A Comparison of the Major Characters Involved in the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)

Thomas Phillips in his recent book Paul, His Letters, and Acts, suggests three interrelated “tendencies” concerning the major characters involved in the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15).

1. “Leadership functions and theological authority tend to be more concentrated and less diversifies in Acts than in Paul’s letters.”

2. “Paul tends to portray his gospel, particularly his message of a law-free inclusion of Gentiles into the church, as more independent than does Acts.”

3. “Relations between Paul and other recognized authorities of early Christianity tend to be more contentious and uneven in Paul’s letters than in Acts.”

Thomas E. Phillips, Paul, His Letters, and Acts, Library of Pauline Studies, ed. Stanley E. Porter (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009), 146-7.