ガラテヤの信徒への手紙1:18-20 Galatians 1:18-20,

それから三年後、ケファと知り合いになろうとしてエルサレムに上り、十五日間彼のもとに滞在しましたが、 ほかの使徒にはだれにも会わず、ただ主の兄弟ヤコブにだけ会いました。

（ガラテヤ1:18-19）

パウロがエルサレムに行った目的は、「ケファと知り合いになろうとして」ということでした。「ケファ」というのは、十二使徒の一人であるペトロのことです。パウロがまずペトロと知り合いになろうとしたのは、ペトロがエルサレム教会の指導者であったからでしょう。興味深いことに、パウロは「十五日間彼のもとに滞在しました」と滞在の期間まで記しています。このことはいったい何を意味しているのでしょうか？おそらく、十五日間の滞在ということで、パウロは自分とペトロとの関係がキリストの福音を宣べ伝えるために共に働く同労者の関係であるということを言おうとしているのでしょう。もし仮にパウロがキリストの救いについてペテロから教えてもらうという、いわば生徒として先生であるペトロと会ったとすれば、十五日間の滞在は短すぎます。もしパウロがペトロの生徒であれば、少なくとも数ヶ月、場合によっては数年、キリストの弟子として生きるとはどういうことかをみっちりと教えてもらう必要があったでしょう。十五日間の滞在は、共に働く同労者としての交わりの時間だったのです。

それでは、十五日間の滞在で、パウロはペトロとどのような対話をしたのでしょうか？まず、パウロはクリスチャンを迫害していた自分が天におられる復活のキリストに出会い、回心してクリスチャンとなった経験をパウロに語ったに違いありません。次に、ペトロがこの地上におられた復活のキリストに出会った経験をも聞いたことでしょう。さらに、ペトロとキリストとの交わりについても話は及んだことでしょう。つまり、ペトロがガリラヤの湖のほとりでキリストと出会い弟子となったこと、その後キリストのさまざまな働きを見聞きしながらエルサレムに来たこと、さらにキリストが十字架に付けられる前の夜に、三度もキリストの弟子であることを否定した苦い経験をもペトロは語ったかもしれません。キリストの救いを異邦人つまりユダヤ人以外の人々に宣べ伝えようとするパウロにとって、世界で最初のキリスト教会であるエルサレムの教会やその指導者であるペトロとの交わりは大切なことでした。そして、その交わりは共に働く同労者としての交わりであって、生徒と先生という交わりではありませんでした。（4月23日の説教より）

The Bible is a mysterious book. The word “Bible” goes back to the Greek word biblia (τὰ βιβλία). Biblia is the plural form of the word meaning “book.” The plural form is probably because the Bible contains many different books. For example, the Old Testament is made up of 36 books, including the Law, which contains the Laws given by God, the historical books, which contain the history of the Israelites, the prophetic books, which contain the prophecies of the prophets, and various other literary works. The New Testament consists of 27 books: the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the Apostles, which is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke, 21 volumes of letters and the Book of Revelation. 13 of the 21 volumes of letters, more than half of all, are Paul’s letters. Paul himself, who wrote the letters, may not have expected that his letters would be included in the Bible and continue to be read across times and nations.

To decipher the meaning of the letter, one must understand the circumstances of the letter’s author and the circumstances of the first readers of the letter. However, knowing the circumstances of the authors and readers of letters written some 2,000 years ago is a difficult task even for biblical scholars. And for a first-time reader of the Bible, the New Testament letters can be very difficult to understand. And yet, even if they are very difficult to understand, strangely enough, the New Testament letters contain something that makes the reader feel as if they are being addressed to him or her. That is probably why the New Testament letters have continued to be read across times and nations.

Why is it, then, that more than half of the New Testament letters are from a man called Paul, who was not a disciple of Christ when Christ was alive on earth? It is probably because Paul had the special gift of writing down in order what it means to believe and live in Christ. If there had been no Paul, it is even possible that the Christian faith would not have spread throughout the world. Paul’s letters have the power to convert those who did not believe in Christ into believers, and to nurture the faith of those who do believe into something solid.

Paul’s letters have such power, perhaps because Paul himself was a man who had been transformed from a life of unbelief in Christ to a life of belief. Paul was a zealous Jewish teacher who kept the Old Testament Law and taught it to others. From Paul’s perspective, the Christian teaching of believing in Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour, who died on the cross, was blasphemous and unforgivable. Therefore, Paul was in favour of killing Christians. And he was travelling from Jerusalem to Damascus to capture Christians and put them in prison. On his way there, he heard the voice of the resurrected Christ in heaven speaking to him with a strong light, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? (Acts 9:4; 22:7) ” “Saul” is Paul’s Jewish name. Paul fell on the ground, blinded, unable to eat or drink, and was taken to Damascus. He was then baptised in Damascus by a Christian called Ananias and converted to Christianity and became a Christian evangelist proclaiming Jesus Christ. This experience is described in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 26, verses 16-18, where Paul was addressed by the resurrected Christ in heaven as follows.

“But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

Thus, Paul had the special experience of having heard the voice of the resurrected Christ in heaven during his own journey to Damascus and was converted. Paul writes of this in verses 15-17 before today’s passages, as follows.

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Reading these passages, we notice that when Paul describes his steps after his conversion, he not only writes where he went, but he also adds “nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.” It is likely that Paul added these comments because of the following circumstances. After Paul had left the Galatian churches, evangelists from the church in Jerusalem came to the Galatian churches to preach salvation. These evangelists took Paul’s authority lightly and taught differently from him. Paul had taught that a person could be saved by believing in Christ, but the later evangelists taught that full salvation could not be attained without not only believing in Christ but also undergoing the ritual of circumcision as required by the Old Testament Law. The evangelists then said, “Paul, a man who was not a disciple of Christ when Christ was alive on earth, was only taught about Christ’s salvation by Peter and other leaders of the Jerusalem church. So Paul’s teaching does not have much authority,” they seemed to argue. Therefore, with the objection that “I did not, after my conversion, go up to Jerusalem to be taught by Peter and the other apostles about the salvation of Christ,” Paul added,  “nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.”

