18 And again, “Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision.” But when it is to the Jews and not to the deed that he gives this name, and wishes to signify the nation, he opposes to it not uncircumcision in its literal sense, but the Gentiles. For the Jews are the contradistinction to the Gentiles, the Circumcision to the Uncircumcision. Thus when he says above, “For He that wrought for Peter into the Apostleship of the Circumcision, wrought for me also unto the Gentiles;” and again, “We unto the Gentiles and they unto the Circum- cision,” he means not the rite itself, but the Jewish nation, thus distinguishing them from the Gentiles. Ver. 10. “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? Many of the believing Jews in Palestine had been deprived of all their goods, and scattered over the world, as he mentions in the Epistle to the Hebrews54, “For ye took joyfully the spoiling of your posses- sions;” and in writing to the Thessalonians, (1 Thes. ii. 14.) he extols their fortitude, “Ye became imitators of the Churches of God which are in Judæa,…for ye also suffered the same thing of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews.” And he shows throughout that those Greeks who believed were not under persecution from the rest, such as the believ- ing Jews were suffering from their own kindred, for there is no nation of a temper so cruel. Wherefore he exercises much zeal, as appears in the Epistles to the Romans (Rom. xv. 25–27.) and Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 1–3.) that these persons should meet with much attention; and Paul not only collects money for them, but himself conveys it, as he says, “But now I go unto Jerusalem ministering unto the saints,” (Rom. xv. 25.) for they were without the neces- saries of life. And he here shows that in this instance having resolved to assist them, he had undertaken and would not abandon it. Having by these means declared the unanimity and harmony between the Apostles and himself, he is obliged to proceed to mention his debate with Peter at Antioch. Ver. 11, 12. “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I resisted him to the face, because he stood condemned. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing them that were of the circumcision.” Many, on a superficial reading of this part of the Epistle, suppose that Paul accused Peter of hypocrisy. But this is not so, indeed it is not, far from it;55 we shall discover great 54 [Hebrews x. 34. [This is interesting as showing that Chrysostom attributed the Epistle to the Hebrews to St. Paul, though most modern critics do not agree with him in that view.—G.A.] 55 [ἀλλ᾽ οῦκ ἔστι ταῦτα, οὐκ ἔοτιν ἄπαγε.—G.A.] 38 Galatians 2:1,2