Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem
Not three years after his return to Damascus, but after his
conversion; and now it was that he moved to become a member of
the church at Jerusalem; but they did not care to admit him,
fearing that he was not a disciple, till such time that Barnabas
took him, and brought him to the Apostles Peter and James, and
related his conversion and his boldness in preaching the Gospel
at Damascus: his view in going up to Jerusalem at this time was
partly his own safety, being obliged to fly from Damascus, but
chiefly
to see Peter.
The Alexandrian copy, and another, read "Cephas", and so does the
Ethiopic version, the same with Peter: not to see what sort of a
man he was, but to pay him a Christian visit; to converse with
him about spiritual things; to know how the work of God went on
under him, as the minister of the circumcision; and to relate to
him, what success he had met with as the minister of the
uncircumcision; but not to receive the Gospel from him, or to be
ordained a preacher of it by him; for he had been three years
already in the work of the ministry, before he made him this
visit; and besides, his stay with him was very short, nor could
he have received much from him, in so short a time, in an
ordinary way:
and abode with him fifteen days;
and even all this time was not wholly spent in conversation with
him; for he was, during this time, coming in and going out at
Jerusalem, where he preached boldly in the name of Christ, and
disputed against the Grecians.