Having interrupted his narration of the Jerusalem meeting to describe the intrusion of the false brothers and the Titus test case, Paul now resumed the flow of his account he left off at the end of v. 2. In the Greek text vv. 6–10 constitute one long, convoluted sentence with several major ideas condensed into a difficult sequence of thought. The Jerusalem leaders added nothing to Paul’s message. They recognized that it was from God. They approved its truthfulness and completeness. They endorsed Paul and received him as a fellow apostle.

The two key themes in this first section of chapter 2 are the truth of the gospel and the unity of the church. In a moment of crisis, Paul found it necessary to stand adamantly, stubbornly, uncompromisingly against the heretical doctrine and illicit demands of the false brothers.