The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 43

11end to beg the apostles to depart. Thus they receive their diamlesal, " Go in peace I " from the lips of friend and foe alike--from t.he friends to whom they have brought peace and salvation; from the foes who dare not touch the anointed of God; from the Master \Jimeelf, who has been with them in their trouble, whose promises have sustained, and whose providence has watched over and delivered them.-J. Ve1"8. 1-6.-Paul'B Becond missionary jowrney oomfflfflced. L ENLARGED WORK THE FRUIT OF ENLARGED CAPACITY AND EXPERIENCE, 1, Jn his own spirit-by faithful service and abundant grace received. 2. In his higher standing among his brethren. The sympathy and confidence expressed by the Churches of Antioch and Jerusalem lifted up Paul's spirit to a higher level. 3. In the clearer course opened '1,y the settlement of the controversy e.s to the position of the Gontile converts. n. blSTRmffil,.'TS PREPARED TO MEET GREATER DEMANDS. Timothy specially gifted to be Paul's companion. His Greek education. His mother's end grandmother's piety. His father possibly a proselyte. He himself Paul's son in the faith. Silas more Jewish. The Holy Spirit guides us when we seek out helpers in dependence on higher wisdom. The young minister had the confidence of the Churches, where probably he had exercised his gifts. Those who are selected as candidates for the ministry should be approved and well reported of, and in some degree tried. Paul's own judgment was sustained by that of others. III. IN ALL 'll"OR!i: DIFFIOULTIES A:l."D SCANDALS SHOULD BE SHUNNED, even at the cost of suppressing personal feeling. When it was a question of maintaining principle, Panl would not consider Jewish prejudice; when it was a question of conciliating and preparing the way for the gospel, he would put his own broader views in the background. An example showing that promises and conciliation can be mingled in the same character; a warning against self-nssertion. IV. THE IKFLUE?-CE OF A WELL-MAINTAINED CHURCH ORDER ON THE STABILITY AND PROSPERITY OF SPIRITUAL WOBK. There was no despotism of Jerusalem over the Gentile Churches, but these were decrees ordained ; not the decrees of those who sought dominion over the faith of others, but the decisions of wise, good, inspired men, who spoke under the influence of the Spirit. We should obey the will of the Spirit, whether we hear it from Jerusalem or from any other quarter. A true, humble, and zealous desire to be strengthened and to increase will be the best preservative against schism. There is no inconsistency between liberty and reverence. They support one another.-R. V ers. 6-10.-.A true epoch in the hist.ory of the gospel: advance from .Asia to Europe. L SUPERNATURAL GUIDANCE LED THE WAY. 1. The messengers naturally incliaed to continue their work within narrower limits. Much against advancing West. Unknown region. Great demands in the more educated heathenism of Europe. Possibly the Jewish element was powerful in Am, and therefore some religious basis to work upon. But all such considerations put aside when the mind of the Sphit manifested. 2. The Spirit of Jesus clearly pointed the way Westward, whether by miraculous indications, or by providential circnmstances too plain to be misunderstood. Troas was reached in a waiting, inquiring state of mind. 3. The decisive commandment was given by vision to Paul. Not a mere dream, but a prophetic vision, which, being accompanied by a supernatural impression of its Divine origin and meaning, left no doubt on the mind. II. THE CHANGE OF THE SPHERE OF LA.BOOB from Asia to Europe fruitful in results. 1. On the Gontile world-in the direct assault on heathenism in its stronghold. 2. On tbe character of Paul himself. He wu fitted for a higher work than preaching to the semi-barbarous tribes of Asia Minor-where great as the success was, it would be necessarily almost limited to the region where it was obtained. To touch Greece was to open a thou68nd doors to the world at large. 3. On the development of the Christibn Church. It was necessary that Christianity should reveal to the world its superiority to all merely human systems of philosophy; that it should satiijfy the intellectual a.s well as the spiritual wants of man. Had Paul. nev~r visited !<;urope, we should not have had his Epistles to the Romans and Co~mthians, ~or probably th!"t to the Ephesians; for his own views of the Church were raised to a higher level by his con tac~ with tbe larger world of thought and life.-Il. cm. XVI. 1-10.) 'l'HE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 15