We preceed then to combine the two narratives. While Paul and Barnabas were sta\'ing at Antioch, "certain men from Jud;iea" came there and taught the brethren that it was necessary for the Gentile converts to be circumcised. This doctrine was vigorously op- posed by the two apostles, and it was determined that the question should be referred to the apostles and ciders at Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas themselves, and cer- tain others, were selected for this mission. In Gal. ii, 2 Paul saj's that he went up " by revelation" (kot c'itto- KaXvipw), so that we are to understand him as receiving a private intimation from the Divine Spirit, as well as a public commission from the Church at Antioch. On their way to Jerusalem, they announced to the brethren in Phoenicia and Samaria the conversion of the Gentiles; and the news was received with great joy. " \\'hcn they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the Church, and by the apostles and elders, and they de- clared all things that God had done with them" (Acts XV, 4). Paul acUls that he communicated his views "privately to them which were of reputation," through anxiety as to the success of his work (Gal. ii, 2). The apostles and the I'hurch in general, it appeans, would have raised no difhculties; but certain believers who had been Pharisees thought fit to maintain the same doctrine which had caused the disturbance at Antioch. In either place. Paul would not give way to such teach- ing for a single hour (Gal. ii, 5). It became necessary, therefore, that a f )rmal decision should be reached upon the question. The ajwstles and elders came together, and there was much disputing. Arguments would be used on both sides; but when the persons of highest au- thority spoke, they appealed to what was stronger than arguments — the course of /acts, through which the will of God had been manifestly shown. Peter, reminding his hearers that he himseli" had been first employed to
i
PAUL
197
PAUL
open the door of faith to Gentiles, points out that (Jod liad himself bestowed on the uncirciiracised that which was the seal of the highest calling and fellowship in Christ, the gift of the Holy Gliost. " Why do you not acquiesce in this token of God's will? Why impose upon Gentile believers ordinances which we ourselves have found a heavy burden ? Have not we Jews left off trusting in our law, to depend only on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ V" — Then, carrying out the same appeal to the will of God as shown in facts, Barnabas and Paul relate to the silent midiiludc the wonders with which God had accompanied their preaching among the Gentiles. After they had done, James, with incomparable simplicity and wisdom, binds up the testi- mony of recent facts with the testimony of ancient proph- ecy, and gives a practical judgment upon the question.
The judgment was a decisive one. The injunction that the Gentiles should abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication explained itself. The abstinence from things strangled and from blood is desired as a con- cession to the customs of the Jews who were to be found in every city, and for whom it was still right, when they had believed in Jesus Christ, to observe the law. Paul had completely gained his point. The older apostles, James, Ceplias, and John, perceiving the grace which had been given him (his effectual apostleship), gave to him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. At this point it is very important to observe precisely what was the matter at stake between the contending parties (comp. Prof. Jowett on '• St. Paul and the Twelve," in iSt. Paurs Epistles, i, 417). Peter speaks of a heavy yoke ; James of troubling the Gentile converts. But we are not to suppose that they mean merel}- the outward trouble of conforming to the law of Moses. That was not what Paul was protesting against. The case stood thus : Circumcision and the ordinances of the law were witnesses of a separation of the chosen race from other nations. The Jews were proud of that separation. But the Gospel of the Son of Man proclaimed tliat the time had come in which the separation was to be done away, and God's good-will manifested to all nations alike. It spoke of a union with God, through trust, which gave hope of a righteousness that the law had been powerless to produce. Therefore to insist upon Gentiles being circumcised would have been to deny the Gospel of Christ. If there was to be simply an enlarging of the separated nation by the receiving of individuals into it, then the other nations of the world remained as much on the outside of God's covenant as ever. Then there was no Gospel to mankind; no justification given to men. The loss, in such a case, would have been as much to the Jew as to the Gentile. Paul felt this the most strongly ; but Peter also saw that if the Jewish believ- ers were thrown back on the Jewish law, and gave up the free and absolute grace of God, the law became a mere burden, just as heavy to the Jew as it would be to the Gentile. The only hope for the Jew was in a Sav- iour who must he the Saviour of mankind. It implied therefore no difference of belief when it was agreed that Paul and Barnabas should go to the heathen, while James and Cephas and John undertook to be the apos- tles of the circumcision. Paul, wherever he went, was to preach " to the Jew first;" Peter was to preach to the Jews as free a Gospel, was to teach the admission of the Gentiles without circumcision as distinctly as Paul liimself. The unity of the Church was to be preserved unbroken ; and in order to nourish this unity the Gen- tiles were requested to remember their poorer brethren in Palestine (Gal. ii, 10). How zealously Paul cher- ished this beautiful testimony of the common brother- hood we have seen in part already (Acts xi, '29, 30), but it is yet to appear more strikingly.