1. Immediately after the departure of our Saviour the disciples recovered all their faith and courage and returned to Jerusalem from Bethany.
The first act of the apostles was to restore their number to twelve, made eleven by the apostasy of Judas. Two nominations were made of men who, like themselves, had been companions of the Saviour from the baptism of John to the ascension (Acts 1:21). The men nominated were Joseph, called Barsabas, and Matthias; the latter was chosen by lot.
2. The appointment, or selection, by lot was considered sacred among the ancients; and was performed, as to the mode of the lot, by casting into some vessel a number of little tablets, pebbles, or strips of leather or papyrus, upon which were inscribed the names or some distinguishing marks. The vessel was then shaken, and that name, or its representative, which first fell upon the floor determined the choice. In the time of Homer the lot was cast into a helmet and shaken.179 In Prov. 16:33 the same idea of casting the lot into a vessel is intended, with the addition that the result is guided by the Lord, for the English word “lap” in the passage just quoted in the Hebrew signifies “the opening,” i. e., of the urn or vessel into which the lot was cast.
The use of lots is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament; at first over the scapegoat, as described in Lev. 16:8; then in the division of the holy land, Num. 34:13, and, with supernatural results, at the detection of Achan, Josh. 7:14, 18, and Jonah 1:7; also in the division of the priests into their orders, 1 Chron. 24:1–5.
The term for “lot” in the Latin is clerus, and the persons chosen to any priestly office, or set apart by due ordination to the service of God, in the Christian church as a body, are called the “clergy,” declarative of the fact that their possession of or appointment to the sacred office is by divine decision, as was always supposed to be the case in the ancient priestly appointment by lots.
3. The next annual feast took place on the fiftieth day after the Passover and was called Pentecost, the Greek word for the fiftieth. It was called the Feast of Weeks, Deut. 16:10, also the Feast of Harvest, Exod. 23:16, or of the Firstfruits, Num. 28:26. It lasted but one day, and upon that day two loaves of the first wheat were offered at the Temple. The festival now called Whitsunday was suggested by this festival.
When the time for this feast arrived there was at Jerusalem a remarkable gathering which shows to what extent the Jewish nation had already been scattered over the world. There were visitors from Parthia, Media, and Elam, from 600 to 700 miles on the east; from Mesopotamia, about 400 miles on the northeast; from Cappadocia, 500 miles on the north and midway between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea; from Pontus lying on the Black Sea; and from that part of Asia Minor then called “Asia.”
This last mentioned district, although it afterward gave its name to the whole vast continent, at this time comprised only the extreme southwestern parts of the peninsula, such as Caria and Lydia and a part of Mysia, its chief city being Ephesus. This was in after times the region of the “seven churches” of Revelation.180 There were gathered Jews from Phrygia and Pamphylia, 500 to 600 miles off towards the northwest, the former on the high tableland and the latter on the low seacoast southeast. They were there from Egypt on the southwest, and from Libya and Cyrene, 400 miles west of the Nile, on the African coast, and from Rome, nearly 1,500 miles to the northwest; also from the island of Crete, 600 miles west by north, and from Arabia on the southeast.
4. It was upon the occasion of this great gathering to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost that Peter exhibited the beginning of that remarkable Christian courage, knowledge, and endurance which characterized him ever after. He was now not only the orator, but the able Christian expositor of the prophets and of the Psalms. The general outline of his address at this time is given us in Acts 2:14–40, but the effect was so great that 3,000 came out publicly and were baptized on that one day.
5. The extreme poverty of the little band of apostles, as a whole, is evident;181 but after the Pentecost some of those who were added contributed to the general fund, and there was no suffering after the organization was complete, Acts 4:34. Even those who immediately after the crucifixion returned to their trades were enabled to devote their whole time to mission work, so far as we have any records of them, Acts 6:4.
6. From the various notices of additions to their number and from the official appointment of seven men of ability to disburse the funds and attend to the needy, Acts 6:3, it is evident that the numbers of the early church before the first great persecution began must have amounted to many thousands, Acts 2:42, 47; 5:14; 6:1, 7.
7. Of the seven men appointed to attend to the management of the general treasury and to the claims of the poor, the chief was Stephen. His exceeding prominence in public work, his very extensive knowledge of the Law, and his aggressive ability in defending the gospel gave great offence to some of the Jews. The result was his arraignment before the Sanhedrin and examination upon the two points which to the Jews were the dearest of all, namely, the sanctity of the Temple and the supremacy of the Law.
