Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 1:18

"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days." — Galatians 1:18 (ASV)

The “three years” mentioned here are hard to define. It may have been three full years or only one full year plus parts of two others. Nor does Paul’s wording here indicate the point from which the three years or parts of three years are to be reckoned. Was it from the time of his conversion or his return to Damascus? Most likely it was the former (i.e., his conversion), in which case this visit to Jerusalem would have been about A. D. 35 (cf. 9:26–29). What is certain is the general drift of Paul’s argument. He has been stressing that none of the apostles was in touch with him in order to impart the Gospel to him before, during, or immediately following his conversion. Now he is adding that a considerable length of time passed before he even met one of the Twelve in Jerusalem.

What is more, even then he stayed no more than a fortnight and met only Peter and James. Why did Paul go to meet Peter? No doubt they talked about Christ, and Paul used the occasion to enrich his already firm grasp of the Gospel by the stories Peter could tell of the life and actual teachings of Jesus. Paul undoubtedly valued knowing these things. But the wording of the text in Galatians suggests that Paul’s main purpose for this trip was to “get acquainted” (GK 2707) with Peter. The word used here suggests the telling of a story. Paul would have told his story, Peter his. So these two leading apostles became acquainted and encouraged each other in their forthcoming work. For the point of Paul’s argument, it is important to note that this was a private visit and not one designed to secure the support of any human authorities.