Gal. 2:9 ... "Recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised."
By the middle of the first century, Christianity had grown out of its cradle in the land of Judaism and spread into far distant Gentile countries. Paul had been the foremost evangelist in preaching the gospel in such places as Cyprus, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia. Although communities of Jews with their synagogues existed in most of these places, the vast majority of the people were Gentiles who embraced the religion of idolatry. Paul and his assistants would go first to these Jews, preach in their synagogues, and try to convert them to Christ. The majority of them, however, rejected the apostle and expelled from their midst anyone who had obeyed the doctrine he taught. Then Paul would appeal to the Gentiles, and their response was usually overwhelming. In many large cities congregations were established which grew to considerable size in a rather short time. With each passing year the Gentile segment of Christianity grew larger, until at some point it became obvious that Jewish Christians had become the minority in the church.
It is little wonder, then, that jealousy set in among the Jews toward the Gentiles, and a spirit of rivalry began to threaten the unity of the church. Paul became an object of hostility among the Jewish brethren, some of whom began to make charges against him. The problem became so acute that finally a great convention of apostles, elders, and other influential people in the church was held in Jerusalem to address it. Paul and Barnabas came from Antioch to attend and to present the case of the Gentile brethren. (This convention is reported both here by Paul in Galatians 2 and by Luke in Acts 15.) These two missionaries explained the nature of their work and outlined the doctrine they were preaching, especially emphasizing the multiplication of congregations and the large number of converts. When James, the Lord's half-brother, Cephas (Peter), and John, who appeared to be the three "pillars" of the Jewish side of the church, heard all this, they were entirely satisfied that God had indeed manifested His grace unto Paul and Barnabas and that the marvelous success of the Gentile side of the church was due to the very power of God.
At this point Paul reports that these influential men, two of whom had been personally with Jesus thoughout His ministry, "gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship." Here is a great and important lesson for Christians today. The church is made up of people who differ according to their racial, lingual, economic, and cultural backgrounds. The tendency is strong for these differences to exert themselves in the church, influencing it to divide along these lines. The history of Christianity bears witness to the fact that this has happened many times over. Even within a local congregation, where the membership is virtually homogeneous, differences in personality or ambition can lead to the fracturing of the church body. This sort of division in the church is antagonistic to God and ought not to happen. In the chosen text above we see the way to prevent this disaster. The exponents of each faction should come together with open minds and in the spirit of love and lay out their concerns to each other. Then they should put the whole matter before God in prayer, (see Acts 15:28a), and wait for Him to guide them into the right course of action. Finally, each Christian must extend to the other "the right hand of fellowship" and refuse to let the passions of jealousy, envy, and vain competition rule their spirits. This was the course that solved the problem in the early church when it threatened to divide into Jewish and Gentile branches, and it is the course that will establish unity and peace among Christians today, if we will give it the opportunity.
