And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem,.... From Caesarea, after he had stayed some certain days in Cornelius's house; so a journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem is called an ascending from the one to the other, Ac 25:1 because Jerusalem stood on higher ground, as well as was the metropolis of the country; and this was a journey of six hundred furlongs, or seventy five miles, for so far, according to Josephus , was Caesarea distant from Jerusalem:they that were of the circumcision, which phrase designs not only the circumcised Jews that believed in Christ, for such were all they of the church at Jerusalem, or at least proselytes that had been circumcised, for as yet there were no uncircumcised Gentiles among them; but those of them, who were most strenuous for circumcision, and made it not only a bar of church communion, but even of civil conversation:these contended with him; litigated the point, disputed the matter with him, complained against him, and quarrelled with him.
Epiphanius says , that Cerinthus, that arch-heretic, was at the head of this contention. De Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 3. sect. 5. Contr. Haeres. l. 1. Haeres.