The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 280

were looking for the preservation of their natural life, and extension of their natural creed." Compare St, Paul's account of himself as given in Gal. i. 14; Phil. iii. 5, 6. We dwell on the foot of St, Paul's Pharisaio birth, education, and sympathies, in order toshow- I. How THESE AFFECTED ma BBLATI0NS WITH THE JEWS, He ought to be.ve been peculiarly acceptable to the Jews. The biaa of his life was wholly in favour of cere- monial Judaism. He might he.ve been looked to as one of the noblest champions of Mosaism. He did come out as a leader of the party which persecuted the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. He had never separated himself from the Jewish rites and ordi- nances. To the close of life he maintained his Pharisaism. He pleaded, indeed, for liberty from ritual bonds on behalf of the Gentile converts, but he did not take the liberty for himself; so that, if the J ewe bad not yielded to blinding prejudice, they might have found in this Christian Pharisee the conservator of all the essentials of Mosaism. It should be clearly seen that St. Paul at once admitted the new light that came from God, and jealously conserved the old, which had also come from him. No doubt the apostle saw that the Jewish system would fade away, and give place to a spiritual religion for which simpler forms would suffice ; but it was no part of his mission to hurry on the time of the passing away. His point was this-Jewish bonds must not be laid on Gentile converts. Judaism cannot be aggressive; it must keep well within its own lines and limits. II. How ST. PAUL'S PHABISAISJII BOBE Ul'ON THE CHARGES lllADE AGAINST HDr. It made those charges seem ridiculous. One brought up as a zealous Pharisee insultingly defiling the sacred temple was simply absurd. Such a man could not have done such a thing. And the assumption further was that the public teachings of such a man could not be out of harmony with true Judaism. Men are true to themselves: they do not make themselves ridiculous by such open inconsistencies. St. Paul may plead in answer to all their charges, " I was, I am, a Pharisee." III. How ST. PAUL'S PllARIBAIO EDUCATION BECAME A !'REPARATION FOB ms CHRISTIAN J'AITH A.ND LIFE, Such an education established a strong conviction con- cerning three things. 1. The direct ruling and intervention of Jehovah, so that, at any time, any of his servants might have direct and personal communications from him. The fathers and the prophets had received such revelations, and revelations and visions may come to men still. 2. The importance of Holy Scripture, as given by inspiration of God. 3. And the expectation of Messiah, as fulfilling Scripture prophecy and promise. It may easily be shown how these Pharisaic sentiments prepared for (1) the vision at Damascus; (2) the key which that vision gave to Scripture, and especially to the figure of Messiah presented in the Scripture. Compare the difference of result if St. Paul had been by birth and education a doubting, sceptical Sadducee. True Christianity is the natural and proper out-come of true Pharisaism. Those who were loyal to the idea of the theocracy, and to the Scripture as the human expres- sion of the Divine will aud purpose, ought to have been led to a full acceptance of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah, the Saviour, the Son of God. Illustrate and impress that in a man's early years is displayed the character that is to distinguish his whole life; and that we are all greatly dependent on the tone of the influences that surround our infancy and childhood. Manhood should not, indeed, witness the mere continuance of childhood's prejudices, it should be the true and worthy development, adaptation, and application of childhood's principles.-R. T. Ver. 6.-The Messianio promise. "The words of this verse include the whole expectation of a Di vine kingdom, of which the Christ was to be the Head, as well as the specific belief in a resurrection of the dead." It is said of the early revelations of God, by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners n (Revised Version). And the preS'entation of Messiah in the Old Testament Scriptures has been likened to the painting of a great picture, on which, during the many ages, many hands have worked, At tirst we have but the barest outline figure, drawn by God himself in the promise to our first parents. Then patriarch, lawgiver, judge, king, poet, and prophet in their turn become artist-painters, and help to fill in the wondrous outline, until in the later da,ys of Isaiah the Messiah stands forth full and clear before us, the suffering,  288 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, [ou. XXVI. 1---32.