Paul’s purpose in going to Jerusalem was twofold. First, from the leaders in Jerusalem he sought legitimation of his mission to the gentiles. Peter had already made some tentative efforts to reach out to non-Jews, but Paul was the first to give the gentiles an equal place in the emerging Church. Second, he wanted to learn at first hand more about the life of the churches in Judea (Galatians 1:22). He also knew very little about Jesus’s life and teaching, and people in Jerusalem had known Jesus in the flesh and had put his sayings and parables to memory. Already something like the account of
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