The Apostle of the Reconciliation.
The attitude of Peter and the circumcision with regard to Cornelius is sufficient to make us realize that the
opening of the door to the Gentiles would be accompanied by much opposition. Something had come which
wounded the pride of the Jew, believer though he may have been; and soon the history of the Acts and the testimony
of the epistles show us a strong party, jealous for the Law of Moses, for the rite of circumcision, and for the peculiar
privileges of the chosen people. Every epistle of the period contains some reference to this: and the very opposition
to the reconciliation was, humanly speaking, one of the causes which produced the epistles of Paul during the Acts.
The epistle to the Galatians cannot be even superficially read without perceiving that the whole state of affairs is
one of conflict for the truth of the gospel as connected with the Gentiles. This conflict is fiercest where the question
of the apostleship of Paul is in question, and much that is written in these early epistles is in the nature of a
vindication of Paul's claim. The epistles to the Corinthians contain many strongly worded passages in what the
apostle calls `foolish boasting', where he again has to fight for the truth of his peculiar ministry. The epistle to the
Romans is calmer, and the controversy there passes from the messenger to the message. But even there the apostle
`magnifies' his office, and draws attention to the special relationship of his ministry to the Gentiles. Our first
enquiry, therefore, will be along these lines.