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Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians
Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians Author:John Calvin Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. 1. Then fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. 2. And I went up by revelation, and communi... more »cated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. 3. But neither Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised ; 4. And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage ; 5. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the .gospel might continue with you. ]. Fourteen years after. This cannot with certainty be affirmed to be the same journey mentioned by Luke1 in the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The connection of the history leads us rather to an opposite conclusion. We find that Paul performed four journies to Jerusalem. Of the first we have already spoken. The second took place when, in company with Barnabas, he brought the charitable contributions of the Greek and Asiatic churches, recorded towards the close of the 12th chapter.2 My belief that this second journey is referred to in the present passage rests on various grounds. On any other supposition, the statements of Paul and Luke cannot be reconciled. Another consideration is, that the rebuke was administered to Peter at Antioch while Paul was residing there. Now, this happened before he was sent to Jerusalem bythe churches to settle the dispute which had arisen about ceremonial observances. It is not reasonable to suppose that Peter would have used such dissimulation, if that controversy had been settled and the decree of the Apostles published. But Paul writes that he ca...« less