Jerusalem in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, was the center of the Jesus movement. © Balage Balogh, Archaeology Illustrated. 

A sword through your soul

“This is hypocritical nonsense,” Paul exclaims. “Peter was just sitting at the table with the Gentiles. He ate their pagan olives and drank their pagan wine. Do you think he is suddenly free from contamination because he changed tables?”
Everyone is silent. Paul’s attack on Peter is unheard of and inappropriate.
Paul stands up. "Come with me," he says to Titus and Timothy.Things go wrong when James's emissaries visit Antioch some time later.
Jesus' followers in Antioch were like a second home to Paul. After growing up in Tarsus, torn between his Greek-Roman environment and his Jewish faith, and then making a radical choice in Jerusalem to become more Jewish than the Jews themselves, he found peace in Antioch. Here he was allowed to be fully Jewish and Greek: Saul, Saulos, and Paul.
From Antioch he was sent out as a missionary, first under the leadership of Barnabas and then together with Silvanus, to tell the cities of Cyprus, Asia Minor, and Greece about Jesus, so that they too would form communities of children of God. Men and women, Greeks and Jews, slaves and free, Romans and barbarians, rich and poor, young and old: in Jesus they would be brothers and sisters and share each other's lives as they awaited his coming.
They share the meal that evening. Everyone has brought something: bread and cheese, eggs, grapes, olives, wine, and water, meat pies, and roast chicken. They have laid everything out and blessed it. The people fill their plates and form groups around the tables set before them. There is prayer, singing, and laughter.
But James's emissaries do not laugh. They watch in horror as leaders such as Peter, Barnabas, and Paul eat without concern from food prepared in pagan kitchens. They see the same hands touching cheese and meat, which must be kept strictly separate in Jewish kitchens. Perhaps most Jewish believers still try not to eat anything wrong, but all the precautions they are accustomed to are being trampled underfoot here.
They consult with each other. One of them goes to Peter and Barnabas, the most important leaders present. At first they fall silent. They listen. Then they nod; James' authority is great and his emissaries have a point. Barnabas stands up and asks for silence. This is actually unnecessary because everyone in the room already realizes that something is wrong. They watch tensely.
One of the emissaries speaks: "Sisters, brothers, this cannot be. You are sinning against God's commandments if you eat like this."
The people are shocked. They don't want to do that; they love God! "What should we do?"
Peter speaks up: "Keep the food that has been prepared in Jewish kitchens separate. Put it on tables for the Jewish followers and eat separately from now on. After the meal, we can sit together again and listen to the teaching."
The people immediately do as he says. It is unfortunate, but everyone knows that Jewish people must eat kosher food. If this helps, then so be it.
One man remains seated next to two young friends. It is Paul. "Stay seated," he says to Titus and Timothy. This confuses the people around them. Why isn't he cooperating? Now no one can sit at this table. They spread out to other tables and a gaping hole opens up in the hall around the three.
Peter looks questioningly at Paul. "Brother..." he begins.
"Titus is my brother," Paul replies. "He is my son and my brother. I have shared my life with him for a year. In Corinth and on the road, in Jerusalem and here. How is it possible that I cannot eat with him? Is that what our Lord taught us when he shared his meal with tax collectors and sinners?"
"With Jewish tax collectors and sinners," one of the emissaries corrects him. "You weren't there, Paul. You'd better ask Peter. Jesus came as a healer to the sick, so that they might rejoin the healthy. He restored them as children of Israel."
"Titus was sitting at the table with us when we were with James, so why not here?"
"He is welcome as a guest, but he must observe the purification rules and cannot bring food from his kitchen, because then the Jewish people would not be eating kosher."
"But aren't we one family in Christ?"
"Yes, but we have different laws."
"How can we be one body then?"
"We are one in the Spirit, but our bodies remain subject to the law."
"Must I then circumcise my son to be allowed to eat with him?"
"You are right, then there is no problem. But if you do not cooperate now, you are unclean and no law-abiding Jew can sit at your table."

