Was Rome the headquarters of the early church and was the Jerusalem council called by Rome or Peter?

Galatians chapter two tells of a meeting in which it was agreed upon that Paul and Barnabas would go to the Gentiles while Peter, James, and John would go to the circumcision.

Paul actually did preach to “the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16), and this was his Acts-period ministry. In every city, it appears that Paul had a synagogue ministry. When the Jews (these would have been representative of the diaspora) would largely reject the message (some, of course, did believe), then he and his company would turn to the Gentiles of that place. It appears that many Gentiles were watching Paul's ministry and listening to the message, and waiting for the opportunity to hear the message preached directly to them.

As late as Acts ch. 28, Paul said, “for the hope of ISRAEL am I bound with this chain.”

The first book that Paul wrote after the close of the Acts history was Ephesians. In that book he wrote that he was a “prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.” (Eph. 3) I believe that upon the rejection of the message concerning the Messiah by the chief of the Jews in Rome, God changed Paul's ministry from being bound for the hope of Israel to being bound for the hope of the Gentiles.

After Acts 15, all accounts of Peter's ministry are closed, and Paul's ministry is magnified. I believe that that has to do with “the diminishing of Israel” spoken of in Romans chapter 11, where also we find that Paul said to the Gentiles, “I magnify mine office.” In the same chapter there is a “diminishing” (like a diminuendo in music) and a “magnify”-ing (like a crescendo in music).

The only other account that we have of Peter going among Gentiles is described in Galatians ch. 2, and he got into trouble in the way he handled it and had to be rebuked by the Apostle Paul. We would not say that Peter never preached to other Gentiles, but the Holy Spirit is silent about it if he did, there is no Biblical record of it. The action at Cornelius’ house (Acts ch. 10) was previous to the account of Galatians ch. 2

Sure Peter could have preached to some other Gentiles and Paul did preach to Jews first and also to the Greeks during the Acts Period, but there does appear to be good reason to state that Peter's ministry focused primarily on the circumcision, and that Paul's ministry from after Acts 28 focused primarily on the Gentiles.

In the churches of God (local churches are spoken of in the plural, not generically or in the singular) there should not have been made a distinction between Jew and Gentile, because in Christ there is NEITHER. In the flesh there are both; in Christ there is neither.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.