Galatians 1:18-24
Peter, Paul, and James
18Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord's brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. 21 Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23They only heard the report: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24And they praised God because of me.
Acts 15:16-21
Peter Paul, and James
12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’—
18 things known from long ago.
19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
God's plan was to get three of the early leaders together, to spread the word about Jesus...Jesus linked the early apostles, and made these Christian Leaders connect...The three Saints of Paul, Peter, and James did meet, and get to know each other, but more importantly they shared their own thoughts and ideas of Jesus and His teachings...Paul wanted to more about Jesus, after his conversion...So he met with Peter, maybe the leading disciple, and also met with James, the brother of Jesus...These three men would have been greatly persecuted...The early Christians, and especially the early Christian leaders were targets of Jewish leaders and the Sanhedrin, as well as the Roman security...These groups wanted to for some reason to keep the Truth suppressed, about Jesus, and they persecuted the early believers...We are told specifically the three meet twice together...Paul writes about this first meeting in his letter to the Galatians..The three meet again at the Council of Jerusalem later...We are not told specifically if the three meet at other times, but they were organized, and all spreading the word of Jesus, and no doubt kept in touch...Paul met with Peter in Antioch, but we are not told if James is there...But as Galatians teaches us, Paul has a strong personality...He taught about Jesus for three years, before he meets with Peter and James...Therefore, we know he did not seek their approval, in becoming an apostle and teacher...Paul wanted to learn about Jesus earthly teachings, and Peter and James experiences of Jesus growing up and the Master teaching them....
St. Paul traveled extensively and wrote...His fourteen letters or epistles are very important...All these writings are very important...First they are very important for the new early believers, and the early teachers...Their words inspired believers...Peter writes two epistles and James writes one letter to the early Christians...These are also important from the time they were written through today, and in the future for all believers...We need the writings, these letters are important, for our own personal faith...They are great evidences of men of faith...They remind us about the importance of working together in spreading the word...Different people have different ideas about Jesus, and that is important...They give us great information and deeds, so we can learn what Saints do...These men give us great hope...Without these Books about the Good News, we would know less about our LORD...They are the ones that spread the good news...And Jesus words remain with us still two thousand years later...