The Letter to the Galatians

Paul and Peter continue to stand opposed to each other in the days that follow. After all arguments have been exchanged, Paul has no choice but to continue his journey. He and the boys sail and walk (via Tarsus and southern Galatia, where Timothy comes from) to Ephesus, where they rejoin Priscilla and Aquila.
In Ephesus, Paul finds no rest. The news of his confrontation with Peter spreads like wildfire among the newly formed communities of Jesus' followers. And people agree with James and Peter. He hears that even in the churches in southern Galatia, the tables are being separated (there were virtually no Jews living in northern Galatia). For Paul, it is as if a noose is being tightened around his neck: he has lost his home in Antioch, where he was allowed to be whole again; he has lost his good name in Galatia; and he sees the testimony of the Church shriveling away: how can God be a loving Father to all nations if you first have to become a Jew before you can fully participate in his household?

Psychology
There is an even deeper psychological reason why Paul feels trapped. With the Jewish Law in his hands, he had opposed a crucified anointed one, and thus his friends and acquaintances who followed Jesus. He had betrayed them, had them flogged, had them stoned. He pursued them with the temple police all the way to Damascus. Until he saw Jesus in his heavenly glory. A blinding vision that made it impossible for him to continue as an informer and a law-abiding Jew: If the law itself says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on the cross," how can God glorify a crucified Jesus? With that crucifixion, Paul's faith was turned upside down: the one who was cursed became a blessing; the crucified one came and brought life.

Paul in the 4th-century catacomb of Thecla, Rome

Theology
If the law has been fulfilled, Paul reasons, then it must have been temporary and not eternal and perfect. God is eternal and perfect. The eternal God promised Abraham that in his seed (not in the Jews as a people, Paul argues, but in one specific descendant, Jesus) all nations would be blessed. But the laws (and in ancient times these were of course also religious laws) differ from people to people, just as each people is guided by its own "angel," as we read in various places in the Hebrew Bible. In the Psalms, they are even called "gods." Nowadays, we would say that peoples are governed by their specific culture and zeitgeist, that certain subcultures are stamped by their ideology and algorithm-driven group thinking.
And so Paul arrives at a remarkable argument, based on a meticulous reading of the Law itself, which is intended to convince his "Bible-believing" Jewish readers in particular: The Law was given to Moses by angels, messengers, or mediating intermediaries. Admittedly, this was done in the Spirit of God, but it was time-bound and less perfect than the direct promise to Abraham, which is eternal. The commandments should not be read absolutely, but in their context. And now, after the coming of Jesus, the context has changed: all people are children of God, brothers and sisters. Anyone who still clings to the letter of the purity laws that separate God's children is therefore worshipping angels, as the letter to the Colossians 2:18 will later state. In this respect, Jewish law is no different from the laws of all peoples, or of people who see the stars and the planets named after gods as those who determine their fate, who indicate the time of sowing and harvesting, and who regulate the holidays, the new moon, and the Sabbath. Because the Jewish law has been fulfilled with the coming of an anointed one for all nations, the religious laws can no longer separate the nations that are all blessed and cleansed in that anointed descendant of Abraham.
NB This role of angels in Paul's theology is not easily found in the Church Fathers or in most modern commentaries. But in the second- and third-century interpretation of Paul by Gnostic Christians, it is a central theme. It may be an important key to better understanding the letters to the Galatians, Colossians, and Hebrews (although the Gnostic Christians take this line further than Paul, even rejecting the God of Israel as such an angel).  
According to Paul, Jesus' followers are no longer bound to different peoples or social classes. They are not divided between Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, men and women, but are all children of God. They become one in the anointed one because they become one with him. They are allowed to play his role. When we were baptized, we were "clothed" with him, Paul writes. We were born again. Emerging from the water, we breathed in his Spirit like newborns and learned to say "abba," father. When we allow ourselves to be led in freedom by that Spirit of love, we fulfill the law through this one commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. Those who live this way will see the fruit ripen: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In this way, you will also become like Jesus from within, and he will rise in you. Because of his trust in the Father, which was not disappointed even in death, we too can trust our Father.

