The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 20

who eond Po.ul forth, nnd their "recommending him to the grace of God." These thrco things are welcome rcliefs in th~ m~dst of !" scene not attractive in its main aspcots. Would that ns much redeeming 1mprcss1on could be found in other cases of "sharp contention n among Christian brethren and fellow-labourers in the same vineyard 1-B. Ver. 1.-0ircumcision and salvation. Revised Version, "Except ye be circumci8ed after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved." It was inevitable that the claims of Judaism and of Christianity should preseutly come into conflict. The conflict when it came would be sure to rage round some one particular point of differen:e ; not necessarily the most important point, but the one which would give most prominence to the essential differences. Circumcision was only a formal rite, and its importance mi<rht easily he exa<merated; but it sealed the exclusiveness of the Jewish system, and it illustrated its ce;e~onial character, so it formed a good ground on which to fight. The Jews had this vantage-~round. Circumcision was unquestionably a Divine insti- tution ; and the Christian could bring no proof whatever that it had been formally removed. The Christian teachers could only urge that the "life in Christ" no longer needed formal bonds, and that God's grace in Christ Jesus was given to those who were not of the circumcision. St. Paul took very firm ground on the question. While prepared to go to the very limits of charitable concession in dealing with those who felt the helpfulness of rites and ceremonies, he was prepared to resist to the death any tamperin.,. with the gospel condition of salvation, or any attempt to declare that saving grace could be found in any formal ordinance or ceremony. " When the very founda- tions of Christianity were in danger of being undermined, it was not possible for St. Paul to "give place by subjection." I. MAN'S HIGHEST NEED CONOEIVED AS SALVATION. Not reformation; not religion; not material prosperities; not intellectual attainments; not culture; but distinctly salvation, which is a moral good, bears direct relation to personal sins and to a. sinful state, and is conceivable only by some Divine intervention, and on revealed Divine terms. Man's final cry is," What must I do to be saved?" "How can man he just with God?" Salvation, conceived as man's reconciliation with God, was the idea. of Judaism, and it was represented by man's being brought into covenant relations, and kept in them by sacrifice and ceremonial. Judaism. had a moral life within its ritual, and this finds expression in the Psalms and in the prophets. Salvation, as apprehenden by Christianity, is man's reconciliation to God, upon his penitence for sin, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the all-sufficient Sacrifice for sin and Saviour entrusted with authority to forgive. 'l'he two systems are related, as a shadow is related to the figure that throws it; but the two cannot be combined; the shadow must pass altogether when the substance has come. The salvation man w~ts is a soul-salvation, and that no rite, no ceremonial, can touch. II. 'THE OLDER IDEA OF THE MEANS OF SALVATION. Salvation was a Divine favour granted to one particular race. The Abrahamic relations, standing, and rights were :;ecured to all who adopted the appointed sign and seal of circumcision. In later years outsiders were admitted to share the "salvation," or "standing with God," of the Ahrahamic race, by submitting to the rite of circumcision. As spirituality faded from the Jewish life, increasing importance became attached to the mere rite, and .zealots contended for it as if in it alone lay the hope of salvation. There is an important 1>lace for ritual, but: it i~ ~ver perilous to spiritual truth if it is put out of its place. It 1s a useful handmaid; 1t 1s a tyrannous mi&tress. Ill. THE NEWER IDEA OP THE MEANS OF SALVATION AB REVEALED TO THE APOSTLES. ~ot works of righteousness, but "faith," which presupposes penitence. How is a smner saved? Apart from all systems or ceremonies, he must accept the salvation freely_ offered to him by God in the person of his Son Jesus Christ. The act of accept- ance 1s called" faith." We cannot wonder that this new and most gracious condition of salvaLion should have pushed the older idea altogether out of the apostles' minds. It seeme_d new; they would not even try to think how it fitted the old. Conscious of the nJew_hfe aod joy it brought, they would find themselves gradually being weaned from owish ceremouial, and the more advanced thinkers, such as St. Paul, would be even in ijome danger of exaggerating the contrasts between tho old and the new.  TRE AOTS OF T1IE APOS1'LE8. [err, xv. 1-41,