Paul struggles to achieve support for his teachings in Rome and elsewhere. His difficulties remind us that in the first few decades after the church began there was considerable conflict. The first church was not at all united, as we see in Galatians 2 and elsewhere. Paul argues that diversity can exist within the body of Christ, the church, but his teaching is also a cause of division. He blames the conflicts in the church on those who oppose him, but Paul's opponents must have blamed Paul. And who Paul's opponents? The former disciples of Jesus, the apostles in Jerusalem who, we learn in Galatians 2 and in the second half of Acts, are led by James, the brother of Jesus.
The apostles in Jerusalem seem to believe that some if not all of the commandments of Jewish law are to be kept within the church. As they knew Jesus during his lifetime, it is hard to believe that the historical Jesus set aside the Jewish law as Paul claims the risen Christ does. Paul never knew the historical Jesus, but he acknowledges that both he and the former disciples know the risen Lord. Why then do they differ? Paul was a Greek-speaking Jew from a Roman city, whereas the disciples of Jesus were Aramaic-speaking Jews from Galilee. Perhaps their experience of the risen Christ was different, because their lives were so different.
Grace and peace . . . Bob
