Levend Water
The Apostle of the Reconciliation - Charles H. Welch
Index - Page 69 of 159
ABRAHAM AND THE GENTILE 69
The Apostle
The pillars at Jerusalem agree that Paul should go to the Gentiles (2:9).
Peter recognized the fact of the reconciliation, and did eat with the Gentiles (2:12).
The Reconciliation accepted and denied
Peter is reminded that though a Jew he had felt free to live as a Gentile (Ethnikos) (2:14).
Peter is asked why he now changes and compels the Gentiles to Judaize (2:14).
Gentiles distinguished from Jews by the title `sinners', indicating their outside position (2:15).
`... the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through (Gentiles by) faith, preached before the
gospel unto Abraham, saying' (3:8).
The Reconciliation connected with Abraham
`In thee shall all the Gentiles be blessed' (3:8).
Israel's redemption from the curse of the law is essentially connected with the outflowing of the blessing of
Abraham to the Gentiles (3:13,14).
It will be found upon examination that the circumcision is used as a term very often to describe that company
who are not Gentiles, showing that Gentiles viewed in their religious light are intended:
Paul - The gospel of the uncircumcision (2:7).
Peter - The gospel of the circumcision (2:7).
Peter - Mighty signs of apostleship of the circumcision. (2:8).
Paul - Equally so, of the apostleship of the uncircumcision (2:8).
Paul and Barnabas - To go to the Gentiles (2:9).
Peter and the others, to go to the circumcision (2:9).
Peter - Withdraws from Gentiles, fearing them which were of the circumcision (2:12).
Let us briefly notice the line of teaching which develops as we trace these words `Gentile' and `Circumcision'
through Galatians. The first two speak of the special gospel to which the apostle was separated. The verses which
precede the quotation are of importance, because they imply the necessity of a revelation. In Galatians 1:13,14 the
apostle brings forward his manner of life and religious activities up to the moment he was met by the Lord on the
road to Damascus. He had `beyond measure persecuted the church of God, and wasted it'; and he had `profited in
the Jews' religion' above many his equal in years, his special excellence consisting of being `more exceedingly a
zealot for the traditions' of his fathers. Any one of these items, if acknowledged as a fact, renders it highly
improbable that Paul should have ever invented or imagined the gospel which held such grace to the church he had
persecuted; which overthrew the founder's conceit of his religion, and destroyed for ever the traditions of his
fathers. Revelation is the only adequate and reasonable answer to the question, How did Saul of Tarsus, the
persecuting traditionalist, come to know the gospel of God?
The second reference shows Paul, after fourteen years' independent testimony, going up to Jerusalem by
revelation, this time to `communicate' that gospel which he preached among the Gentiles.  The only other
occurrence of the word rendered `communicate' is found in Acts 25:14, where Festus states Paul's case to king
Agrippa. The fact that he went up by revelation, and the subsequent acknowledgment of his position, precludes the
idea that Paul went up to ask the opinion of the twelve concerning his gospel, but rather it was to open their minds as
to its character.
The reference in 2:7 supplies one further item, and that is a name or title to this gospel of Paul - `when they saw
that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed to me'. Here is a title which indicates that the gospel which
Paul was commissioned to preach was different from that which Peter had received, and to preach the gospel of the
circumcision to the Gentiles simply brought about confusion. This definition of 2:7 is to be understood in those
passages where the apostle uses that peculiar expression `my gospel'.