Stephen answered the inquiry of the high-priest, Acts 7:1, by a history accompanied by unmistakable Scripture proof that although Solomon himself was the builder, the Temple was no better than the worshippers, and he quoted the prophecy of Isaiah, 66:1, 2, to show that the temple which the Lord honored was the poor and contrite spirit. He then immediately charged the Sanhedrin as being unworthy of the Temple themselves and in heart violaters of the Law in that they had both betrayed and murdered the one of whom the Law spoke, thus ending the address with the most terrific charges of infidelity both to the Temple and to the Law. No such words had ever been uttered before the Sanhedrin since it had existed.
He was immediately dragged out of the city and stoned to death. Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
8. This death was the signal for the first persecution. The immediate effect of this persecution was to scatter the members of the Christian community of Jerusalem not only throughout Samaria and Galilee, but even to Phœnicia, Antioch, and Cyprus, and they went preaching the same doctrines which had been taught in Jerusalem, Acts 11:19.
The city of Samaria was at this time one of the most beautiful in Palestine. It was presented to Herod the Great by Augustus, and in honor of the emperor Herod named it Sebaste.182
9. One of “the seven,”183 of whom we have spoken was Philip, who went to this city and preached the new doctrine with great success.
One of the visitors from distant lands was an officer of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had come from that country to attend the celebration at Jerusalem and was returning, when by divine direction Philip left Samaria to join him on the homeward road. This officer accepted the company of Philip on the way, and the latter presented the new doctrine with such ability that the Ethiopian officer, who was well acquainted with the Scriptures through the Greek translation (the Septuagint), became the first recorded convert from that distant country of Ethiopia.
10. At the stoning of Stephen there was a young man present who made himself conspicuous by keeping the outer garments of those who engaged in the act of stoning the martyr. This man was Saul, a Hebrew name, afterward changed into the Roman form of Paul. He was a native of Tarsus, a large and celebrated city of Cilicia, a district on the northern coast of the Mediterranean, but the most eastern on that coast. Tarsus was a city of learned institutions and learned men. The tutors of two emperors of Rome dwelt there, and it was a favored city in many respects, being a place of large commerce. Young Saul was sent to Jerusalem at an early age and became a pupil of Gamaliel.
This Gamaliel was considered not only one of the most learned in the Hebrew literature but also in the Greek, and he was president of the Sanhedrin. He afterward transferred the locality of the Sanhedral schools from Jerusalem to Jamnia, the Jabneel of Josh. 15:11.
11. Jabneel, or Jabneh, now called Yebneh, is thirteen miles due south of Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, and must be distinguished from the Jamnia seaport four and a half miles northwest, which is sometimes referred to by the same name, but not so in Scripture. In the time of the Maccabees the coast town was a more important seaport than Joppa. During the crusades Jabneh was called Ibelin.184 It is built on a hill and is four miles from the sea.
12. In carrying out his enmity against the Christians Saul determined to visit Damascus, where several synagogues existed.
Damascus was about 150 miles by road northeast from Jerusalem. Obtaining letters of introduction from the high-priest, he set out to accomplish his purpose. On the way, before entering Damascus, he was arrested by a supernatural vision and was changed from the condition of a bitter and determined enemy to that of an equally determined advocate of the Christian faith, and, after a season of apparent preparation, he returned to Jerusalem.
But this addition to the Christian community was attended with such vexation and such disappointment to the Jews that “they went about to slay him,” and it was thought best by his brethren that Saul should depart for Tarsus. At his departure the persecution ceased.
13. These places now come into notice in connection with the missionary tours of Philip, the departure of Saul to Tarsus, and the visit of Peter to those who had lately joined the new fellowship.
Philip, after leaving the Ethiopian officer of Queen Candace, travelled northward on the coast of the Mediterranean till he reached Azotus. This was the most important city of the Philistines in the time of David, and was known as Ashdod, but by the Greeks called Azotus. It is three miles inland from the coast, and situated on the slope of a large hill 140 feet above the sea level. It is twenty-one miles north from Azotus to Joppa, and thirty-two from Joppa to Cæsarea, and along this way on foot Philip travelled, preaching as he went.
