Fathers

Galatians 2

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Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me. I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you. But from those who were reputed to be important—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me, but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised— for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles— and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision. They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do. But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do? “We, being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law. But if while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker. For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”

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What the Fathers say

Galatians 2:10

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"Only they would that we should remember the poor; which very thing I was also zealous to do." This is his meaning: In our preaching we divided the world between us, I took the Gentiles and they the Jews, according to the Divine decree; but to the sustenance of the poor among the Jews I also contributed my share, which, had there been any dissension between us, they would not have accepted. Next, who were these poor persons? …

Homily on Galatians 2 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Having divided among themselves, he says, the work of preaching, we remembered the poor without division. For in Jerusalem many of those who had believed were deprived of their possessions by the unbelieving Jews and were in difficulty regarding necessary sustenance. The Greeks did not wage war so fiercely against the believers from among them as the Jews did against the Christians from among the Hebrews. …

Commentary on Galatians ↗

Oecumenius

"only that we should remember the poor." The preaching, he says, passing round, we hold the poor in common. These, however, were those seized from among their own tribesmen who did not believe, because of their faith in Christ.

Commentary on Galatians ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

So that we might be mindful of the poor, I was also concerned to do this very thing. The holy poor, to whom the care is especially entrusted by the apostles Paul and Barnabas, are those who, as Jewish believers, were bringing the prices of their possessions to be given to the needy at the feet of the apostles, either because they were renouncing the Law, their fellow Jews, and their kinsmen, or because they were being considered as traitors and sacrilegious for believing in the crucified man. …

Commentary on Galatians ↗

Thomas Aquinas

But they added the condition that we should be mindful of the poor of Christ, i.e., of those who had sold all their goods and laid the price at the feet of the apostles and became poor for the sake of Christ. "Which same thing," indeed, "also I was careful to do," being no less moved than those commanding me, as is plain in Romans (Ch. 15), 1 Corinthians (Ch. 6) and 2 Corinthians (Ch. 8 and 9). …

Commentary on Galatians ↗

Bonaventure

In Galatians 2 he says that Peter and James gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision, only that we should be mindful of the poor: the Gloss: "Of the poor, who had laid the price of their goods sold at the feet of the Apostles, we should be mindful, by making collections for their support." If therefore the Apostle was not simoniacal in this, that he sought collections and sent disciples for this purpose, that they might seek alms from those among whom he had …

Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 2 ↗