Rhetoric
This is so important to Paul that he pulls out all the theological and rhetorical stops in his letter to the Galatians:
Although Paul never knew Jesus personally and relied on the apostles and other disciples for his knowledge, he emphasizes that he was appointed by Jesus himself in his vision. He uses words that maximize the distance between him and Peter in terms of time and geography.

• Where Jesus had sent his disciples, and Peter in particular, as his apostles, Paul now tries to claim his own domain: Peter is appointed for the circumcised, he and Barnabas are responsible for the uncircumcised. Peter is for the Judeans, Barnabas and Paul are to "go to the Gentiles." That sounds nice, but who then has authority over the mixed congregations where Jews live scattered among the Gentiles?
• Whereas the description of the conflict clearly shows that the men of James in Antioch were primarily concerned with the observance of the law (kosher eating) by Jewish followers of Jesus, Paul extends this to all people who want to form one community in Christ: these emissaries do not really adhere to the agreement that Gentiles can be baptized without circumcision, but de facto want all followers to convert to Jewish law.
• He attacks the credibility of his opponents (as he now sees them): Peter and Barnabas are hypocrites. James' emissaries are spies who want to make us slaves. They are afraid of the Jewish communities and seek their approval (Paul was regularly physically punished by Jewish communities who saw him as a troublemaker). They do not serve God, but the angels—or themselves.

If you abandon the principle of unity in Christ because of the rules of the "angels," Paul argues, you exchange the freedom of Christ for a new slavery. Then you are not God's child but his slave. Then, symbolically speaking, you are not the child of God's promise to Abraham and Sarah, but the child of Abraham and his slave Hagar, Paul writes. And he knows that this hurts Jewish believers. Then you are a slave to your sinful nature, which needs the coercion of the law to keep you in line. Then Christ died for nothing.

The Letter of James

In contrast to Paul's brilliant, bold, and insulting letter is the matter-of-factness of the Letter of James. Many theologians consider the Greek too good for an Aramaic-speaking brother of Jesus from Galilee; according to them, the attention given to teachers and elders in the church points to a later period. But the leader of the multilingual church in Jerusalem could find the very best writers to help him; teachers are already mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:28, and in Acts 14:23, 1 Timothy 5:17, Titus 1:5, and 1 Peter 5:1, the writer assumes that elders were appointed in the churches from the beginning. 
Theologians who argue for an early date point out that the writer responds to Paul's arguments without knowing all his letters, that he looks forward to the Lord's return with an open mind, and that he is fully in line with the oral teaching of Jesus without using all the Greek versions from which Matthew and Luke will draw. There are dozens of parallels between the Letter of James and the sayings of Jesus. We also see a point made by Paul about James being confirmed: the writer emphatically calls attention to the poor and weak in society. James is no less radical than Paul in social terms: among the followers of Jesus, a rich man with a gold ring on his finger and dressed in fine clothes should not receive better treatment or more attention than a poor man in ragged clothes.

Caring for Jews among the nations

Anyone who wants to understand James as he is presented in this letter must take the first verse seriously: James addresses the letter to the twelve tribes of Israel scattered among the nations, not only the Jews in the Roman West, but also the Israelites in the Parthian Empire, in India, Egypt, and Ethiopia. In doing so, he evokes the expectation that God will restore Israel and bring the tribes back from exile to Israel. Through the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, all nations would be blessed. He therefore called on the Jewish followers to live fully according to the law, as Jesus had done. He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
For this writer, the Way of Yeshua was an interpretation of the law within the Jewish covenant. Of course, the covenant had been renewed, but it remained the covenant with the Jewish people. The new followers were welcome, but as residents. They did not have to become Jews, but they did have to observe a few important commandments so that they would not pose a threat to the law-abiding Jewish believers.
The law is therefore sacred and unbreakable: only by living a law-abiding life would the followers of Jesus convince the Jewish people of the Way of Yeshua and be a blessing to all nations. What Paul did was, in his eyes, incredibly dangerous. It would mean that the Jewish legal scholars, the priests of the temple in Jerusalem, and the elders of the synagogues around the Mediterranean would declare the followers of Jesus unclean. It would hinder their interaction with other Jews and thus cut off the people of Jesus themselves from the gospel!

