Paul's use of or references to 'gospel'

[spin]

Galatians 2:7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;

And this is such a glaring example of an interpolation! After Paul went on at the beginning of Galatians that there is only the gospel that he preached and anything else isn't the gospel, here we have something about a gospel of the uncircumcised and a gospel of the circumcised. Of course there is only one gospel in Paul's mind, so plainly Paul didn't talk about two gospels. That should be enough to settle the issue, but there's more.

• 2:7 states "having seen that...", but where is the subject for that "having seen..."? and what is the principle clause? The original construction leaves clear linguistic indications, the current contortions obfuscate the message.

• While Paul shows knowledge of a certain Cephas in 1:19, 2:9 and 2:11-14, 2:7-8 suddenly talks about a figure called Peter. Now there would be no problem to a reader of the gospel of John, where the names Cephas and Peter are neatly sown together (and the later orthodox Christian tradition which assumes the connection),but a reader with just Paul's letter, ie long before the gospels were the gleams in their writers' eyes, would certainly be confused by the abrupt reference to Peter.

But we know Paul is adamant in 1:7-9 that there isn't another gospel. The revisionist here will quickly posit that Paul didn't r-e-a-l-l-y intend that there were two gospels, but the words in 1:7 το ευαγγελιον της ακροβυστιας say gospel "of the uncircumcision", not to the uncircumcised, and της περιστομης, "of the circumcision". So, not the same gospel to different audiences, but two different gospels.

The current text holds enough clues to show the probable original text: "...having seen that I have been entrusted with the gospel and having known the grace given to me, James and Cephas and John [the subject of "having seen" and "having known"]... gave their hands... of fellowship". The later editor, wanting to place Peter's role here to counterbalance Paul, made 2:7-9 so convoluted the original sentence structure pales and we lose track of Paul's message that while the pillars could give (literally "add") nothing to him, he made such an impression on them that they gave him their hands of fellowship.

(And GakuseiDon whinces, "Oh no, not another fabricated interpolation!?")

[GakuseiDon]

(And GakuseiDon whinces, "Oh no, not another fabricated interpolation!?")

Haha, true! But what you write makes a lot of sense.