6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
Paul is still concerned to establish his authority as an apostle and the validity and apostolicity of his message, and he maintains that those in authority in Jerusalem in fact recognised his ministry, and acknowledged him to be the apostle to the Gentiles (8). There is a slight suggestion of impatience in his words in 6 - as if he had found that their acceptance of him was grudging and unwilling. If this be so - and there is evidence elsewhere in the New Testament that it may well have been so - it is some indication of the rigidity that can almost paralyse evangelical orthodoxy when the question of recognising the ministry of a Spirit-filled man with new insights and a hitherto unrecognised emphasis arises. One can understand, of course, their hesitation in accepting this new voice; but were there none at Jerusalem sufficiently sensitive to the Spirit's intimations to sense that it was a voice speaking for God and in His Name? As it happened, that voice was destined to eclipse every other in that orthodoxy by the very breadth of its insights; but for long enough Paul was as one crying in the wilderness. God give us wisdom and grace to recognise divine authority ringing in a man's message when we hear it, and humility to receive his word even when it cuts across our cherished orthodoxy in its challenge to mind and heart!