James and Paul: Pharisees for Jesus

In this letter, James is the undisputed leader of this movement. Our image of the early church is quite one-sided because Paul wrote so many letters that were preserved and passed on. The New Testament mainly follows the movement to the West, while there were just as many Jews living in Ethiopia, North Africa, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and India. And even in the West, we need to put Paul into perspective: Barnabas brought him to Antioch and took him to Cyprus and Galatia. Together with the experienced Silvanus (an emissary from Jerusalem), he brought the gospel to Macedonia. There were already followers of Jesus in Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus before Paul arrived. And even without Paul, the gospel continued to spread from those cities.
In the first century, Paul was just one of many missionaries on the fringes of the movement, but James was the "bishop" at its center. He did not need to raise his voice, he did not need to fight Paul's credibility, and he did not need to use sophistry to make his point. Here speaks a man who can package a rejection of Paul's most extreme views in a call for unity, humility, and patience. You should not all want to be teachers, he writes, because teachers are judged more strictly, and we all stumble so easily. With one mouth we praise the Lord and curse his children. You would do better to learn to control your tongue.
If Paul believes that we are justified by faith and not by the works of the law, James argues that your faith is only meaningful if you live by it. As Jesus explains the Law, James believes, the Law actually brings freedom. Not freedom from restrictions, but freedom to do good. When Paul points to Abraham's faith, James argues that Abraham showed his faith in God's grace when he laid his son Isaac on the altar. Faith and works go hand in hand.
When we read these letters, we are witnesses to devout Jews who have studied Jewish law in depth. We hear from Paul that he was a Pharisee and was taught by one of the best scholars in Jerusalem. James came from a devout family; he is portrayed in the book of Acts and in this letter as someone who is skilled in legal argumentation. They are both Pharisees before Jesus.
You can read James' letter as a letter with which Jewish emissaries ("apostles") can, on his authority, bring order and peace to the young communities of Jews and non-Jews around the Mediterranean. Just as they had already done in Antioch and Galatia. In the next chapter, you will see that their arrival will cause turmoil in Corinth. How will Paul respond?

Summary: Fighting for freedom, early 50s.

The large group of Jesus' followers in Jerusalem is led by Jesus' brother, the pious James. He sends messengers to the newly formed groups around the Mediterranean, calling on them to remain faithful to Jewish law while awaiting the coming of the Lord. In Antioch, they convince Peter and Barnabas that the tables of the Jews must be separated from those of the non-Jews, to ensure that they eat kosher food. Paul is there with his Jewish disciple Timothy and his Greek disciple Titus. He bitterly reproaches Peter: is this not the Way of Jesus? With Jesus, everyone is equal and we are all brothers and sisters, are we not? He stands up and leaves for his friends in Ephesus.

• Around the year 53, Paul writes the Letter to the Galatians, to the people to whom he and Barnabas had brought the gospel ten years earlier. There, too, the tables are now being separated. From Ephesus, Paul writes a letter to stop this. He now uses his training as a lawyer to argue that the Law was temporary and valid until the crucifixion of Jesus. Now the eternal promise that all nations will be blessed in Abraham applies. In Jesus, there is no difference between Jews and Greeks, men and women, or free citizens and slaves. In baptism, we died with Jesus and were freed from the Law. We rose as a new creation. This is essential for Paul, whom we get to know better in this letter. His old self was a fundamentalist who had persecuted the followers of Jesus to imprisonment, torture, and death. He could not live with himself if he had not been allowed to start over through his faith in Jesus.
• Compare this with the Letter of James, a speech read by his messengers in response to Paul's teachings. The letter is calm and loving in tone, but emphasizes that the Law still applies and that it is precisely by following the Law that people are freed and can live well. Before God's law, all people are equal. James comes across as a loving scholar of the law who lives by the words of Jesus. James' loyalty to the Jewish Law is essential for the large congregation in Jerusalem, which was entirely Jewish and did much work for the poor.

