"(for he that wrought for Peter unto the apostleship of the circumcision
wrought for me also unto the Gentiles)" Galatians 2:8
IN these breathless chapters of the Galatian Letter it is hard to keep pace with Paul's parentheses. Close on the heels of the previous one in verse 6, we now find a further reference in brackets to the matter of his relationships with the apostles. It is a very happy reference this time, for it underlines the similarity between him and Peter. It is a most notable feature of the book of the Acts that there we find continuing and often parallel experiences of these two great men.
BOTH of them were involved in the healing of a lame man as his first recorded miracle (3:7 and 14:10). Both were the instruments for "special miracles" (5:15 and 19:11). Both were miraculously released from prison (12:11 and 16:26). Each of them raised a person from the dead (9:40 and 20:10). Each had his whole course of service for God altered by a vision in a trance (11:5 and 22:17). This and much more can be discovered in the book of the Acts. Beyond that they had much more in common, both in their teaching (2 Peter 3:15) and their awareness of approaching martyrdom (2 Peter 1:14 and 2 Timothy 4:6). It was the same Lord who governed each of their lives.
THE particular point of this parenthesis is to assert that both Peter and Paul fulfilled their respective ministries in the power of the same Spirit. Their paths diverged. Their callings were different. In some ways Paul must have been tempted to envy Peter, for he longed to spend his life witnessing to Jews. After Caesarea Peter might perhaps have been tempted to envy Paul, for in that city he himself had a marvellous experience of the outpouring of the Spirit on the Gentiles. But it was theirs not to envy but to obey.
THE key word in this verse is "wrought" or "worked". It was Christ who was at work in both men, so that it was not a question of the work that Peter was doing or the work that Paul chose in the ministries to both Jew and Gentile, but it was the work that the risen Christ was doing through them. And it was mighty, as we would expect if Christ was at work. We must get it quite clearly established that the very same Lord works in different people for different purposes.
THERE is a sense in which each of us should be able to add, 'for me also', since every one of us is called to be His functioning member here on earth. We do not have to engage in the same activities as others. We certainly do not need either to envy or to imitate them. Each of us has a distinct calling from God, to be fulfilled by the powerful working of the same Lord in and through us. It is wrong to despise or to envy. What we need to do is what these godly apostles of old did -- give to one another the right hands of fellowship and get on with our own calling in God.
