Galatians 2:9,10 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And when James Probably named first because he. was bishop of the church in Jerusalem; and Cephas Speaking of him at Jerusalem, he calls him by his Hebrew name; and John Hence it appears that he also was at the council, though he be not particularly named in the Acts. Who seemed to be Or, as in Galatians 2:6, who undoubtedly were; pillars The principal supporters and defenders of the gospel; perceived After they had heard the account I gave them; the grace of apostleship which was given to me, they in the name of all, gave me and Barnabas My fellow-labourer; the right hands of fellowship They gave us their hands, in token of receiving us as their fellow-labourers, mutually agreeing that I and those in union with me should go to the heathen chiefly “Barnabas, equally with Paul, had preached salvation to the idolatrous Gentiles, without requiring them to obey the law of Moses: wherefore, by giving them the right hands of fellowship, the three apostles acknowledged them to be true ministers of the gospel, each according to the nature of his particular commission. Paul they acknowledged to be an apostle of equal authority with themselves; and Barnabas they acknowledged to be a minister sent forth by the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. This distinction it is necessary to make, because it doth not appear that Barnabas was an apostle, in the proper sense of the word. The candour which the apostles at Jerusalem showed on this occasion, in acknowledging Paul as a brother apostle, is remarkable, and deserves the imitation of all the ministers of the gospel in their behaviour toward one another.” And they With those that were in union with them; chiefly to the circumcision The Jews. “In pursuance of this agreement, the three apostles abode, for the most part, in Judea, till Jerusalem was destroyed. After which, Peter, as tradition informs us, went to Babylon, and other parts in the East, and John into the Lesser Asia, where he was confined some years in Patmos, for the testimony of Jesus, Revelation 1:9. But James was put to death at Jerusalem, in a popular tumult, before that city was destroyed.” Macknight. Only desiring that we would remember the poor Christians in Judea So as to make collections for them as we proceeded in our progress through the churches of the Gentiles; the same which I also was forward to do Greek, ο και εσπουδασα αυτο τουτο ποιησαι, which very thing I was eager, or in haste to do. It is probable, that in so readily acceding to the proposal made by the apostles at Jerusalem, to collect money for the destitute saints in Judea, St. Paul was influenced by a more generous principle than that of merely relieving the necessities of the poor. For as the Jewish believers were extremely unwilling to associate with the converted Gentiles, Paul might hope that the kindness, which he doubted not the Gentiles would show in relieving their Jewish brethren, would have a happy influence in uniting the two into one harmonious body or church.