Antioch, seen from the north. © Balage Balogh, Archaeology Illustrated.  

A bit of background information: Paul's travels in the years 36-53

A reader could understand Paul's travels from the letters themselves (i.e., without at this point using the book of Acts):

• After Jesus' death, Paul persecutes the churches in Judea. He goes to Damascus; on the way, Jesus appears to him. He withdraws to "Arabia," and then returns to Damascus (Gal 1:13-17).
• In the third year after his calling, when the Nabataean king Aretas had authority over the gates of Damascus (2 Cor 11:32), in the years 36-40, Paul fled Damascus and went to Jerusalem, where he was able to meet only Peter and James. The other followers of Jesus do not yet trust him. He then stays in the coastal regions of Syria and Cilicia (Gal 1:18-21), where the cities of Antioch and Tarsus are located.
• "During the fourteen years that followed" (Gal 2:1), Paul and Barnabas went on missionary journeys among "the Gentiles" (Gal 2:9) and then came with Titus to Jerusalem (Gal 2:1) to test their message. During this period, we can think of:
  • The travels of Barnabas and Paul (Gal 2:9); Peter and the brothers of the Lord also travel around (1 Cor 9:5-6). These names are also known to the Galatians (Gal 2), where he takes the young Timothy under his wing.
  • The young Timothy shares in Paul's suffering in Antioch (possibly the city in Pisidia) and the cities of Lystra and Iconium in southern Galatia (2 Tim 3:10).
  • Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy visit Philippi and Thessalonica in Macedonia (Phil 4:15) and Athens in Achaia, from where Timothy first goes back and forth to Macedonia (1 Thess 2 and 3).
  • Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy come to Corinth (2 Cor 1:19). They write I and II Thessalonians (1 Thess. 1:1 and 2 Thess. 1:1).
    Paul leaves Roman-Greek Corinth. Only after he has met the young Titus there does the specific visit with Barnabas and Titus to Jerusalem follow (see below).
  • Envoys from James come to Antioch, where Peter, Paul, and Barnabas are also at that time (Gal 2:11).
  • Paul travels via Galatia (possibly with Titus) to Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus in Asia (1 Cor 16:19). From there, Paul writes his letter to the Galatians.

A note on Titus: where did he come from and when did he travel to Jerusalem?

In Paul's letters, Titus occupies a similar position to Timothy: a young traveling companion and co-worker of Paul, although Timothy appears earlier, in the letters to the Thessalonians. There are pastoral letters, or better "mandate letters", addressed to each of them. Titus is mentioned by Paul in the letter to the Galatians as someone who traveled with him to Jerusalem and Antioch and who, at the time of writing, also seems to be known in Galatia. In 2 Corinthians, Titus' connection with the church in Corinth is emphasized, where he represents Paul. In Titus, we see him active in Crete, and in 2 Timothy in Dalmatia. But where does he come from?
It is generally assumed that the journey to Jerusalem in Gal 2:1 is the same as that of the great meeting of apostles in Acts 15 (although many theologians see a strong influence of the author in the shaping of this story). Titus must then have been an early member of the church in Antioch. But is that the only possibility?
Titus is a Roman first name. The family name is Titius. We encounter this family name in Acts 18:7, when Paul, Silas, and Timothy find shelter in the house of a certain Titius Justus around the year 50. It is possible that the first name of this homeowner was Gaius and that he was baptized by Paul (1 Corinthians 1:14). Paul stays with him when he greets the church in Rome (Rom 16:23). Was Titus the son of this Gaius Titius Justus? If so, this would provide important information about the chronology of Paul and the background of Titus. Titus would then have accompanied Paul and Timothy after their departure from Corinth. The journey with Titus to Jerusalem, to which Paul refers in Galatians 2:1, would then have taken place after their time together in Corinth and would fit better with the journey to Jerusalem, Antioch, and Galatia in Acts 18:22-23 than with the apostolic council in Acts 15.