EXPOSITION
In the preceding chapter, St. Paul has been concerned to make clear the position that neither the gospel which he preached nor the commission which he held was derived from the older apostles- the history of the first years of his ministry showed this. The apostle is now addressing himself to a different subject; he wishes to show that his gospel, though not derived from the older apostles, had, however, while recognized as standing on an independent footing, received the sanction of their approval. This being his object, he had no occasion to refer in any way to visits which he may have made to Jerusalem between the one mentioned in Galatians 1:18 and the one here referred to. The tenor of his argument, therefore, so far, does not of itself determine whether this visit was either the one mentioned in Acts 11:30; Acts 12:25, or the one described in Acts 15:1-41., or possibly some other not recorded. That, however, it was in reality that of Acts 15:1-41. rather than that of Acts 11:1-30., 12., hardly admits of a doubt, if we compare the circumstances here related with those which marked the condition of Church affairs at Jerusalem on the two occasions severally as described by St. Luke. The imprisonment of St. Peter and the whole state of distress presented to us in Acts 12:1-25. make it well-nigh inconceivable that any such incidents should have then occurred as St. Paul here speaks of; while, on the other hand, the question agitated on the occasion described in Acts 15:1-41. corresponds precisely in character with the mutual relations here described as subsisting between St. Paul and the believers of the circumcision with their leaders. What St. Paul here relates fits in very naturally into the circumstances related in Acts 15:1-41., though the situation is looked at from different points of view. "I went up again," he says; not, "I went up a second time."
The chapter falls into two sections. Of these, viewed in their leading purport, the first (Acts 15:1-10) exhibits the recognition formally accorded to St. Paul's gospel and work by the highest authorities of the Church of the circumcision; the second (Acts 15:11-21) displays in a very stalking light the independence and co-ordinateness of his position when standing face to face with the very chiefest of the apostles. But while these seem to be their leading objects, we find the apostle weaving in, after his manner, trenchant references to other matters relevant to the main purpose of the Epistle, and even enlarging upon them.