Cæsarea was built by Herod the Great upon the former site of a little village called Strato’s Tower, and named after Cæsar Augustus. It was magnificently constructed as a city and as a harbor, and vessels sailed between it and many distant parts of the Mediterranean: hence it was at this time and long afterward the great shipping port of Palestine. Josephus gives us a full description of the city, and states that its completion was celebrated, B. C. 13, by splendid games. It was the chief residence of the Roman officers and governors of Judæa.
14. We have evidences that a Christian church had been planted here at a very early period, and in A. D. 200 it became the residence of a bishop who was primate of all the bishops in Palestine, Jerusalem included. Origen taught here in the third century, and here Eusebius was educated and afterward became its bishop; he died A. D. 340. In A. D. 1101 Cæsarea was captured from the Moslems by Baldwin I., and among the rich booty was found a hexagonal vase of green crystal supposed to have been a sacramental cup, and this plays an important part in mediæval poetry as the “holy grail.”
15. It was to this port that Saul was taken to find a passage direct for Tarsus, which was about 300 miles north. Tarsus is ten miles off the coast and twelve or fifteen miles from the present Mersina, or ancient Soli, which was its port.
16. Philip went to Cæsarea from Azotus, preaching in all the cities, and here he seems to have finally settled, as years after, when Paul returned from his last missionary tour, he stopped at his house and stayed with Philip before going up to Jerusalem. At that time Philip had four daughters who were gifted with the spirit of prophecy, Acts 21:9. It is probable, therefore, that the extensive Christian influence which pervaded Cæsarea for so many centuries afterward was greatly due to the early work and presence of Philip. We should not confound the two Philips: (1) Philip the apostle, and (2) this Philip, who is sometimes called Philip the evangelist. The latter probably died in Cæsarea, but the apostle in Asia Minor.
17. Lydda and Joppa. Joppa is upon the sea-coast thirty-five miles northwest from Jerusalem, measured on a straight line, and Lydda is twelve miles southeast of Joppa. Joppa is mentioned in the inscriptions of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, who reigned B. C. 705–681, as Jo-ap-pa, so that the name Joppa is ancient, and the place was the seaport of Jerusalem in the time of Solomon, B. C. 1015, at which he received wood “out of Lebanon,” 2 Chron. 2:16. This is the first mention in Scripture.
It is now called Yafa, and its population is much greater than that which generally appears in the guide-books, being about 18,000, as the author has been informed by a long resident physician. Both of these places are on the great coast-plain known as the plain of Sharon, or Saron, which was, in the time of Solomon, a great pasture-land, 1 Chron. 27:29.
It is probable that at this time greater opportunity was allowed the Christians to work on in peace, not only because of the conversion of Saul, but because at the death of Tiberius, March, A. D. 37, Caligula became emperor, and the attention of the Jews was violently drawn to care for themselves.
On his accession to power Caligula ordered that divine honors should be paid to him throughout the empire. In furtherance of this order he directed that an image of himself should be placed in the Holy of holies, the most sacred place in the Temple at Jerusalem. Such a profanation of the Temple was so abhorrent to the Jews that it seemed at one time to the prefect of Syria, Pétronius, that the Jews must be exterminated if the order was carried out, and he wrote to Caligula in accordance with his impression. But the emperor was inexorable, and it is impossible to say what would have been the result had not Caligula been assassinated, on the 24th of January, A. D. 41.185
18. A. D. 38. It was during these troublous times in the Jewish community that the apostle Peter went to Lydda in the course of his visits to the Christian churches. There he raised Æneas from a sick-bed, Acts 9:33, and going from Lydda to Joppa he raised Dorcas to life, Acts 9:40.
A. D. 41. Peter now visited Cæsarea by the invitation of Cornelius, the centurion, or captain of a band called the Italian band, or cohort, probably because it was a company of soldiers who were all from Italy, enlisted under Roman orders.
The soldiers usually employed were provincial, that is, belonging to the country where they were stationed; but in this case they were sent here from Italy and were generally composed of both infantry and cavalry, serving as a body-guard for the governor, and were probably at this time garrisoning Cæsarea.186
1. It is a remarkable fact that, although the apostles were so fully persuaded of the verity and power of the gospel, they had not yet learned the intent and universality of its application to the Gentiles and to all the human race, and though commissioned by their Master to preach it “to all the world,” still held that the Jewish people were the only chosen race and all others were unclean, and that it was unlawful to associate, or eat, and commune freely with any but that race. Hence up to this time the gospel had been preached with the intent of converting only Jews to the Christian faith.
