‘And I went up by revelation and I laid before them the Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were of repute, lest by any means I should be running, or had run in vain.'
Paul emphasises that the reason that he did what he did was because God had brought home to him that he must do it. He had not done it because he had felt a need for their guidance, or for their approval, but because he had felt that God wanted him to.
The wisdom of God in this is apparent from the fact that Paul can now certify it here. Godly men like Paul often do not recognise that there are certain niceties that need to be observed so as to ensure that the outward appearance conforms to the inner certainties. But he had done so. Thus he knew that there was unity and agreement between them, and it was important that the whole church knew. They needed to be seen to stand together.
‘I went up by revelation.' God forced on Paul the necessity to finally establish the agreement of his teachings with those of the Apostles. This was quite apart from, even though indirectly connected with, the question of whether circumcision was necessary for Gentile converts.
‘I laid before them the Gospel that I preach among the Gentiles.' And at that stage he had discussed with them all the essentials of what he preached. This once and for all therefore refuted the charge that his preaching differed from that of the Apostles, and from the true Jerusalem church.
‘But privately before those who were of repute.' He had not wanted these matters to side-track any other purposes of the visit, but he had been concerned to demonstrate to ‘those of repute' and to himself that he was on the right track and in full agreement with them. So he had consulted with them privately. It is noteworthy that here he accepts that the Apostles were guardians of the truth of the Gospel as Jesus had declared in John 14-16.
We do not know exactly who ‘those who were of repute' were but they clearly included the leading Apostles (Galatians 2:9). And this also established that he had consulted with the very people (the leaders of the Jerusalem church), although only after a long period, whom the Judaisers were citing as their authority.
‘Those of repute.' The constant repetition of this phrase and equivalents by Paul (Galatians 2:2; Galatians 2:6 a, Galatians 2:6 b, Galatians 2:9) suggests that it was one hurled against him by the Judaisers who probably cited ‘those of repute' as their authority. It especially covers Peter, John and James, the Lord's brother (Galatians 2:9).