Part XXX on Galatians Study

Galatians 2:6
"But of these who seemed to be somewhat,..."   Now read that carefully, what does that tell us? What does that imply. Hey, they are not what they thought they were. Now we're not being disrespectful of Peter and the eleven. No way. We're going to be just as anxious to see Peter, James, and John and the rest of them as anybody else. But in the whole economy of things, here they have been promoting Christ as the Messiah of Israel, and His coming Kingship, and His Kingdom, but the Hebrews have rejected it. Now that wasn't Peter's fault. He had done all he could. He had preached his heart out all through those early chapters of Acts. But the Hebrews could not believe that anything good could come out of Nazareth. Well in God's Divine purposes then as the Hebrews kept slipping and slipping away in unbelief, then naturally Peter and the eleven and these Jewish leaders of Jerusalem were losing their grip and clout. Because the whole system was falling through the cracks. God isn't going to be out of it, so as the Hebrews are slipping in unbelief, rejecting all this, God has now turned to what people? Well the Gentiles. So as the Hebrews are going down, the Gentiles are coming up, as the first covenant is loosing its grip the New one of promise  is gaining more and more ground through divine providence and this is Paul's ministry. Looking at verse 6 again:

Galatians 2:6a
"But of these who seemed to be somewhat,..."   These had to be the Twelve and the elders of the congregation at Jerusalem, but they no longer had the power, rightfully, as God had entrusted to them. Let us show what we're talking about. Come with us to the Book of Acts chapter 4, and again watch every word of this. Let's begin with verse 32, and much the same thing has taken place in chapter 2. Where they begin to have all things common, and they lived out of what we could call the common kitty. Now this kitty is still operating in chapter 4 which is probably a year or two later. 

Acts 4:32-37
"And the multitude of them that believed (that is of these Hebrews now at Jerusalem) were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. (in other words they took all their wealth, whatever they had, and they brought it into a common kitty.) 33. And with great power (don't miss that) gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all,. 34. Neither was there any among them that lacked: (remember there were thousands of these Jewish believers that were living out of this kitty) for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, 35. And laid them down at the apostles' feet: (because they were in control) and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. (Remember they were waiting for Christ to come back and set up His Kingdom, they were looking for the tribulation period to start tomorrow) 36. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (same Barnabas that was in Galatians chapter 2 with Paul) (which is being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levitt, and of the country of Cyprus, 37. Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet."    Even Barnabas, that good man who was probably coming up in the leadership, he, too, laid every penny of what he had gotten for his sold real-estate at the feet of the apostles. They were in control, they were the leadership. Now it's these same apostles that Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit is led to say for our purposes:

Galatians 2:6
"But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:)  (so in God's view Peter was no greater than anybody else) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:"   Something else to remember is that when we see Scripture repeat something, as we see in these verses its being repeated for emphasis, He's driving the point home that these men no longer had the preeminence of God's dealing with the human race that they had enjoyed back in the earthly ministries and the early days of Acts. It was slipping away from them. The reason Paul says at the end of verse 6 "that in conference added nothing to me," was because they had no comprehension of these revelations that the Apostle Paul had been receiving from the ascended Lord. They knew only Jesus in the flesh, they knew Jesus that 40 days in Acts after His resurrection of course, but they knew nothing of the ascended Lord and His workings nor did they know Him as the LORD of spirits. Paul had received all of his from the ascended Lord in glory, just as we're to do also, with a little aid or help from those of like precious faith. Now one more verse and we've got to go back to Acts chapter 15.

Galatians 2:7
"But contrariwise, (or on the other hand) when they (the Twelve in particular) saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision (the Gentiles) was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision (Hebrew) was unto Peter;"   Now we know that because we saw that, Jesus chose the Twelve, and He commanded them in Matthew 10:5- 6 not to go to a Gentile but go only to lost sheep of the house of Israel. So the Twelve were apostles of what people? Israel! And so they remained. We know we've said as long as we've been teaching that we can't show one record from scripture that these Twelve men ever had a ministry among the Gentiles. Now we won't take away the fact that they may have visited with the Gentiles, as we know Peter went up to Antioch. But to actually have a ministry among the Gentiles there's not a word of record of that in this Book. They were the Apostles of Israel and the Hebrews, and they understood that. A lot of people today don't understand that, but those Twelve men did.

So in verse 7 again, Paul says that the Twelve are now beginning to understand that as he was given the Gospel for the Gentiles (I Corinthians 15:1-4 and Romans 6:1-11, Galatians 2:20) it was from the same God, and the same kind of authority that they had received the Gospel of the circumcision or the Hebrews which was the Gospel of the Kingdom. Now come back to Acts 15 and we've mentioned before that this will be Luke's account of the same thing we find in Galatians chapter 2 which is Paul's account in the first person. But now look what Luke writes in Acts chapter 15. We've already looked at a few of the early verses in the chapter. But let's jump in at verse 5 and review it.