As we have previously observed, it is far more likely that such a Pauline position on Gentiles and the Mosaic Law was not attributed to Jesus until later, when the Gospels were written, after the Jewish War. Only that can explain Paul’s emotional confrontation with Jewish Christians over these very issues in his letter to the Galatians.
Acts describes Peter’s centurion as a “God fearer,” or Jewish convert, implying that he was not circumcised, nor were the others in his house, it seems. We are told that the “circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.” (Emphasis added.) (52)
Recall that in Galatians’ account, Paul confronts Peter for hypocrisy after eating with Gentiles and then later returning to the more orthodox “Jewish-Christian” fold. (53) This account may be no more reliable, but Peter allegedly also wavers after his personal epiphany from God that instructed him to eat with Gentiles.
Notice, too, that in Peter’s vision, he resists eating impure food three times—despite God’s direct command—just as he had infamously denied knowing Christ three times on the night of Jesus’s arrest and trial, according to all four Gospels. Recall that Jesus had predicted that Peter would do so—“before the cock crowed”—at the Last Supper. The number three rattles around this story so many times that it becomes clear: Peter’s resistance to non-Kosher foods is being associated with his betrayal of Jesus. And the issue of Kosher diet is precisely the subject of the heated argument between Paul and Peter (in Aramaic, “Cephas,” meaning “rock”) that we read about in Galatians.
While there is nothing unusual about a Christian having a mystical vision or experience in the Bible, the Book of Acts’ account of Peter’s vision is among the least credible reports in the New Testament. If he actually had such a visionary experience, it is hard to imagine Peter returning to his former Kosher ways only to be “confronted to his face” by Paul, as recounted in Paul’s letter. Notwithstanding Paul’s hypocrisy as one who boasted of chameleon-like adaptability himself, if Peter vacillated so readily after such a direct revelation, he was certainly no “rock.”
We are asked to believe that Peter backslid into Jewish ways twice—the second time after receiving his own personal revelation of Christ’s true message—in addition to ignoring what would be reported as Jesus’s own teachings on the matter of pure and impure foods in the Gospels. (54) This only further suggests that the Pauline doctrine had not yet been attributed to Jesus when this confrontation took place, but that after Paul’s vision two very different camps of “Christians” emerged. Until then, however, it appears that “Christians” were counted among the messianic rebels of the period, and may have been their ideological leaders.
If the mutual admiration between Paul and King Agrippa II and other Roman officials is remarkable, the consistent enmity of the Jews to Paul’s message makes a symmetrical bookend. As friendly, respectful, and open-minded as Roman officials and their allies are invariably shown to be with Paul and his friends, the Jews are equally depicted as violently opposed to Paul’s message at every turn.
When Paul is threatened or seized by the Jews he is placed in protective custody by Romans and brought before the highest authorities. And those Roman authorities uniformly give him special freedoms, display respect for his message, and render favorable decisions about his fate.
Only days after his famous conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul, still called “Saul” at this point, faced “a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him.” (55) Indeed, “[d]ay and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him.” (56) Even “Hellenic Jews” tried to kill him, and we are told that following his departure a period of peace broke out in the region. (57)
Given the anti-Torah message Paul was preaching, it is easy to understand why many Jews reviled him, and Acts reports that “[w]hen the Jews saw the crowds [Paul drew], they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.” (58) Despite Paul’s strong rebuke, “the Jewish leaders… stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas…” (59) The two escaped to Iconium, and then to Lystra, where “some Jews from Antioch and Iconium” incited the crowd to have Paul stoned and left for dead. (60)
It should be kept in mind that even Jews who wanted peace with Rome had reason, at least initially, to be skeptical of any messianic missionary. Normally, these were the trouble makers. And when messianic hardliners soon learned of Paul’s anti-Torah message, it seems, nearly every variety of Jew became his opponent.
Paul had become a paradox: a messianic Jew who argued for peace with Rome and a moderation of the strict religious practices that were behind the conflict.
After its account of the Council of Jerusalem (the same meeting Paul records in his letter to the Galatians), Acts tells us that Paul returned to Antioch in Syria, and from there traveled through the provinces of Cilicia, Phrygia, and Galatia (in modern-day Turkey) to the Greek city of Philippi. According to Acts, Philippi was the very first city in Europe where Paul preached his message. (61) Paul did, however, find some initial resistance at Philippi and was arrested by the magistrates there, the charges being these:
They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” (62)
From what we know about Paul’s message of “freedom in Christ,” we know that the author of Acts intends this accusation to be seen as slander.
Incited by this accusation, however, the crowd beats Paul and his companion, and they are both arrested.
We are then told that a miraculous earthquake not only opens the doors of the jail where they are held but loosens all of the prisoners’ chains, as well. (63) Paul’s jailer is on the verge of committing suicide as a result when Paul stops him. After some preaching at the jailer’s house, all there are converted to Christianity by Paul. (64)
The question, of course, is not whether these reports are historically accurate or represent later invention, but rather: why does Christianity consistently preserve only a tradition of Roman sympathy and even Roman assistance when trouble is encountered during its founding evangelical acts?
Even Paul’s Roman jailer, we are shown, is more righteous than the many Jews who are persecuting Paul. The earthquake, for example, had been for the benefit of the jailer and his family (not Paul) since the city magistrate later ordered Paul released the next morning anyway; the jailer meanwhile was “saved” and converted to the Way. (65)
Paul’s quick release was not enough for him, however. His remarkable boldness in the face of Roman authorities is almost as remarkable as their obsequious response:
But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left. (Emphasis added.) (66)