All ministry is a grace gift from God. "Grace" (χάριν), in this context, must be all-inclusive of Paul's Christian life from conversion to ministry (Meyer, Galatians, 71). God had called him "through His grace" to preach Christ "among the Gentiles" (Gal. 1:15-16). Grace was given (δοθεῖσάν) to Paul, and he recognized that his ministry was a gift of God's grace that he did not deserve. Even the other apostles recognized God's grace gift to Paul. The subjects of the plural participle "recognizing" (γνόντες) are James, Cephas, and John, the "pillars" (στῦλοι) of the church. The verb "to recognize" means to know in the sense of perceive, notice, or realize (BDAG, 161). The word "pillars" is a figure of speech likely drawn from the temple sanctuary (Rev. 3:12). The church is the temple of God, and the pillars were the apostolic leaders of the church who held up the sanctuary like the pillars of the temple (Bruce, Galatians, 122).
Because these foundational leaders in the church perceived the grace given to Paul, they "gave" (ἔδωκαν) him the "right hand of fellowship." The giving of grace by God leads to the giving of the hand by Christians. The practice of extending the hand as a pledge of an agreement is found among both the Greeks and the Hebrews. The phrase in Hebrew was "to give the hand" as a pledge to another, sometimes indicating submission (2 Kings 10:15; Ezra 10:19; Ezek. 17:18; 1 Chron. 29:14; 2 Chron. 30:8). In the Greek papyri, it meant to enter into a pledge or a compact with another person, usually in the sense of a mutual compact (Burton, Galatians, 95-96). The pledge was a solemn, binding commitment between people. The three and the two pledged their shared commitment to each other with the right hand of fellowship (κοινωνίας) - a partnership forged in union with Christ.
The partnership pledged a division of the mission. Paul and Barnabas would preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and James, Cephas, and John would preach to the circumcision. The verb must be supplied. It could be "go" (πορευθῶμεν) or it could be "preach the gospel" (εὐαγγελισώμεθα). However, it is probably better to translate it as "preach the gospel" because that is the focus in verse 7 leading to the fuller explanation of verse 9 (Meyer, Galatians, 73).
What is the division? Is this a territorial/geographical division, or is it a racial/cultural division? Burton understands it as territorial. Paul and Barnabas would preach in Gentile lands, but the other apostles would preach in Jewish lands (Burton, Galatians, 98). Bruce suggests that we should understand the division ethnographically because there is considerable overlap in the spheres. The diaspora meant that there were Jewish colonies all over the Roman world and the churches Paul planted included both Jews and Gentiles. Paul certainly could preach in Jewish synagogues, and Peter could preach in Gentile assemblies, but, in general, the focus was an ethnographic division. The division was racial/cultural as Paul and Barnabas prioritized, although not exclusively, the Gentile culture and James, Peter and John prioritized the Jewish communities (Bruce, Galatians, 125).
The Great Commission is global (Acts 1:8; Mt. 28:17-20). The church must preach to all nations. However, the strategy to reach the nations requires a division of the mission. The Apostles were not abdicating their commission from Christ when they agreed to divide the spheres of ministry. The only way to grow the church is to divide the mission. Even on a local church level, we multiply by dividing. Mother churches give birth to daughter churches. Existing ministries spawn new ministries, and all local churches should maintain a global mission by giving the right hand of partnership to ministries preaching to other segments of our world. A church must divide to multiply.