2. In view of these strong prejudices a remarkable “vision in a trance,” Acts 11:5, on the housetop, at Joppa, was granted Peter, whereby for the first time he was led to comprehend the fact that hereafter spiritual cleanliness should, in the divine sight and purposes, for ever cancel all obligations to the merely ceremonial, and he was then directed to immediately proceed to the house and to the Gentile company awaiting him at Cæsarea. The history is recorded in Acts 10.
3. On his return to Jerusalem he communicated the new order, that now the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews, and he narrated his vision and the consequent visit to Cæsarea. All of which was accepted without discussion and with very evident satisfaction.
Saul however, having been forced to leave Palestine, travelled throughout Cilicia and Syria, Gal. 1:21, until he was invited back to Jerusalem.
4. At this time, about A. D. 41, Antioch was a city of large population and many Jews inhabited the place, who became strong adherents to the new faith, and it was now that, at this place, the name Christian was applied to all who were followers of Christ, although at first they themselves did not accept the name.
Antioch in Syria was 300 miles north of Jerusalem and about fifteen miles from the Mediterranean shore, where was its port, then called Seleucia. It was the most beautiful city of Syria and at that time the most important.
Antioch in Pisidia, however, which is now called Yalobatch, is 500 miles northwest of Jerusalem and 100 north of the coast of the Mediterranean. This Antioch is partly on the southern declivity of a long range of mountains and owes its ancient name to the same king who gave name to the Syrian Antioch. This king was Seleucus, king of Syria, whose father’s name, Antiochus, he gave to these cities and his own to Seleucia, fifteen miles off, on the coast, of which we have already spoken.
Antioch was at this time the adopted city of a very active community of Christians, many of whom were Grecians and others Gentiles. Paul, whose special talents and education admirably fitted him for this class of converts, being now at Tarsus, was sent for, and he remained in Antioch for about a year; when he, with others, began a series of missionary tours whereby the gospel was not only extended throughout Western Asia but introduced into Europe, as we shall soon see.
5. A. D. 42. About this period there came to Antioch a prophet, by name Agabus, one of a number who not only foretold events but seemed endowed with extraordinary powers of exposition of the divine word.187 This prophet announced that a great famine would soon call for generosity on the part of the church at Antioch towards the poorer members of the community in Judæa, Acts 11:28.
This announcement was made during the reign of Claudius, A. D. 41–54, of which reign Tacitus says that it was distinguished for earthquakes, bad harvests, and general scarcity.188 The Christians in Antioch, therefore, sent contributions to Jerusalem and commissioned Saul and Barnabas for the purpose of conveying these gifts, Acts 11:29.
For the first time we now read of the term “presbyters” in the Greek, or seniores in the Vulgate translation, and called “elders” in the English version, Acts 11:30.
6. At this time Herod Agrippa (see table page 229) ruled in Judæa. Claudius had known him as an earnest advocate of his rule before his succession to the empire, and he therefore rewarded Herod with the addition of Samaria and Judæa to those possessions of Philip Antipas which he before possessed. Herod had been imprisoned by Tiberius, but Caligula restored him to liberty and presented him with a golden chain of the same weight as the iron one he had worn in prison, and this chain he dedicated to the Temple when, A. D. 42, he arrived in Jerusalem. This Herod courted the favor of the Jews by many public acts. In his time the northern section of Jerusalem, now inclosed with a wall, was a suburb; and he inclosed it and, had not the prefect of Syria compelled him to stop, he would have strengthened all the fortifications of the city.
7. It was evidently, therefore, because it pleased the Jews, and probably at their instigation, that he wilfully put to death James, the son of Zebedee, with the sword and proceeded to perpetrate the same atrocity with Peter, having imprisoned him for that purpose. The history of this act of Herod and of the escape of Peter is given in Acts 12. Herod, being not only disappointed, but evidently alarmed, at the mystery of Peter’s escape, retired immediately from Jerusalem to Cæsarea and there met his sudden death, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, after seven years’ reign in Palestine.
