S. Under the eyes of the apostles, and not without personal sacrifice on their part, the original Christian membership at Jerusalem erected themselves into a community within the pale of Judaism, although irre- spective of its sacred rites, with which, however, they maintained a connection (Acts iii-vii), and the apos- tolical activity soon disseminated the divine word among the Samaritans likewise (Acts viii, 5 sq., 15), where already Jesus had gained some followers (John iv). In the mother Church at Jerusalem their supe- rior dignity and power were universally acknowl- edged by the rulers and the people (Acts v, 12 sq.). Even the persecution which arose about Stephen, and put the first check on the spread of the Gospel in Ju- daea, does not seem to have brought peril to the apos- tles (Acts viii, 1). Here ends, properly speaking (or rather, perhaps, with the general visitation hinted at in Acts ix, 32), the first period of the apostles' agen- cy, during which its centre is Jerusalem, and the prominent figure is that of Peter. Agreeably to the promise of our Lord to him (Matt, xvi, 18), which we conceive it impossible to understand otherwise than in a personal sense, he among the twelve foundations (Rev. xxi, 14) was the stone on whom the Church was first built ; and it was his privilege first to open the doors of the kingdom of heaven to Jews (Acts ii, 11, 42) and to Gentiles (Acts x, 11). The next deci- sive step was taken by Peter, who, not without mis- givings and even disapproval on the part of the prim- itive body of Christians, had published the Gospel on the sea-coast (Acts x, xi) ; and this led to the estab- lishment of a second community in the Syrian me- tropolis Antioch (Acts xi, 21), which kept up a friend- ly connection with the Church at Jerusalem (Acts xi, 22 sq.), and constitutes the centre of this second pe- riod of the apostolical history.
But all that had hitherto taken place was destined to be cast into the shade by the powerful influence of one individual, a Pharisee, who received the apostolate in a most remarkable manner, namely, Paul. Treat- ed at first with suspicion, he soon acquired influence and consideration in the circle of the apostles by his enthusiasm (Acts xiii), but, betaking himself to Anti- och, he carried forth thence in every direction the Gospel into distant heathen lands, calling out and employing active associates, and resigning to others ( Peter; comp. Gal. ii, 7) the conversion of the Jews. His labors form the third apostolical period. From this time Paul is the central character of the apostol- ical historj : even Peter gradually disappears, and it 18 only after Paul had retired from Asia Minor that John appears there, but even then laboring in a quiet manner. Thus a man who had probably not person- ally known < Ihrist, who, at least, was not (originally) designated and consecrated by him to the apostleship, yel accomplished more for Christianity than all the directly-appointed apostles, not only in extent, meas-
uring his activity by the geographical region trav- ersed, but also in intensity, since he especially grasp- ed the comprehensive scope of the Christian remedial system, and sought to harmonize the heavenly doc- trine with sound learning. It is not a little remark- able that a Pharisee should thus most successfully comprehend the world-wide spirit of Christianity.
4. Authentic historj- records nothing concerning the apostles beyond what Luke has afforded respecting Peter, John (Acts viii, 14), and the two James's (Acts xii, 2, 17 ; xv, 13 ; xxi, 18). Traditions, derived in part from early times (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iii, 1), have come down to us concerning nearly all of them (see the Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, which have been usually ascribed to one Abdias, in Fabricii Cod. Apoc- ryph. i, 402 sq. ; and Cave's Antiquitates Apostol. ut sup. ; also Perionii Vita; Apostolorum, Par. 1551, Frcf. 1774; comp. Ludewig, Die Apost. Jes. Quedlinb. 1841 ; Heringa, De vitis apostolorum, Tielffi, 1844), but they must be cautiously resorted to, as they some- times conflict with one another, and their gradual growth can often be traced. All that can be gather- ed with certainty respecting the subsequent historj' of the apostles is that James (q. v.), after the mar- tyrdom of James the greater (Acts xii, 2), usuallj- re- mained at Jerusalem as the acknowledged head of the fraternity (comp. Acts xii, 17) and president of the college of the apostles (Acts xv, 13 ; xxi, 18 ; Gal. ii, 9) ; while Peter travelled mostly as missionary among the Jews ("apostle of the Circumcision," Gal. ii, 8), and John (all three arc named "pillars" of the Chris- tian community, Gal. ii, 9) eventually strove at Eph- csus to extend the kindly practical character of Chris- tianity, which had been endangered by Gnostical ten- dencies, and to win disciples in this temper. From this period it certainly becomes impossible to determ- ine the sphere of these or the other apostles' activity ; but it must ever remain remarkable that precisely touching the evangelical mission of the immediate apostles no more information is extant, and that the memory of the services of most of them survived the very first century onlj- in extremely unreliable sto- ries. We might be even tempted to consider the choice of Jesus as in a great measure a failure, espe- cially since a Judas was among the select ; but we must not forget, in the first place, that it was of great importance for Jesus to form as early as possible a narrow circle of disciples, i. e. at a time when there was small opportunity for selection (Matt, ix, 37 sq.) ; in the second place, that, in making the choice, he could only have regard to moral and intellectual con- stitution, in which respect the apostles chosen proba- bly compared favorably with his other followers ; and finally that, even if (as some infer from John ii, 25) the ultimate results had been clearly foreseen bj' him, they did not (especially after the new turn given to the Christian enterprise by Paul) strictly depend upon this act of his, since, in fact, the successful issue of the scheme justified his sagacity as to the instru- mentalities by which it was on the whole carried for- ward. Some writers (Neander, Leb. Jes. p. 223 sq.) have made out quite an argument for the selection of the apostles from their various idiosyncracies and marked traits of character (Gregorii Diss, de temper- amentis scriptorum N. T. Lips. 1710 ; comp. Hase, Leb. Jes. p. 112 sq.), and Jesus himself clearly never intended that they should all have an equal career or mission ; the founding of the Church in Palestine and its vicinity was their first and chief work, and their services in other countries, however important in themselves, were of secondary interest to this. See generally, respecting single apostles and their activi- ty (especiallv in the N. T.), Neander's Planting and Training "{'the Prim. Ch. (Hamb. 3d ed. 1841, Edinb. 1843) ; D. F. P.acon, Lives of the Apost. (N. Y. 1846).