hard realities. On the one hand, I believe that Paul does have a grand and
lofty vision of a universal mission entrusted to him as apostle to the Gen-
tiles. On the other hand, any attempt to carry out such a vision would
inevitably run headlong into a whole range of stubborn realiaon the ground:
the vastness of the territory, the activity of others with territorial claims of
their own, the difficulties of travel, and so on. The pattern of Paul’s mission-
ary activity, such as it was, should be seen as the contingent product of
the combination of these two conflicting sets of forces.
The Grand Vision
Scattered throughout Paul’s letters are statements and comments which,
taken together, reflect a lofty conception: a divinely ordered mission, embrac-
ing the whole Gentile oikoumenê,in which Paul himself plays the central
human role. The relevant passages can be considered within four cate-
gories.
Paul’s Own Role Paul’s boldest and most unambiguous claim to unique-
ness is found in his account of the Apostolic Council (Gal. 2:1–10). Despite
the fact that he was present as part of a delegation, of which Barnabas
was undoubtedly the senior member, when Paul comes to describe the
actual agreement, he dispenses with the first person plural and claims the
Gentile mission for his own: “when they saw that I had been entrusted with
the gospel for the uncircumcised...when [they] recognized the grace that
had been given to me” (Gal. 2:7, 9). The right hand of fellowship might have
been extended to both Barnabas and Paul, but in the agreement, as Paul
presents it here, he himself, on the Gentile side of things, is the sole coun-
terpart to Peter. Whatever the nature of the actual agreement may have been
(for a shrewd discussion, see Holmberg 1978, 58–67), Paul understands it
as simply confirming what God had already ordained and, more signifi-
cantly, entrusted to Paul alone.
Outside the highly charged, self-defensive environment of Galatians,
Paul is more guarded in his claim about himself. Still, a similar attitude can
be seen in several other texts. In Colossians 1, as Paul introduces himself
to the Colossians, he says that God has given him a commission for “you”
(i.e., you Gentiles) to “fill to completion” (plerôsai) the mystery of the inclu-
sion of the Gentiles (1:25–26). In the previous verse (to which I shall
return), Paul declares himself to be the one—the only one, apparently—who
is “completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of...the
church” (1:24). In Romans, the rhetorical situation of the letter: Paul’s
desire to win acceptance by a church that he did not found and which has
some questions about his gospel, necessitates a certain measure of tact