8. The dominion of these districts, Judæa, Samaria, and Galilee, now reverted to the prefect of Syria, and they were fully incorporated with the Roman Empire.189
The boundaries of these districts cannot be exactly traced. Judæa was the most important; and its north border began at the Jordan and probably ran up the valley of the Farah to the Jewish city Akrabeh, thence westward along the course of the valley of the present river Ballut, coming out at the city Antipatris; and although the plain of Sharon was politically a part of Judæa, Herod having possession of the maritime towns, yet strictly the line followed the river out to the sea.
This line formed the north boundary of Judæa and the south boundary of Samaria, in the strictly Jewish sense.
Of Galilee, the south boundary began at the Jordan east of Beth-shean, which was a Samaritan city. It ran along, probably, south of Mt. Gilboa, westward and just north of Jenin, the ancient En-gannim, which was within the Samaritan border, and probably along the ridge of Carmel. At the end of the ridge, near the sea, Galilee seems to have claimed the modern Haifa, a village then called Sycaminon, and in this vicinity the seashore was in Galilee. The border line of Galilee thence retired inland, the coast plain belonging to Phœnicia. It then ran northeasterly to the angle formed by the Leontes River, now called the Kasimiyeh, then northward a short distance, and then east by south to Banias, thence southward, including some towns east of the upper Jordan and the Sea of Galilee, forming that part of Galilee called “Galilee beyond Jordan.”
The extreme southern boundary of Judæa, in the political sense, is mentioned in one of the rabbinical writings as from Petra to Ascalon, but Ascalon itself did not belong to Judæa.190
The apostles now seem to have “left Jerusalem for wider fields of action.”191
9. After a special religious consecration (Acts 13:3), Barnabas and Saul, accompanied by John Mark, a nephew of Barnabas, set out from Antioch on the first missionary tour to foreign countries.
Seleucia was nearly four miles north of the mouth of the Orontes, upon which river the city of Antioch was built. From this port the missionaries set sail for Cyprus, 130 miles distant.
Salamis at this time was a populous city on the southeastern shore of Cyprus. In this city there was a colony of Jews, and Barnabas was a native of Cyprus, and therefore the visitors did not feel themselves entirely strangers. But they passed along the southern coast road until Paphos, 100 miles distant, was reached. Here the apostle Paul met with the proconsul Sergius Paulus.
10. From the time of Augustus, B. C. 27, the provinces were of two kinds, Senatorial and Imperial. The former were governed by a proconsul, who was appointed by lot and had no military power, and was in office for one year only.
The latter, or imperial provinces, were governed by a legate or commissioner chosen directly by the emperor, and he served so long as the emperor wished. He always went out to his province with military pomp as a commander.
11. Syria was an imperial province, and was governed by a legate or commissioner of the emperor stationed at Antioch. Judæa, however, was a special province, and its distance from Antioch and its peculiar people required a special officer under the commissioner at Antioch, and this officer was called a procurator. He had his headquarters at Cæsarea, Acts 23:23, wore the military dress, and had a cohort as a body-guard, Matt. 27:27, called in this passage “the soldiers of the governor;” moreover, he had the power of life and death, Matt. 27:26, in his own province.
12. At the interview which Saul had with the proconsul, called here the “deputy,” there was one of the class known at that day as sorcerers. This man greatly interfered with the apostle’s effort to explain the new faith to the proconsul, who had requested instruction.
13. Peter had encountered one of this class before, Acts 8:9. The apostle now addressed the so-called sorcerer in terrible rebuke, foretelling his immediate blindness for a season, and thereby showing that behind the earnest and reasonable presentation of the great truths of the new faith which had fully persuaded the proconsul there lay the reserved authority of so great supernatural power to attest the divinity of the doctrine.192 That this is the meaning of the verse in Acts 13:12 is evident from a verse in Luke 4:32, which shows that it was the method of confirming the doctrine, and not the doctrine itself, which caused the astonishment spoken of in the verse.
14. From this time Saul’s name is changed into Paul, and the other name never occurs again in Scripture. The apostle and his companions now sailed from Paphos to the city of Perga in Pamphylia, 175 miles northwest. Mark left them at Perga and returned to Jerusalem for reasons not explained in the text.
Perga exists as a ruin six or seven miles from the seacoast and about 15 miles northeast of a seaport called Adalia by the Turks, the ancient Attalia, built by Attalus, the king of Pergamos, 159–138 B. C., and hence its name. It has at present about 8,000 inhabitants, and surrounds the port as an amphitheatre, the streets rising one above another.
