Soap Box 29 - Peter and Paul : Apostles in Contrast

In chapter two of the epistle to the Galatians, Paul gives an interesting view of his ministry as an apostle preaching a gospel when he compares it to Peter's apostleship, ministry and gospel. Paul speaks about having "communicated" at Jerusalem "unto them" (2:2), that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. Then, Paul goes on to specifically say that he wanted to speak privately "to them which were of reputation" (2:2 ) even "these who seemed to be somewhat" ( 2:6 ) who are finally identified in 2:9 as James, Cephas, and John. They are also identified as those " who seemed to be Pillars."

Paul's purpose in clarifying his distinctive gospel ministry to 'preach among the Gentiles', was an effort that the truth of the gospel might continue with the Galatians. ( 2:5 ) He has already mentioned in 2:3, that Titus was not compelled to be circumcised, which would be contrary to that gospel preached among the Gentiles.

In 2:4, he reveals a plot by false brethren who were spying out the "liberty" believers were enjoying "in Christ" in order to change that liberty into bondage. This bondage would place Gentiles under law and have them submit to circumcision.

Paul was concerned that, '…lest by any means I (Paul) should run, or had run in vain.' There is no worry whether Paul was in the will of God. His point here, was that he definitely wanted to speak to the movers and shakers, people who made policy decisions, who were people in authority and who were looked upon as leaders. Paul's agitators were using the Apostles in Jerusalem as case witnesses for their cause. Paul's desire is to confront these same Apostles. Their siding with Paul would contribute to the case that the truth of the gospel might continue among the Gentiles. 2:5, 14

Paul uses Peter's ministry in contrast to his own, in order to bring James, Cephas and John to a place where they SAW Paul's gospel of the uncircumcision committed unto him (2:7) and knew/understood/perceived (2:9) the grace given unto me (Paul). This 'grace given'can be found in Eph. 3:2 and 8. cf. I Cor. 15:10; Rom. 1:5; 15:15-16 and Col. 1:25.

Peter	Paul
Committed with the Gospel of the circumcision By God	Committed with the Gospel of the Uncircumcision by God
Apostleship of the circumcision	Apostleship towards the nations or Gentiles or uncircumcision

John Cowan O'Hair is credited with saying, " We have all alike sinned, but we have not all sinned alike." Peter and Paul alike had a calling to apostleship and committed with a gospel. Tradition tells us that Peter and Paul preached the same gospel. The teachings of some men tell us that Peter and Paul were sent with the same message to the same people. The thoughts of some men tell us that whatever Peter teaches is what Paul teaches. This is the homogenized gospel thinking. Someone else has said that you could fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time. But you could not fool all of the people all of the time. This paper will seek to leave the theologies, traditions, teachings, thoughts and theories of mankind and give ear to Paul as he informs the Galatian believers about his ministry, one of demarcation : distinct and different. This will separate the cream and the milk, the men from the boys in Bible study. But this ought not and should not cause division within the Body of Christ. That is, in the family of God, there are 'babes in Christ'. I Cor. 3:1 The baby should not be thrown out with the baby's bath water. So, let us establish the fact that Peter and Paul were both characterized as having the 'signs of an apostle.'

	Peter	Paul
First miracle	Healing the lame man-Acts 3	Blinding a Jew-Acts 13
Raising the dead	Dorcas - Acts 9	Eutychus - Acts 20
Many miracles performed	(by his shadow) Acts 5:15	(by handkerchiefs) Acts 19:11
Healing	of Aeneas - Acts 9:34	of Lame man - Acts 14:8
Judgment	Judgment of Ananias/Sapphira - Acts 5	Casting out a demon - Acts 16

As Apostles, they had the following in common :

	Peter	Paul
Apostle by calling	Matt. 10	Acts 9, (22, 26
Homebase	Jerusalem	Antioch, (Ephesus)
Encountered a Sorcerer	Acts 8	Acts 13
Rebukes worship	Acts 10	Acts 14
Imprisoned	Acts 4, 12	Acts 16, 21-28

A consideration of the portions in Acts where each of these apostles appear and minister gives us an important overview of their respective ministries. The late Dr. Henry Grube of Mobile, Alabama, called his study on Acts, The Acts of Peter and Paul, A Dispensational Study of the Book of Acts. This is one way to give emphasis to the people who are in the movement, direction and purpose that Luke unfolds.

The following chapter-by-chapter emphasis shows the place of the two leading characters in Acts.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
Peter	Peter	Peter	Peter	Peter	Peter	Peter	Saul/Peter	Saul/Peter	Peter	Peter/Saul

12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Peter/Saul	Saul/Paul	Paul	Peter/Paul	Paul	Paul	Paul	Paul	Paul	Paul

22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Paul	Paul	Paul	Paul	Paul	Paul	Paul

In this rather arbitrary chart, there is a desire to show how each apostle totals in per chapter. Peter seems to add up to about 11. Paul's total is 17. If we do this by sections of Acts, we might say that Peter is found in Acts 1-12; Paul in Acts 13-28.

Peter and His Call to Apostleship

We must look to the Gospel records to find references to Peter's coming into the service of the Lord as a called and commissioned apostle. In Mark 1:16-20, Jesus tells Peter, "I will make you to become fishers of men". In 3:14, it states, "And he ( Jesus ) ordained/appointed twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,…." These twelve are then named and Peter is among them. 3:16-19, cf. Matt. 10:1-4.

Matthew 10 gives more details , telling us where and to whom they should and should not
preach. These twelve were to, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter not; But go, rather, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 10:5-6

This is interesting information, since this is the same behavior Peter and the others were still performing in Acts 1-7, in spite of the so-called great commissions found in Matt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:15-16 ; Luke 24:47-48 and Acts 1:8 where emphasis is placed on a few select words as 'Go', 'preach', 'all', 'gospel', 'world', 'nations', 'the uttermost'.

It is interesting because many teachers state that Peter's ministry as given in Galatians two should be read and interpreted as "gospel to the circumcision" (2::7) and "the apostleship to the circumcision".(2:9) But, in Matt. 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 , and, then, in Acts 1:8, a universal commission is emphasized. This hop-scotch, bounce-around kind of interpretation is not rightly dividing/handling this word of truth..

The question is :How many commissions, callings and apostleships does Peter have ? What is your understanding of a comparison of Matt. 10, Matt. 28 and Galatians 2 ?

The Scofield/Dallas Seminary position basically says that the answer is to be seen in a change in dispensations, which happens between Matt. 10 and Matt. 28. Generally, this could mean at the cross and/or at Pentecost.

Two scholars, who are not dispensationalists have faced this problem of harmonizing the Scriptures. T.W. Manson in his booklet, Only To The House Of Israel ? says that a transformed Israel would transform the world. Thus, dealing with Israel in Matt. 10 aims to transform Israel and thus enable them to transform the world, Matt. 28. G. B. Caird in New Testament Theology states that we have a development in two stages. Stage one has Peter and the others working only with Israel. Matt. 10 This is the record found in the Gospels. Stage two ( Matt. 28 ) begins after stage one. Peter, then, has one calling and commission but has two sequences.

The problems with the above explanations appears in early Acts. As with the study on the 'offer of the kingdom', many do not recognize an 'offer of the kingdom' in early Acts. Others, while seeing a 'repeat' of the same ministry in Acts as in the Gospels, simply, explain it away with the word "transition".

Another question could be : If Peter has a 'new', stage 2 sequence, starting after Matt. 28, why are Peter and the others still ministering 'to the Jews' according to these teachers who state that Peter has this ministry 'to the circumcision' as found later in the book of Acts, when the Epistle of Galatians mentions Paul's meeting with those in Jerusalem ?

Or, as J. C. O'Hair asked years ago, If the twelve were working under the so-called 'great commission' to go into all the world, why didn't they ever go ? There is no record of any of those apostles reaching out to 'the uttermost part of the earth.' Paul yes.! The twelve, NO !

Many would teach that Peter and the others were carnal, prejudiced, narrow minded, ignorant and hard-hearted. This paper contends that these men were not out of order in maintaining a status quo after the cross and resurrection, because they continued to minister to the children of Israel. Here are seven good reasons in their favor:

They were under the teaching ministry of Christ from the time of John's baptism until after the 40 days of resurrection teachings by the Lord. Acts 1:21-22

Christ promised them the Comforter, who was to lead them into all truth. John 16:13

After Christ's resurrection, he breathed upon them and said, 'Receive ye,the Holy Spirit. Jn. 20:22

After Christ's resurrection, he opened their understanding, that they might Understand the scriptures. Luke 24:45

At Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4

Peter and the twelve receive no recorded rebuke in Acts, which might indicate that these Apostles were not serving the Lord according to His last revealed 'marching orders'.

Peter receives no rebuke in the vision of Acts 10, that he was not following previous revealed truth. Rather, God reveals that Peter is God's choice at Acts 10, for Gentiles to hear the word of the gospel and believe, ( and not a day, chapter or a verse before this time.)

to be continued…

Return to Index of Jerry's Writings

e-mail Jerry Sterchi