Verse 1
From Acts 11:25-26 we learn that Barnabas brought Paul back from Cilicia to assist in the ministry in Antioch. Paul was living there when he visited Jerusalem with Barnabas.
". . . this is the third in a series of ’then’ clauses Paul stitched together to form an airtight argument for his apostolic independence from the Jerusalem church (cf. Galatians 1:18; Galatians 1:21)." [Note: George, p. 135.]
Probably Paul calculated his 14 years from his conversion rather than from his first visit to Jerusalem (cf. Galatians 1:18). Paul visited Jerusalem at least five times, and the visit described here seems to have been his second (Acts 11:27-30). [Note: See Stanley D. Toussaint, "The Chronological Problem of Galatians 2:1-10," Bibliotheca Sacra 120:480 (October-December 1963):334-40; George Ogg, The Chronology of the Life of Paul pp. 56-57; Bruce, pp. 108-9; Joe Morgado Jr., "Paul in Jerusalem: A Comparison of His Visits in Acts and Galatians," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37:1 (March 1994):55-68; Fung, pp. 9-28, 86; Tenney, pp. 79-82; and Campbell, p. 593.] It was not his third visit to participate in the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-29). [Note: Advocates of this view include R. Jewett, Dating Paul’s Life, pp. 52-54; and Everett F. Harrison, "The Epistle to the Galatians," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, pp. 1287-88.] This seems clear from Paul’s statement that it was a private meeting (Galatians 2:2).
| Paul’s visits to Jerusalem |
| 1. The visit after he left Damascus (Acts 9:26-30; Galatians 1:18-20) |
| 2. The famine visit (Acts 11:27-30; Galatians 2:1-10) |
| 3. The visit to attend the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-29) |
| 4. The visit at the end of the second missionary journey (Acts 18:22) |
| 5. The final visit that resulted in Paul’s Caesarean imprisonment (Acts 21:15 to Acts 23:35) |
The references to Barnabas (Galatians 2:1; Galatians 2:9; Galatians 2:13) suggest that the readers knew him. If Paul wrote this epistle to Christians living in South Galatia, they probably knew Barnabas as Paul’s fellow missionary to them on Paul’s first missionary journey. [Note: See Richard Bauckham, "Barnabas in Galatians," Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2 (January 1979):61-70.]
Titus was a Gentile believer (Galatians 2:3) and one of Paul’s faithful disciples in ministry. When Paul wrote this epistle Titus was apparently living in Antioch. Later Titus represented Paul to the Corinthian church (2 Corinthians 2:12-13; 2 Corinthians 7:5-16), to the Jerusalem church (2 Corinthians 8:6-24; 2 Corinthians 9:3-5; 2 Corinthians 12:18), and to the Cretan church (Titus 1:5).
Titus "possessed considerable people skills . . . and was a man of unquestioned integrity, especially with regard to financial resources." [Note: Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin Jeremiah , 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, p. 273.]
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