Coming forward in this character and name, Paul was taking a momentous step, the importance of which was fully marked in the narrative. In the first place, he was taking the leading place and guiding the tone of the inter- view instead of being, as heretofore, the subordinate fol- lowing Barnabas. Hence in the narrative we find that Barnabas introduced Saul to the Apostles ; Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch ; Barnabas and Saul carried the Antiochian alms to Jerusalem ; Barnabas and Saul brought back John Mark with them from Jerusalem ; Barnabas was first and Saul last in the body of prophets and teachers of the Church at Antioch ; Barnabas and Saul were selected by the Spirit ; and Barnabas and Saul were
84 Journey of Barnabas and Saul. Chap. IV.
invited to the proconsul's presence. But now Paul took this new departure, and Paul and his company sailed away from Paphos to Pamphylia ; Paul and Barnabas addressed the Gentiles in Antioch ; Paul and Barnabas disputed with the Judaising party on their return to Syrian Antioch ; and henceforth the regular order places Paul first. There are only two exceptions to this rule, and these serve to bring out its true character more clearly.
(1) In the Council at Jerusalem, and in the letter of the Apostles and Elders, XV 12, 25, the order is Barnabas and Paul ; but there we are among Jews, who follow the order of seniority and Jewish precedence. The only surprising thing here is that they use the name Paul, not the Hebrew Saul. We can only infer from that that the Greek-speaking Jews generally used the name Paul (compare p. 169), and that the historian's use of the name Saul in the earlier part of this narrative was deliberately chosen to emphasise the contrast between Paul's earlier and his later manner.
(2) In the episode where the two Apostles were wor- shipped at Lystra, Barnabas is named first as Zeus the chief god, and Paul next as Hermes the messenger. But the same qualities which mark out Paul to us as the leader, marked him out to the populace of Lycaonia as the agent and subordinate. The Western mind regards the leader as the active and energetic partner ; but the Oriental mind considers the leader to be the person who sits still and does nothing, while his subordinates speak and work for him. Hence in the truly Oriental religions the chief god sits apart from the world, communicating with it through his messenger and subordinate. The more statuesque figure of Barnabas was therefore taken by the Orientals as the chief god, and the active orator, Paul, as his
Sec. 4. Saul, otherwise Paul. 85
messenger, communicating his wishes to men. Inci- dentally, we may notice both the diametrical antithesis of this conception of the Divine nature to the Christian conception, and also the absolute negation of the Oriental conception in Christ's words to His Disciples, " whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister ; and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant " {Matt. XX 26).
How delicate is the art which by simple change in the order of a recurring pair of names, and by the slight touch at the critical moment, " Saul, otherwise Paul," suggests and reveals this wide-reaching conception in Luke's mind of historical development !
In the second place, when Paul thus came forward under his new aspect and personality, he was inaugurating a new policy. He was appealing direct for the first time to the Graeco- Roman world as himself a member of that world. This is put plainly in XIV 27 as the great innovation and the great fact of the journey : as soon as Paul and Barnabas returned to Syrian Antioch, they made a report to the assembled Church "of all things that God had done with them, and how He had opened a door of faith unto the Gentiles ". The first stage in the admission of the Gentiles to the Christian Church was taken long before this journey. But the full implication of the Apostolate to the Gentiles was not even by Paul himself realised for many years. The second stage was achieved on this journey, and the historian fixes the psychological moment precisely at the point where the Apostles faced the Magian in the presence of the proconsul of Cyprus. Amid the conflict of the two religions before the Roman governor, Paul stepped forward in his character of citizen of the Empire ; and his act was