No, Paul was NOT there. That was exactly my point.
While you pointed out that all the Christians referred to in Acts 15:8 (the Gentiles) received the Holy Spirit, that does not in the least mean that the Holy Spirit treated all Christians who received the Holy Spirit EXACTLY alike, or gave them the same faculties and assignments.
We do NOT treat all the writings (such as letters and other writings) of all those "Holy-Spirit-filled Christians" from that time period alike. The Holy Spirit (guiding the Church) only selected a very small fraction of all the writings of all those "Holy-Spirit-filled Christians" to be included in the "New Testament".
Paul is credited with writing more "Books" of the "New Testament" than any other Christian, and he was NOT among that group who were directly taught by Jesus, and who Jesus assured (in John 14:26) that He would refresh their memory later, but Paul was STILL selected to write Sacred Scripture, which most of the other "Holy-Spirit-filled" Christians mentioned in the Book of Acts were NOT, a very distinct, exclusive assignment.
What you referred to as "nits", is actually the main point. The Holy Spirit only picked a select few people (out of ALL the "Holy-Spirit-filled" Christians of that time) to fulfill certain, specific roles in the Church, such as to write the documents which were to later be included in Sacred Scriptures, or for "Apostolic Succession" -- picking the actual successors to the Apostles (see Acts 1:24-26), who Jesus directly and specifically gave the distinct faculty to forgive or retain sins.
John 20:22-2322 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
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Acts 1:24-26The Holy Spirit assigned different roles to different Christians -- they were not all treated in exactly the same way by the Holy Spirit, just because they received the Holy Spirit. Some were specifically assigned to write portions of Sacred Scripture (most were NOT), and others were specifically assigned (by God) to forgive sins (again, most were NOT). (That was the point. If you think those distinctions and specific assignments made by God, and those portions of Sacred Scripture and their instructive messages involve mere "nits", then perhaps you would do well to carefully reevaluate that disparaging view. If they were "nits", why would Almighty God include them in Sacred Scripture?)24 And they prayed and said, “Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen
25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place.”
26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.
Now the Scriptures do NOT tell us the specifics of how the Gentiles mentioned in Acts 15 actually entered the Church and received the Holy Spirit (those texts are vague about that), but is is quite likely that they were received into the Church and received the Holy Spirit in the same ways as the converts mentioned here in another part of the Book of Acts:
Acts 2:37-3937 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
38 And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him."
All that to try to prove that it was the Catholic Church that should get the glory for bringing us scripture? Even to the point of implying that because of that we should all somehow become part of that religion? I don’t think you got my point? I said all that was “picking at nits” because it matters not how or who God used to bring the scripture as we know it to this point. History is replete with evil people being used by God to further His plans. Time and time again even the Israelites fell from following God’s wishes and commands. Even if it was the Catholic Church which was the implement that God used to preserve His word it would be foolhardy to imply that they are therefore the “one true church”.
When the scriptures were translated from the original Greek instead of from the Latin of the Roman Catholic Church was when many of the errors of the RCC were brought more into focus. It was clear that translating from Greek to Latin and then translated to some other language brought forth errors. In that regard it could easily be said that the Catholic Church was trying to thwart true scripture from getting to us since all but Catholics understand that it was the Catholic Church who attempted to keep the scriptures out of the hands of lay people.