15. From Perga the apostle proceeded to Antioch, now called Yalobatch, about 90 miles north of Perga. The plain upon which Perga is situated is about 20 miles wide on the seacoast, and stretches eastward for about 30 miles. East of Perga the Eurymedon River comes down through the plain into the sea, and its sources are high in the ridges north of Perga. It is probable that up the valley of this river the apostles passed to the high table-land of Pisidia upon which Antioch is placed.
16. When they had arrived at Antioch they awaited the Sabbath-gathering at the synagogue, and being, as the custom was, invited to speak to the assembled Jews and strangers, the apostle Paul presented the connection between the promises of the Old Testament and the fulfilment of these promises in the coming and the teachings of Christ.
The impression made was so important and favorable that another gathering of a great crowd assembled on the following Sabbath. At this time, however, the Jews and Jewish women created so great and so public opposition that the apostle was led to announce that hereafter he should devote his labors to the conversion of the Gentiles and leave the Jews to the consequences of their bitter opposition to the gospel he was called to preach.
But a church was planted here in spite of the opposition, which caused the departure of the apostles across the country to Iconium, about 85 miles southeast.
17. This city is located upon the large plain which stretches eastward 80 or 90 miles with little interruption. On the southeast a solitary mountain rises at a distance of about 30 miles, “like a lofty island in the midst of the sea.”193 The height of this mountain is nearly 4,000 feet above the plain. In March its top is generally covered with snow. Here are the ruins of many tombs, churches, and other apparently public buildings, and these ruins have given rise to the Turkish name Bin-bir-ka-lessi, or the “thousand-and-one churches.” With general consent this place is supposed to mark the site of Lystra, which became the next place of visit by the apostles after leaving Iconium. The name of this singular mountain in the Turkish is Kara-dagh, or Black Mountain.
The plain upon which Iconium is located is supposed to be 3,900 feet above the Mediterranean. Iconium was a Greek city, if we may judge from the large number of Greek ruins and inscriptions yet remaining, many of which are built into the walls of the town.
Here Barnabas and Saul proceeded to work as at Antioch, and addressed the Jews gathered at the synagogue in that place. But although their success was great a division of opinion resulted, and the Jews made preparations to assault their visitors, but they fled to Lystra.
18. The identification of Lystra with Bin-bir-ka-lessi has not been proved, but the supposed position at the ruins above mentioned is on a large depression on the north side of the Kara-dagh Mountain. The village, not far off, is inhabited by Greeks.
At Lystra the two missionaries found no synagogue, and addressed the citizens in some public place. Here Paul restored a man who had been born lame, and the consequent amazement produced by this miracle induced the priest of Jupiter to bring oxen and garlands to the gates of the temple with the intent of offering sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, who, despite their most earnest protestations, found it difficult to prevent the sacrifices.
But the Jewish enmity was apparent again. Some of the members of the synagogues in Antioch and Iconium followed the apostle and Barnabas across the plain, and so bitterly prejudiced the inhabitants that they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. Under the care of the disciples he revived, and the next day departed for Derbe.
Derbe has not yet been identified, but it is supposed to be at a ruin about 25 miles east of Kara-dagh, called Divle.
19. There Barnabas and Paul made apparently a short visit, during which they preached to many; but nothing more is stated than that they now returned upon the same line of travel, revisiting and encouraging their converts at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, and thence returning to Perga.
Here they remained and preached, and then departed for Attalia, the seaport, distant about 15 miles southwest, whence they sailed on return to Antioch in Syria.
20. But the old question of observance of the Law of Moses, which had been agitated before and had never been satisfactorily quieted, now reappeared under such conditions that it demanded immediate and most serious attention. Some troublesome Jewish converts visiting Antioch proclaimed, as if charged with the authority of the elders at Jerusalem, that the Greek and other Gentile converts must submit to the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic Law or they could not be saved. The discussion became so unpleasant at Antioch that a delegation, consisting of the apostle Paul, Barnabas, and others, went to Jerusalem to present the subject to a general council for decision.
21. After the discussion in this general council, it was decided that nothing should be required of the new Gentile converts except abstinence “from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication.” With this, the only concession to the Law of Moses, they returned to Antioch and announced to the assembled multitudes the decision of the council, which now and for ever set the question at rest. Henceforward all Christian converts were free from the restrictions and rites of the Mosaic Ceremonial Law.