According to Acts, this great question was first presented definitely to Peter in the case of a Roman centurion named Cornelius ; and a vision, which had appeared to him immediately before the question emerged, determined him to enter the house and the society of Cornelius, and set forth to him the good news, on the principle that " in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteous- ness is acceptable to Him " (X 35). Peter's action was immediately confirmed by the communication of Divine grace to the audience in Cornelius's house ; and, though it was at first disputed in Jerusalem, yet Peter's defence was approved of by general consent.
But this step, though an important one, was only the first stage in a long advance that was still to be made.
Sec. i. The Gentiles in the Church. 43
Cornelius was a proselyte ; and Peter in his speech to the assembly in his house laid it down as a condition of reception into the Church that the non-Jew must approach by way of the synagogue (X 35), and become "one that fears God".
Without entering on the details of a matter which has been and still is under discussion, we must here allude to the regulations imposed on strangers who wished to enter into relations with the Jews. Besides the proselytes who came under the full Law and entered the community of Moses, there was another class of persons who wished only to enter into partial relations with the Jews. These two classes were at a later time distinguished as "Proselytes of the Sanctuary" and "of the Gate" ; but in Acts the second class is always described as "they that fear God"} The God-fearing proselytes were bound to observe certain ceremonial regulations of purity in order to be permitted to come into any relations with the Jews ; and it is probable that these rules were the four prohibitions enumerated in XV 28, to abstain from the flesh of animals sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from animals strangled, and from marriage within the prohibited degrees (many of which were not prohibited by Greek or Roman law). These prohibitions stand in close relation to the principles laid down in Leviticus XVII, XVIII, for the conduct of strangers dwelling among the Israelites ; and it would appear that they had become the recognised rule for admission to the synagogue and for the first stage of approximation to the Jewish communion. They stand on a different plane from the moral law of the Ten Com- mandments, being rules of purity.
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44 The Church in Antioch. Chap. III.
While no one, probably, urged that the Church should be confined to born Hebrews, there was a party in the Church which maintained that those non-Jews who were admitted should be required to conform to the entire " Law of God " : this was the party of " champions of the circum- cision,"1 which played so great a part in the drama of subsequent years. This party was silenced by Peter's explanation in the case of Cornelius, for the preliminary vision and the subsequent gift of grace could not be gain- said. But the main question was not yet definitely settled ; only an exceptional case was condoned and accepted.
The Church of Antioch then was in a somewhat anomalous condition. It contained a number of Greeks, who were in the position of " God-fearing proselytes," but had not conformed to the entire law ; and the question was still unsettled what was their status in the Church.
2. THE COMING OF BARNABAS AND THE SUM- MONING OF SAUL. (XI 22) AND THE REPORT CON- CERNING THEM CAME TO THE EARS OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM ; AND THEY SENT FORTH BARNABAS AS FAR AS ANTIOCH : (23) WHO WHEN HE WAS COME, AND HAD SEEN THE GRACE OF GOD, WAS GLAD ; AND HE EXHORTED THEM ALL THAT WITH PURPOSE OF HEART THEY SHOULD CLEAVE UNTO THE LORD (24) (FOR HE WAS A GOOD MAN, AND FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND OF FAITH); AND MUCH PEOPLE WAS ADDED UNTO THE LORD. (25) AND HE WENT FORTH TO TARSUS TO SEEK FOR SAUL; (26) AND WHEN HE HAD FOUND HIM, HE BROUGHT HIM UNTO ANTIOCH. AND IT CAME TO PASS THAT EVEN FOR A