1. Galatians 2:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why does Paul refer to the Jerusalem apostles/church leaders as those who “seemed to be leaders”?

Galatians 2:2 (ESV)

2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.

It is likely that the Judaizers in Antioch (Acts 15:1) and Galatia (Galatians 1:6–10) made a big deal of the Jerusalem apostles/church leadership. Possibly Paul uses the same term that they have been using to describe these men.1