It was obvious that the question must be settled. The Judaizing party were quite definite in their teaching. ' Certain men which came down from Judfea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can- not be saved' (Ac 15^). This was a position M-hich it was impossible for St. Paul and St. Barnabas to admit. It was destructive of their work and of the catholicity of the Church. No wonder that ' there was no small dissension and disputation.' An appeal was made to the mother church at Jeru- salem ; and, among others, St. Paul and St. Barna- bas went up. St. Paul's own statement is, ' I went up by revelation' (Gal 2-). He also tells us that Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile, accompanied him. They were well received by the church at Jerusalem, but certain of the Pharisees, who were believers, laid it down ' that it was necessary to circumcise them ' (Ac 15'), and thus the issue was joined.
The question was so important that it could not be settled at once. There must be an interval for consideration. How this interval was spent we are told in Gal 2. The Judaizing party found that an uncircumcised Gentile — Titus— had been brought into their midst, and they immediately demanded his circumcision. With this demand St. Paul was not inclined to comply. The principle for which he was contending was at stake. Un the other hand, circumcision to him was nothing, and there was the question whether he should yield as a matter of charity. The course which he took has always been a matter of undecided controversy, but the opinion of the majority of authorities is that Titus was not circumcised.*
After tills episode St. Paul had an opportunity of discussing his gospel privately with those of repute, viz. James, Ceplias, and John. They were evi- dently moved by the account of his work among the Gentiles, and recognized the hand of God in it, and they were influenced by the fervour and spirit of the Apostle. They gave to him and St. Barnabas 'the riglit hand of fellowship.' Tliey recognized that their sphere was among the Gentiles, as that
* For the contrary view see R. B. Rackhani on Ac 15 (Oxford Com., 1901) ; and on the vexed chronolojjfical and other ques- tions of. artt. Acts op tub Apostles and Galatians, Epistle to.
of the other apostles was among the Jews. The result of tlie conference was a compromise : Gentiles were not to be circumcised, but they were to abstain from certain practices which were offensive to their Jewish brethren.
The teaching of St. Paul on circumcision may be further illustrated from his Epistles. In Ro 2^^'^ he shows that circumcision was an outward sign of being one of the chosen people, but that it was of no value unless accompanied by obedience, of which it was the symbol. The uncircumcised keeper of the Law was better than the circumcised breaker of it. The true Jew is he who is circumcised in heart, i.e. he who keeps God's Law and walks in His ways. In ch. 4 he discusses the case of Abraham, and asks whether the Divine blessing was conferred upon him because he was the head of the chosen race and the first person of that race who was cir- cumcised. He shows that the promise came before circumcision, and therefore not in consequence of it. Circumcision followed as the token or sign of the promise, so that he might be the father of all believers whether they were circumcised or uncir- cumcised.
In the Epistle to the Philippians, St. Paul utters grave warnings against those who insist on circum- cision. He speaks of the rite, when thus insisted on, not as circumcision but as ' concision ' (KaraTOfxi), Ph 3-).* The circumcision which the Judaizers wished to enforce was to Christians a mere mutila- tion such as was practised by the idolatrous heathen. The verb KaraTiixveiv is used in the LXX of incisions forbidden by the Mosaic Law : e.g. Karereixvovro Kard, rbv eOiafibv avrQv (1 K 18^^; cf. Lv 2P). In contrast to this. Christians have the true circum- cision (Ph 3^), not of the flesh but of the heart, purified in Christ from all sin and wickedness. This contrast between circumcision of the flesh and of the spirit occurs in other passages of the Pauline Epistles, e.g. Col 2", Eph 2^\ No doubt the Apostle had certain OT passages in mind which use circumcision as a metaphor for purity, e.g. Lv 26*\ Dt 10i«, Ezk W.
LiTERATUEE. — Artt. OH ' Circumcision ' in HDB, ERE, DCG, andJE, with Literature there cited; the relevant Commentaries, esp. Sanday-Headlam, Homans^ {ICC, 1902) ; also E. v. Dobschiitz, Christian Life in the Primitive Church, Eng. tr., 1904 : K. Lake, The Earlier Epistles of St. Paul, 1911 ; E. B. Redlich, St. Paul and his Companions, 1913 ; H. W^einel, St. Paul, Engf. tr., 1906; C. v. Weizsacicer, Apostolic Age, i.2 [1897], ii. [1895]. MORLEY STEVENSON.
CITIZENSHIP {vokirela,, ciuitas).— The concep- tion of citizenship among the ancient Greeks and Komans was deeper than among ourselves. We can think of human existence and life apart from citizenship, but to the ancient member of a iroXis or ciuitas citizenship was life and life was citizen- ship. This exjilains why St. Paul could use voXi- reveadu practically in the sense of ' to live' (Ac 23', Ph 1-^ ; cf. 3-" Tro\iTevfj.a). The life of a city is a development out of the more primitive life of the village-community (KiLfj-r), uicua). A ttoXu in fact consists of a number of KQ,uai, each of which con- sists of a numlier of families (oTkos, domus). The unity was generally based on blood-relationship. The regular TrdXts in the Greek world was on the model of the constitution of Athens. This consti- tution had a council (fiovX-//, senatus) or advisory body, and a popular assembly (5^/xos, iKKK-qaia, Ac jgsa. 39. 4ij^ fQi- membership of both of which free citizens were eligible. For citizenship the require- ment was free birth within the community, the father being a citizen. It could be conferred on foreigners by a decree of the people. Each com-