The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 376

parisons, in personal ambition, Yet now, eighteen centuries later, these very things nre occMionally heard as l\mong the standard objections to two disciples of Jesus Christ being linked toi:et,her in equlll service for him. IY. BARNADAB AND SAut GIVE THEMSELVES FOR A WHOLE YEAn TO nnn.DmG UP Al\"D EDIFTI~G THE CHURCH AT ANTIOCH. 1. The importance of Church life begins to be recognized, both for itself and for its witness, in the midst of a great people outside. 2. Even nature itself "is vindicating the need and the advantage of teachers and pastors and examples." "They assembled themselves with the Church, and taught much people." It was not all evangelization, nor all missionary journeys, even in earliest days of Christianity. And this is more remarkable in the light of an exnmple, when we remember that the good work at Antioch had sprung up of what in brief might be called " self-sown seed." Those of the dispersion whose hearts burned within them bad been, under tbe Spirit, the beginning of the work. And it was on account of the proportions to which their work had grown, and the fame of it that travelled to Jerusalem, that Barnabas bad been sent to visit Antioch. The flock only need to be hungry to look for a shepherd, and the hungry flock do not fail to look up to the shepherd that feeds it. 3. The love of Barnabas and Saul must have been met by much love on the part of those "in and out among whom" they went, teaching them many things. This is the Church love. This is the secret of Church harmony. 'I'his the humble beginning alike of the holiness and the happiness of the Church above. V. THE MD.""ISTRY CONJOTh""T OF BARNABAS Ah'D SAUL IS BLESSED. It is blessed in two directions. 1. It cannot be said to be a conclusion too remote or far-fetched when we assert that there is evidence of the witness that ministry was to the outside world. That "the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch" and at this time means nothing less than these two things. (1) They take a status in the world; and this has been verified by history. World-wide their name is known. (2) 'l'hat status is given them, even if ill partial ridicule, by the world. The Church of disciples, of saints, of brethren, of followers of Jesus, of Nazarenes, made its mark upon them of busy, prosperous, intelligent Antioch. They are not a ragged regiment, nor a rope of sand, nor a quarrelsome litigious clique. They have been doing work and have been living consistently. 2. That ministry has prepared those among whom it was exercised both to feel promptly compassion for their brethren who were to be visited by famine and poverty in Judma, showing it also promptly by a practical charity and generosity, and also to convey that expression of love in a becoming and grateful manner. Great was the goodness of Barnabas, and great and good_was the united ministry and work of him e.nd his chosen, sought colleague, Saul-B. Veni. 4-17.-77ze efficient answer to objeetors. A man always takes an individual line, in opinion or in conduct, in peril of being misunderstood and called to account by his fellows. And yet the intellectual and moral advance of the race is made only by the pressure forward of individuals who, on some ground, refuse to keep in the old lines, and persist in making their own way even in districts marked by common sentiment as " dangerous." It is often the precise mission of youth to check the strongly conservative tendency around them, and utter fresh truth, or at least truth in fresh forms. This is illustrated in the case of St. Peter, He had come to grasp a truth which was e. heresy from his own older standpoint, and a heresy to those with whom he had been working; but he knew it was truth, so, at the peril of being misunderstood, he acted upon the truth. He now knew that Christ's gospel was for Gentile as well as Jew, so he fearlessly went into the Gentile's house, and there preached the Word of life, and baptized the believing household. And he was misunderstood and called to account. The passage before us is his effective defence: to it there could be no reply. He rehearses the whole matter, and says," God led me, and I followed. God taught me, and I believed. God sealed my work wit~ the wit1;1-ess of his Spirit, and I know I have his acceptance." This is the answer which the smcere man who acts out of the common line may make to all who oppose or object. "I do but follow the Divine loadings and teachings; God sets my witneas, and the testimony I make must be at least a portion of the truth of God." I. Gon STILL OPEh"'B HIS TRUTH TO INDIVIDUAL SOULS, We do not, indeed, expect new revtlations. '£here is e. sense in which the book-revelation in the Scriptures ia complete: ml, XL 1-30,] 'l'IlE AC'l'S OF THE APOS'l'LE8. 373