Moreover, he had already communicated privately with
1 54 The Apostolic Council. Chap. VII.
the recognised leaders in Jerusalem, and knew that their sentiments agreed with his own ; and he must have been fully alive to the great step in organisation which would be made, if Antioch set the example of referring such a question to authoritative decision in Jerusalem at a meeting where it was represented by delegates.
In the mission of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem it is noteworthy that the Divine action plays no part. The Church in Antioch resolved, and the Church sent them to Jerusalem, escorting them on their way. This is not accidental, but expresses the deliberate judgment of Paul and of Luke. The action that led up to the Council in Jerusalem and the ineffective Decree did not originate in Divine revelation.
The accepted view is different. There is a practically universal agreement among critics and commentators of every shade of opinion that the visit described as the third in Acts XV is the one that Paul describes as the second in Gal. II i-io. Scholars who agree in regard to scarcely any other point of early Christian history are at one in this. Now, Paul says in his letter to the Galatians that he made his second visit in accordance with revelation. Lightfoot tries to elude the difficulty of identifying this second visit by revelation with the third visit without revelation recorded in Acts XV : he says (Gal., p. 125), "here there is no contradiction. The historian naturally records the external impulse which led to the mission : the Apostle himself states his inward motive." He quotes " parallel cases which suggest how the one motive might supplement the other". But the parallels which he quotes to support his view seem merely to prove how improbable it is. (1) He says
Sec. i. Origin of the Council. 155
that in Acts XIII 2, 4, Barnabas and Paul were sent forth by the Holy Spirit through a direct command ; while in XIII 3 they are sent away by the Church of Antioch. But that is not the proper force of XIII 3 (p. 67 f.) : the Church merely gave Barnabas and Saul freedom from their duties and leave to depart, while the Spirit " sent them out ". In XV 3, on the contrary, the Church is said to have initiated and completed the action. (2) He founds another parallel on the mistaken idea that XXII 17 and IX 29 f. refer to the same visit (p. 62).
The journey to Jerusalem occupied some time ; for in Phcenice and in Samaria the envoys took the oppor- tunity of " describing in detail the turning of the Nations to God". Here, evidently, the newly accomplished step, " the opening of the door of faith to the Nations," is meant. The recital of the circumstances and results of the new step caused great joy. Now, Luke pointedly omits Judaea ; and his silence is, as often elsewhere, eloquent : the recital would cause no joy in Judaea. Accordingly, we are not to suppose that the joy was merely caused by sympathy with the spread of Christianity, in which the Judaean Brethren would doubtless rejoice as much as any. The joy of the people of Phcenice and Samaria was due to the news of free acceptance of Gentile con- verts : Paul, as he went, preached freely to all and in- vited all. When he did this in Phcenice and Samaria, it follows that he had been doing the same in Antioch since his return from Galatia: the door which had once been opened, XIV 27, remained permanently open.
2. THE dispute IN antioch. The new de- parture in Galatia and Antioch — the opening of the door of faith to the Nations — forced into prominence
1 56 The Apostolic Council. Chap. VII.
the question of the relations of Gentile to Jewish Christians.
There had already been some prospect that this question would be opened up during Paul's second visit to Jerusalem (p. 56 f.) ; but for the moment the difficulty did not become acute. The older Antiochian converts, as we have seen, had all entered through the door of the synagogue ; and had necessarily accepted certain pro- hibitions as a rule of life. But the newly founded Galatian Churches contained large numbers who had joined Paul directly, without any connection with the synagogue ; in the face of Luke's silence on such a crucial point we cannot think that Paul imposed on them any preliminary conditions of compliance with Jewish rules ; and, if so, we must understand that the same interpretation of " the open door " characterised his action in Antioch, Phcenice and Samaria.