Hey!
I don’t have any suggestions for you, as to how to resolve the issue you mentioned in The Jerusalem Council, but I do want to share some thoughts that I have been having.
I’ve tried to get to the root cause of why some believed Paul’s doctrine and some did not. One of the main things I believe was pride or the lack of it. Those who believed Paul did not have a problem with pride. Those who did not believe Paul did have a problem with pride: pride in being a Jew, pride in being a member of God’s chosen people. Pride that made them feel superior to Gentiles even if those same Gentiles had received the Spirit. Pride that had an ill effect on their heart that would not let them receive the truth, or be able to forgive Paul’s past sins, in their heart.
Unable to trust Paul, they were therefore, unable to believe Paul. The new Truth that Paul brought exposed what was in the heart of all who were present. The prideful ones were camouflaged under Peter’s gospel, but the light of the Truth destroyed the camouflage and they were no longer able to hide. Those who believed Paul would have been able to discern the hearts of the others, and as you have shown, would have treated them with much love and patience hoping to win them over.
As for those who did believe Paul. Why did they believe him? There was more to it than a lack of pride, or being able to forgive Paul for his past. You have taught us many times that the only thing we really have to share is our testimony. And the thing that they were able to do was to believe Paul’s testimony. But it is not quite that simple. There is more to it than that. The answer I believe may lie in which part of his testimony they were able to believe. It wouldn’t have been the part about his experience on the road to Damascus, or the things he experienced with Ananias. I believe the part of Paul’s testimony that they had to believe was Paul’s testimony of being carried into the third heaven and being taught by Jesus face to face. All of the other Apostles had been taught by Jesus face to face too! Paul said that he was “as one born out of due time”. Jesus couldn’t come back down here to teach Paul. Paul had to go there, and the Apostles and others had to actually believe that really happened! Paul being caught up to the third heaven and being taught by Jesus trumps all of the scripture that had been written before. Paul’s gospel was what God was saying concerning the Gentiles at that time! And because the Apostles and others were able to trust and believe Paul, they were also able to trust and believe the revelation he received from Jesus.
Billy H.