REPUTATION
Galatians 2.2.6-8
Whose Paul actually mean than he mentioned certain people of "reputation." Most likely he meant the Apostles of Christ and some other leaders of the church. The interval of 14 years (1) perhaps starts from the moment of his conversion by Christ after he left Jerusalem to go to Damascus to hunt for Christians.
In this period of time Paul assembled his own group of faithful men dedicated Christ. At that time Paul did not seen Apostles yet or anyone who were directly associated with Christ. Paul after when he heard the Christ considered himself no less than any other of the Apostles of Christ and decided to meet Apostles in Jerusalem to present his work and his Gospel he had preached to Gentiles.
Words, "but I did so in private to those who were of reputation." By these words Paul stated that he submitted his work in private to Apostles of Christ. Probably Paul was afraid to present them his version of the Gospel he preached to Gentiles, thinking that perhaps the Gospel of Apostles preached to the Jews may be a different Gospel, on the basis that some Jews push Gentiles to obey some rituals of the Law of Moses that Paul totally rejected.
Paul was firmly against it and fear of one thing only that Apostles in Jerusalem and other leaders of the church may disagree with him on this issue and he have to fight with them on this issue to prove his case (2).
~ 2. "I might be running or had run in vain." KSB. (1Corinthians 9.26). "I did not want my work in the past or in the present to be a failure." GNB.
In verse 6 Paul declared his personal opinion concerning Apostles and other leaders of the church that despite the fact that they have Gospel of Christ first hand and saw and heard the Jesus Christ in flesh, still, they make no difference for him in terms of preaching Gospel and leadership, because like Christ, he Paul has no partiality in ranks and positions of people in Christ, and above all, they nothing contributed to him in his work to spread the Gospel to Gentiles, and so, make no special importance to him or to his work.
On the other hand, Paul recognized the "pillars" of the church in Jerusalem mentioning James, Peter, and John. Concerning James, he may be the James the son of Alphaeus, or James the Lord's brother, one of two (Galatians 1.19).
As Paul wrote, in verse 10, James, Peter, and John, "only asked us to remember the poor." While Paul explains them his version of the Gospel he teaches Gentiles, they did not argue with him about anything, but only asked "to remember the poor," and of course Paul himself "was eager to do it."
HYPOCRISY
In verses 11-15 Paul found certain hypocrisy in Peter who used to eat with Gentiles. By tradition Jews avoided to eat or even communicate with Gentiles due to the Law of Moses which forbid Jews any association with foreigners in order not to adapt their religion and pagan way of living, except those foreigners who settled in Israel and submit themselves to the Law of Moses.
Peter was eating with Gentiles because they converted to Christ shown by this that in Christ there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. So, Paul does not blame Peter for that, but Paul was irritated when he saw Peter hiding from the group of Jews sent by James, the group of Jews that were in favor of circumcising Gentiles.
Paul also was annoyed by seeing that the rest of the Jews in Jerusalem's church also joined those who were in favor to circumcise Gentiles, and even faithful friend and helper of Paul Barnabas also joined them (11-15).
SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL
Accordingly, Paul made a fantastic statement in verse 16 saying: "that a man is not justified by works of the Law (the Rituals of the Law of Moses), but through Faith in Christ (by Spiritual Commandment of the Law of Moses that Jesus Christ introduced to humanity - the Gospel). Paul let by this statement all to know that Rituals of the Law no longer playing part in Christ's Spiritual teachings because they came not from the heart- spirit of a person but from written physical Regulations and have no connection with the Spiritual Commandments of the Law.
Immediately after saying this Paul made another statements in verses 17-19 explaining that by putting the Rituals of the Law of Moses aside we do not sin by doing this, even Christ Himself when He fulfill the Law in full (Ritual and Spiritual matters of the Law) He no longer taught to obey the Rituals of the Law, but taught only Spiritual Commandment of the Law: Faith, Hope, and Love, and everything else associated with Spiritual Commandments and Spiritual Qualities.
Just like a seed must die in order to produce its fruit, and so Paul died to the Law of Rituals that he might live to GOD according to His Spiritual Commandments of the Law, in Faith, Hope, and in Love. (1Corinthians 13.13) (1Thessalonians 5.8). Not the physical Rituals will give life in GOD but only Spiritual Qualities of Spiritual Commandments of the Law can give life with GOD. The Lord GOD is the Holy Spirit and accept only Spiritual qualities of character and personality of a human being. Spirit of man lives only with the Holy Spirit of GOD, but physical matter belongs only to physical matter on Earth.
~ 19. *Through the Law I died to the Law. This means that when a person achieves the highest Spiritual Level of the Spiritual Law, the written physical Law no longer have the authority over such person, because the Law has been written on the heart-the spirit of a person, just like Jesus Christ has the Law written in His Spirit when He was on Earth. For this reason, the written physical Law of rituals became obsolete, and a new Spiritual worship of GOD takes a place in the spirit of a person according to the Spiritual Commandments of the Law, and such person became Spiritual, as his or her GOD, Whom they now worship in their spirit.
Paul speaks here symbolically and figuratively, saying that by knowing the Law, obeying the Law, and fulfilling the Law, he Paul died to the written ritualistic Law and step up to a higher level of the Law - the Spiritual Law, and live now according to the Spiritual Commandments of the Law written in his heart-spirit.
In order to make it clearer, in verse 20 Paul stated that he have been even crucified with Christ and now Christ lives in him, and while he still living in flesh, he has now Spiritual Life in the Son of GOD. Paul presented it as like metamorphosis when one form of life transformers to completely another form of life, but in Paul's case it is from physical to Spiritual.
Paul also specified in verse 21 that Righteousness as a Spiritual Quality cannot come from obedience to the physical Rituals of the Law alone, because written Rituals of the Law do not represent Spiritual Qualities and do not invoke them. But the Spiritual Righteousness invoking in a physical Ritual serve as a complete Righteousness before GOD, which is Abraham shown when he had believe in GOD and prove the Righteousness of believing with willingness to make a physical sacrifice of his son Isaac. Actually Righteousness of Abraham is a triple Righteousness in this case. First he received Righteousness because he believed the promise of GOD, second he received Righteousness because he was willing to sacrifice his son, and the third Righteousness of Abraham because he obeyed the Word of the Lord. Believe, Obey, and Do, are three pillars on which Righteousness stands.
Abraham BELIEVED in GOD, and this reckoned to him as Righteousness, not his physical sacrifice alone to GOD reckoned to him as Righteousness, but also and his Spiritual Faith in GOD. Abraham also believed that GOD is able to resurrect his son from the dead and give him back to him (Hebrews 11.19). Abraham not only believed in Promises of GOD, he also believed in the Power of GOD.