<p>2:12 <i>F</i><i>or before that certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision</i>- The whole nature of the agreement in Gal. 2:6-10 could be read as smacking of dirty politics- Paul could continue to convert Gentiles and not force them to be circumcised, but James and Peter would continue their ministry to the Jews, and Paul would get his Gentile converts to donate money to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. It all could be read as having the ring of a 'deal' rather than an agreement strictly guided by spiritual principles. James not necessarily the same James who wrote the epistle seems to have acted very &lsquo;politically&rsquo;. He sent his followers to pressurise Peter not to break bread with Gentiles in Antioch (Gal. 2:12). Then there was a conference called at Jerusalem to discuss the matter. There was &ldquo;much disputing&rdquo;, there wasn&rsquo;t the clear cut acceptance of Gentiles which one would have expected if the words of Jesus had been taken at face value, and then James said &lsquo;Nobody ever came from me telling any Gentile they must be circumcised and keep the Law. They are all welcome, just that they must respect some of the Mosaic laws about blood etc., and keep away from fornication&rsquo;. This contradicts Paul&rsquo;s inspired teaching that the Mosaic Law was totally finished. Gal. 2:12 records that James <i>had</i> sent brethren to Antioch trying to enforce the Law upon Gentiles And then later, the Jerusalem ecclesia boasted of how many thousand members they had, &ldquo;and they are all zealous of the law&rdquo;. They then asked Paul to make it clear that he supported circumcision and keeping the Law (Acts 21:19-24). In passing, we note how hurtful this must have been, since Paul was bringing funds for their ecclesia which he had collected at the cost of damaging his relationship with the likes of Corinth. He meekly obeyed, perhaps it was playing a part in the politics in the church, although he had written to the Colossians and others that there was no need for any to be circumcised nor keep the Law, indeed these things were a denial of faith in Jesus. &nbsp;</p>