n to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.
Paul had already been to Jerusalem, three years after his conversion, an event which is mentioned in Galatians 1:18. He is counting 14 years after his conversion, not 14 years after his previous visit, since his conversion was the event that made his life worthwhile. If the two periods are added together we get 17 years, giving the impossible result that Paul was converted before Yeshua had been executed and risen again.
The question is - which visit to Jerusalem is Paul referring to, from which he counts 14 years back to his conversion? Was it the Jerusalem Council of 50AD, or was it the earlier visit, in 46AD when he went with relief for those stricken by the famine?
The heated letter to the Galatians, about circumcision, might lead us to believe that he was referring to the Jerusalem Council of 50AD, but there is something here that doesn't make sense. In Galatians 2:7-14, Paul speaks disparagingly of Peter because he was still vacillating over the question of circumcision of the Gentiles. This means the Jerusalem Council had not yet taken place, because at that Council everybody was agreed that circumcision of the Gentiles was unnecessary, including Peter. (Acts 15:7-11).
Paul must therefore have been referring to the earlier visit to Jerusalem in 46AD when Peter was still not convinced. Subtracting 14 years from 46AD we get 32AD as the date for the conversion of Paul. This is a very early date, only two years after the church was founded, but it is quite feasible.
From 30 to 32 AD there was rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem followed by persecution. Stephen, along with others, was appointed as a church leader and had a powerful ministry, but he was stoned while the yet unconverted Sha'ul (Paul) looked on with approval. (Acts 6, 7 and 8:1). The persecution continued, with the active involvement of Sha'ul, causing the Believers in Jerusalem to be scattered throughout Samaria, but wherever they went they preached the Word. (Acts 8:1-4).
Sha'ul pursued them to Damascus, to try and bring them back to Jerusalem, but he met the Lord on the Damascus Road and was converted. He was struck blind, and then regained his sight when he met Ananias. (Acts 9:1-18). He began preaching straight away in Damascus (Acts 9:19-22). Then there is a time lapse, described in Acts 9:23 as "after many days". This is the time referred to in Galatians 1:17 when he went to Arabia and then returned to Damascus. Not the Sinai Peninsula as some might suppose, but more likely the Arabian desert just outside Damascus. After his return to Damascus the Jews plotted to kill him, but he discovered their plot and was let down the wall in a basket and made his way to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas. This is the visit mentioned in Galatians 1:18, three years after his conversion, so the date is 35AD.
It turned out to be a disappointing visit. The Believers in Jerusalem were afraid of him because of the way he had previously persecuted them, and didn't accept him as a genuine Believer. Even though Barnabas spoke up for him, the most they would do was provide him with a safe escort in and out of Jerusalem, and then they sent him back to his home town of Tarsus. (Acts 9:26-30). Nothing is heard of him again for a few years, until Acts 11:25, where we read that Barnabas went to Tarsus to find him and bring him to Antioch.
During that time, while Paul was absent, the following events occurred:
As a postscript to the dialogue about Peter and Cornelius, and the ministry to the Gentiles, the book of Acts refers back to the stoning of Stephen and the persecution that caused the Believers in Jerusalem to be scattered. It says they went as far as Phenice, Cyprus and Antioch, and makes the curious remark that they preached only to Jews, but some other people, presumably their converts in Cyprus and Cyrene, came to Antioch and began preaching to the Greeks, and in it's context this must mean they preached to Gentiles, not to Greek-speaking Jews. (Acts 11:19-21).
It seems that the Jews who came from Jerusal