1 68 The Apostolic Council. Chap. VII.
after the conversion of Cornelius (XI 1-18). The general sense was clearly against the claim of the ex- treme Judaistic party (called "them of the circumcision" XI 2, Gal. II 12).
But, while the champions of circumcision were clearly in the minority, apparently a decided feeling was manifest in favour of some concessions to the Jewish feeling and practice : the Nations were to be received into the Church, but the widened Church was not to be apart from and independent of the old Jewish community : it was to be " a rebuilding of the tabernacle of David ". To render possible a real unanimity of feeling, the Nations must accept the fundamental regulations of purity. The chairman's speech summed up the sense of the meeting in a way that was universally accepted. James, the recognised head of the Church in Jerusalem, said : —
(XV 14) SYMEON HATH REHEARSED HOW FIRST GOD TOOK CARE TO GATHER FROM AMONG THE NATIONS A PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME. (15) AND TO THIS AGREE THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS: AS IT IS WRITTEN, (16) " I WILL BUILD AGAIN THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID, (17) THAT THE RESIDUE OF MEN MAY SEEK AFTER THE LORD, AND ALL THE NATIONS, OVER WHOM MY NAME IS PRONOUNCED," SAITH THE LORD, WHO MAKETH THESE THINGS (l8) KNOWN FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME.1 (19) WHEREFORE MY VOICE IS THAT WE TROUBLE NOT THEM WHICH FROM AMONG THE NATIONS TURN TO GOD ; (20) BUT SEND IN- STRUCTIONS TO THEM TO ABSTAIN FROM THE
1 The Bezan Text, and many other authorities, have " saith the Lord who doeth this. (18) Known to the Lord from the beginning of time is His work."
Sec. 3, The Council. 169
POLLUTIONS OF IDOLS AND FROM MARRIAGE WITHIN THE DEGREES FORBIDDEN BY THE LAW, AND FROM WHAT IS STRANGLED, AND FROM the use of BLOOD as food. (21) FOR MOSES FROM ANCIENT GENERA- TIONS HATH IN EVERY CITY THEM THAT PREACH HIM, AS HE IS READ IN THE SYNAGOGUES EVERY SABBATH.
James grounds his advice for partial conformity on the fact, v. 21, that the Mosaic Law had already spread widely over the cities of the empire, and that the existing facts which facilitated intercourse between Jews and "God-fearing" pagans should be continued. He grounds his advice for freedom from the rest of the Law on the declared will of God, first by prophecy in time long past, and afterwards by revelation to Peter, that the Nations should be admitted to the tabernacle of David, from which he infers that their own duty is to make admission easy.
Incidentally we observe that James used the Septua- gint Version, quoting loosely from Amos IX 11, 12, a passage where the telling point for his purpose occurs only in the Greek and not in the Hebrew Version.
Another point of development since Paul's second visit to Jerusalem must be noticed here. On the second visit, as Paul declares, the recognised leaders in Jerusalem gave him no advice and no instruction, except to remember the poverty of the brethren there. It would be hard to put that in more emphatic terms than he uses (p. 56). But on the third visit, the delegates bring a question for settlement, and receive from the recognised leaders in Jerusalem an authoritative response, giving a weighty decision in a serious matter of practical work, a decision that would have been epoch-making,
i 7° The Apostolic Council. Chap. VI I.
if it had been permanently carried into effect On the second visit the difficulty could be foreseen ; between the second and third visit it became acute ; at the third visit it was settled in a way that was a distinct rebuff to the Judaising party, but not a complete triumph for the party of freedom. It would not be honest to use the words of Gat. II 10 about the visit described in Acts XV.