Galatians 2:1 - Exposition

Then fourteen years after ( ἔπειτα διὰ δεκατεσσάρων ῤῶν ); then after a space of fourteen years. Beckoned from when? Many think from the visit mentioned in Galatians 1:18 ; others, from the time of his conversion. At first sight, the former seems the more obvious view; but fuller consideration determines for the latter. The apostle lays stress upon the interval being so long; as if it were, "It was not less than fourteen years after, that a conference took place between me and the older apostles relative to the gospel which I preach; during all which time I was preaching it on a footing independent of them." There appears no other motive than this for his specifying the number of years. This being so, the specification would naturally at once include the whole period during which he had been so engaged, and not leave it to the reader to add the two or three years which had elapsed before the visit mentioned Galatians 1:18 . I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas ( πάλιν ἀνέβην εἰς ἱεροσόλυμα μετὰ βαρνάβα ) . It is questionable whether this "again" covers the clause "with Barnabas," or not. We assume with confidence that this visit to Jerusalem is the one described in Acts 15:1-41 . We know, therefore, that there had been at least one journey to Jerusalem previously taken by St. Paul in conjunction with Barnabas, viz. that of Acts 11:1-30 ., 12. We know also that he had been in close association with Barnabas in that first visit to Jerusalem mentioned above in Galatians 1:18 (comp. Acts 9:27 ); it is very possible that they had then come up in company. Now, so affecting was the interest for St. Paul with which both these visits were fraught, the one on his own account, the ether on account of the distress then suffered by the Church, that we may feel certain that, in the careful review he is now taking of the past, both of them would most vividly recur to his recollection; so vividly that it is quite conceivable that he was writing to the Galatians of his "going again to Jerusalem with Barnabas ," with allusion to those two former visits, though he has not before named Barnabas's name in connection with that one which alone he has spoken of. If this view is not admitted, we must suppose a comma present after "Jerusalem" And took Titus with me also ; or rather, perhaps, and took in our company also Titus ( συμπαραλαβὼν καὶ τίτον ) The σὺν in συμπαραλαβὼν seems to allude to the others whom Paul and Barnabas, as mentioned in Acts 15:2 , took with them on that journey. So also in Acts 12:25 and Acts 15:37 ; for in these two passages we are not to suppose that John Mark is named as being their sole companion, but rather that he is specified only in preparation for what has afterwards to be told concerning him. In Acts 15:39 παραλαβόντα without the σὺν simply indicates that Mark was with Barnabas, without reference to others who may or may not have been with them. The singular number of the participle, συμπαραλαβών , appears to indicate a certain footing of independent action which St. Paul had by this time gained for himself, even when viewed in relation to Barnabas: Paul himself attached Titus to the company, At any rate, it needs to be noted that St. Paul speaks of himself as simply "going up with Barnabas," not as "taking Barnabas with him;" for it would be a misconception alike of the import of the words before us, and of the relative position as yet outwardly obtaining in public action between the two men, to think of Paul as the leader and chief organizer of the accompanying party and of Barnabas as subordinate to him. The higher apostolate of Paul was at that time only in process of manifestation, not as yet fully realized in the Church (see Introduction, Dissertation II .). Nothing is known of the antecedents of Titus, save that he was a "Greek" (verse 3), both his parents apparently being Gentiles, and that St. Paul, in designating him in the Epistle addressed to him ( Titus 1:4 ), as his "true child" ( γνήστον τέκνον ), seems to mark him out as a convert of his own; while the manner in which he is here named to the Galatians suggests the surmise that he was no stranger to themselves. The apostle may be supposed to have secured his being appointed by the Antiochian Church to be one of the deputation to Jerusalem, both that he might be a representative of the Church of the uncircumcision, and on account of his great moral fitness to take part in the delicate and critical business then on foot. About the time the apostle wrote this letter to the Galatians, he was much employed by him, being entrusted with missions, which, like that earlier one, required especial firmness and discretion tempered with truly Christian sentiment (of. 2 Corinthians 2:13 ; 2 Corinthians 7:6 , 2 Corinthians 7:13-15 ; 2 Corinthians 8:16 , 2 Corinthians 8:22 ; 2 Corinthians 12:18 . See Mr. Phillott's article on "Titus" in Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible').