davidmartin wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2019 2:40 pm
Ben i guess we may not agree on this
The truth is out there somewhere
Just sticking to the Galatians bit in particular he says
"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.
Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
So he's denying seeing other apostles, as if this was some kind of problem and later he also complains again about them as he does elsewhere (super apostles)
Right. He is denying seeing more than just a couple. He is playing down his contact with the apostles in Jerusalem. This is what we would expect of someone who does not want his gospel to be viewed as derivative of theirs (Galatians 1.1). I likened it on another thread to an inventor who has been accused of patent infringement; he or she would definitely want to play down any contact with the one claiming to be the real inventor.
His style is combative for sure, for the 'least of the apostles'!
Absolutely, he is being combative. Again, this is just what we would expect from a man whose noncircumcision gospel has been called into question by one of those apostles: Cephas, when he came to Antioch.
