Galatians 2:7 Commentary and Bible Study

This was the conclusions of the Jerusalem apostles after all that they had heard of Paul’s preaching and the blessing of God upon it. Far from opposing him, they fully endorsed his work, confirmed his apostleship, and recognised the division of the work which had already been made clear by the Lord.This gracious attitude to Paul on the part of the twelve was all that Paul hoped for. They might have found it strange that one who was not of their number, should be used in such a significant way, but they had been taught by the Lord that he chooses his own servants.The Jerusalem apostles saw him as having an identical role in the conversion of the Gentiles as they had in the conversion of the Jews. This was confirmed by the wonderful blessing which God had poured out on the Gentiles in response to Paul’s preaching. This was a weighty argument to settle the doubts of the Galatians, and to silence the Judaizers. Likewise, Peter had been given responsibilities that singled him out as leader of the Twelve, being charged with feeding Christ’s sheep and his lambs in the church of God. It was Peter therefore who took the lead on the Day of Pentecost and afterwards. It was also Peter who received a vision revealing the next major step in the progress of the gospel (Acts 10), but in spite of this, Peter and the other eleven apostles had largely restricted their work to Judea and Samaria at least in the early part of their ministry as recorded in Acts.