What happened when Paul and the Jerusalem leaders really reasoned it out?
When Paul and the Jerusalem leaders reasoned together, laying line upon line and precept upon precept, Paul took the ascendancy, and the twelve had to admit Paul was right. They recognized the Lord was doing something different, though God had not yet revealed this to those Jewish believers.
Les explains that when Paul and the Jerusalem leaders really sat down and laid line upon line and precept upon precept, the question was who was above and who was beneath. Paul took the ascendancy, and the twelve in Jerusalem finally admitted, “Okay, Paul, you’re right.” They saw that the Lord was doing something different. Les clarifies this did not take away from the twelve’s spiritual relationship with God; it was simply that God had not yet revealed to those Jewish believers at Jerusalem that He was doing something different. He ties this to Deuteronomy 29: the secret things belong to the Lord, and He reveals them when He is ready; once revealed, we are to believe. So Peter and the eleven were not out of step or less spiritual—God had not yet revealed it.
But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:
More Questions
By the time Paul wrote Galatians, about 22 years after Pentecost, what had happened to the standing of the Jerusalem leaders?
About twenty-two years after Pentecost, when Paul writes by inspiration, the Jerusalem leaders still thought they were 'the somewhat,' but they were not, because their power base was slipping away.