World Blog by humble servant.The passage we quoted from Acts 21:20-26 demonstrates that the original apostles had differing views from Paul, and they had the authority to enforce those views, at least by writing to the Gentile converts to “avoid meat sacrificed to idols, blood, the flesh of strangled animals, and illicit sexual union.
Paul, curiously, despite his exceeding agitation over their activity, never names them. Whoever they were, they were obviously Christians of great authority or representative of leaders of great authority; for they were able to go among Paul’s own converts and successfully present a rival interpretation of the faith. Moreover, although he is so profoundly disturbed by their action, Paul never questions their authority as they did his. These facts, taken together with Paul’s very evident embarrassment about his relations with the leading Apostles at Jerusalem, point irresistibly to one conclusion only: that the ‘other gospel’, which opposes Paul’s own, was the interpretation of the nature and mission of Jesus propounded by the Jerusalem Church, which comprised the original Apostles of Jesus and eyewitnesses of his life. Johnnie Ellington II Brandon argues that Paul’s ‘super-apostles’ are indeed the original Apostles of Jesus Reply46m Johnnie Ellington II Apostles of Jesus and eyewitness...