No Real Disagreement Between James and Paul

There does not appear to ever have been a real dispute about the theology. St. Paul does not accuse some of the other apostles of bad doctrine but rather of hypocrisy (Gal. 2:13), of saying one thing and doing another. Therefore, it seems that while all of the apostles were in agreement regarding the Mosaic Law, they sometimes acted differently.

When St. Paul speaks of who caused St. Peter to act hypocritically, he mentions not St. James but rather “some people [who] came from James” (Gal. 2:12). Whether they were acting on orders from St. James or were on their own is unclear. There doesn’t appear to be any real disagreement about doctrine or teaching but rather about personal behavior.