And today’s biblical passages can be read as a continuation of that objection. Verses 18 and 19 of today’s passages read as follows.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.

The Japanese Bible reads “after three years” as if it means “three years” after he “returned again to Damascus,” which is written immediately before. However, this is not necessarily an accurate way of understanding it. The Greek word epeita (ἔπειτα), translated “sorekara” in the Japanese Bible, means “next in the order of time.” It would therefore be less misleading to translate it as “next, after three years.” And according to biblical scholars, “after three years” means “three years after” Paul’s conversion in Damascus. After his conversion and baptism, Paul stayed for a while in “Arabia,” i.e., the Nabatean Kingdom, to evangelise, and then returned to Damascus again. Then, three years after his conversion, he finally went to Jerusalem, where the first Christian church in the world was located.

Paul’s purpose in going to Jerusalem was “to visit Cephas.” By “Cephas” he means Peter, one of the twelve apostles. Paul first sought to become acquainted with Peter, probably because he was a leader in the Jerusalem church. Interestingly, Paul even notes the duration of his stay: “and remained with him fifteen days.” What does this mean? Perhaps, by staying with him for fifteen days, Paul is trying to say that his relationship with Peter is that of co-workers working together to proclaim the gospel of Christ. If Paul met Peter the teacher as a student, so to speak, to be taught by Peter about Christ’s salvation, then a fifteen-days stay would be too short. If Paul had been Peter’s student, he would have needed at least a few months, possibly even years, of intensive instruction in what it means to live as a disciple of Christ. The fifteen-days stay was a time of fellowship as co-workers.

So what kind of dialogue did Paul have with Peter during his fifteen-days stay? Firstly, Paul must have told Peter about his experience that he met the resurrected Christ in heaven, was converted, and became a Christian. Secondly, he would also have heard of Peter’s experience of meeting the resurrected Christ on earth. Furthermore, they would have talked about Peter’s fellowship with Christ on earth. In other words, Peter may have told of his encounter and discipleship with Christ on the shores of the lake of Galilee, his subsequent coming to Jerusalem with Christ who had done various works of salvation. He may have also told of his bitter experience of denying Christ’s discipleship three times on the night before the crucifixion. Fellowship with the church in Jerusalem, the first Christian church in the world, and its leader, Peter, was important to Paul as he sought to proclaim Christ’s salvation to the Gentiles. And that fellowship was as co-workers, not as student and teacher.

At that time there was another disciple of Christ whom Paul met in Jerusalem. It was “James the Lord’s brother,” as it says: “But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.” “James the Lord’s brother” was one of the children born to Mary and Joseph. According to Mark 6:3, when Jesus Christ was teaching in a Jewish synagogue in Galilee, people who were amazed at his wisdom said, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?” James is the first named son of Mary in this passage. He is of course a different person from James the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve disciples. “James the Lord’s brother” apparently did not at first believe that his own family member, Jesus, was the Son of God and Saviour. But after Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection on the third day, “James the Lord’s brother” met the resurrected Christ and came to believe in him as the Son of God and Saviour. He then became an important leader of the Jerusalem church.

In 1 Corinthians 15:4-8, Paul writes about those to whom the resurrected Christ appeared as follows.

He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

This “appeared to James” means that the resurrected Christ appeared to “James the Lord’s brother.” This encounter with the resurrected Christ must have led “James the Lord’s brother” to believe in Christ as the Son of God and Saviour. Paul must have met “James the Lord’s brother” during his stay with Peter and heard about how James had met the resurrected Christ.

In the verse 20, Paul affirms, “In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!” In other words, three years after his conversion, Paul went to Jerusalem and briefly interacted with Peter, one of the twelve apostles, and “James the Lord’s brother.” But it was fellowship as co-workers, not Peter or James teaching him about Christ’s salvation or giving him authority to evangelise. By making that clear, Paul is reasserting that he is the one who has received authority directly from the resurrected Christ to proclaim salvation to the Gentiles.

At the beginning of today’s sermon, I said that 13 of the 21 letters of the New Testament, more than half, are Paul’s letters. Whose letters are the remaining 8 letters then? There are various theories, but according to the most traditional one, three are the letters of the apostle John, two are the letters of the apostle Peter, one is the letter of “James the Lord’s brother,” one is the letter of Judas, another son of Mary and Joseph, and the letter to the Hebrews, whose author is unknown. The apostles John, Peter, “James the Lord’s brother” and Judas the Lord’s brother, are Paul’s seniors as disciples of Christ. Why are Paul’s letters included in the New Testament much more than the letters of those seniors? It is probably because, as I told you at the beginning, Paul had the special gift of writing down in order what it means to believe and live in Christ. And it was a special gift given by the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, the length of one’s life of faith is one asset. By living a long life of faith in Christ, one’s relationship with God becomes secure and one develops a way of life that is obedient to God. However, there are people who have been given special gifts even though they have not lived a life of faith for very long. They are those who have been transformed by their encounter with Christ and are living witnesses to Christ. Today, we cannot hear the voice of Christ directly as Paul did. But we can hear Christ’s voice through the Bible. And there are people who have heard Christ’s voice through the Bible, have been converted and are living witnesses to Christ. The Church is empowered to witness to Christ not only by those who have lived the faith for a long time, but also by those who have encountered Christ through the Bible and have been converted, even if their years of faith are short.