A Map to illustrate THE APOSTOLIC HISTORY.
London and New York: Macmillan & Co.
Stanford’s Geographl Estabt. London
THE martyrdom of Stephen exercised, as we have seen, an important influence on the development of the Church, scattering the disciples over heathen lands. The martyrdom of James the son of Zebedee marks a no less important epoch. It seems to have been the signal for the withdrawal of the Apostles from Jerusalem859. The special work assigned there to Peter, the Apostle of the Circumcision, was over. He had founded the Church, opened its gates to Jews and Gentiles, and laid down the conditions of their admission. Consigning, therefore, the direction of the Christian society in Jerusalem to James the Lord’s brother (Gal. i. 19), the Apostles departed to enter upon wider fields of action.
After completing the object of their journey, and proving the fellowship that existed between the disciples in Syria and Palestine, Saul and Barnabas, accompanied by a kinsman of the latter860, John surnamed Mark, returned to Antioch. In the Syrian metropolis the three were joined by other teachers, Simeon, surnamed Niger861, Lucius of Cyrene862, and Manaen863 a foster-brother864 of Herod the tetrarch (Acts xiii. 1), and together they continued to instruct and build up the Church. At length while, on one occasion, they were engaged in a solemn service of prayer and fasting, the Holy Ghost intimated, probably through one or more of the prophets then present (Acts xiii. 2), that Barnabas and Saul should be set apart to accomplish a special work, for which they had been called.
In accordance with this intimation, after a solemn religious service (Acts xiii. 3), the hands of the chief members of the church at Antioch were laid upon the two, and accompanied by Mark they repaired to Seleucia865, and thence sailed to Cyprus, where amongst their connections and friends866 it might be expected that Barnabas and his kinsman might labour with good results, and where there was already the nucleus of a Christian Church.
After a few hours’ sail, therefore, they reached Salamis867, the eastern port and ancient capital of the island, and preached the word in its synagogues, of which there appear to have been several. Thence they travelled to Paphos868, at the south-western extremity of Cyprus, the seat of the Roman government and the residence of the proconsul869, Sergius Paulus. At his court was one of those Jewish sorcerers, whom we have already seen encountering the Apostle Peter in Samaria870, named Bar-jesus, or, as he called himself in Arabic, Elymas, the wise (Acts xiii. 8). Provoked at the willingness of the proconsul to listen to the preaching of the newly-arrived teachers, he offered a strenuous opposition to his wishes. But Saul, or, as he is now for the first time called Paul871, fixed his eyes upon him, and in the plenitude of that power which he possessed from the Holy Ghost, sternly rebuked him for thus seeking to pervert the right ways of the Lord, and denounced an instantaneous judgment: the hand of the Lord should be upon him, and he should be blind, nor see the sun for a season. This privation, which the Apostle had himself experienced, was instantly inflicted on the sorcerer, and he had to seek the aid of others in going from place to place (Acts xiii. 11). Such a vivid exhibition of miraculous power produced a deep impression upon the proconsul, and he believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord (Acts xiii. 12).
From Paphos the three sailed in a north-westerly direction to the harbour of Attaleia872 in Pamphylia873, and thence up the river Cestrus 6 or 7 miles inland to the town of Perga874 (Acts xiii. 13). Here Mark, either yearning after the home he had left at Jerusalem, or affrighted by the perils he was likely to encounter875, departed from his companions, and returned to Jerusalem, while the others pressed on alone to Antioch in Pisidia, a town of considerable importance, having been built by the founder of the Syrian Antioch876, and since then advanced by Augustus to the dignity of a Roman colony877.
The population of the Pisidian Antioch was mixed, consisting of Greeks, Romans, and native Pisidians, but the influence of the Jews was considerable, and they had succeeded in making not a few converts. Having waited, therefore, for the ensuing Sabbath, Paul and Barnabas repaired to the synagogue, and after the regular service878 were bidden by the president of the synagogue, if they had any word of exhortation, to address those assembled (Acts xiii. 15).
Thereupon Paul rose up, and beckoning with his hand delivered his first address of which we have any record. Like the discourse he had himself heard from the lips of Stephen879, it was based on the history of the Jewish nation. The call of Abraham, the Wanderings in the wilderness, the occupation of Canaan, the period of the Judges880, the election of the first King, the accession of David; all these important events were touched upon in their order (Acts xiii. 16–22). Of David’s seed, he then proceeded, God had promised (2 Sam. vii. 12) to raise up a Saviour, and this promise he had fulfilled. Duly heralded by His predicted Forerunner (Acts xiii. 24, 25), the promised Saviour had appeared in the person of Jesus. The rulers, indeed, of Jerusalem, not knowing Him, or the real meaning of the words of the prophets read in their ears every Sabbath-day, had constrained Pilate to put Him to death, had crucified, and laid Him in a sepulchre; but God had raised him from the dead, and He had been seen after His resurrection881, not by strangers, but by those familiar with His person, who had been His companions from Galilee to Jerusalem (Acts xiii. 26–31), who were His witnesses to the people of Israel. By His death and resurrection He had truly accomplished the ancient prophecies882, which could not refer to their forefather David (who was dead, and had long mouldered in the tomb); and now through Him was offered to all the forgiveness of sins, even of those from which they could not have been delivered by the Law of Moses883.
Such was the purport of the Apostle’s first recorded sermon. Its immediate effect was a deep impression upon those who heard it. As they left the synagogue many884 besought the Apostles that these words might be repeated in their hearing on the next Sabbath, and not a few, both Jews and proselytes, accompanied them from the synagogue, and listened to their exhortations that having received the word they would not let it slip, but continue steadfastly in the grace of God (Acts xiii. 43).
Accordingly when the next Sabbath came round almost the whole city was assembled to hear the word, multitudes of Gentiles pressing in with the Jews and proselytes. This was more than the stricter section of the Jews could bear, and filled with envy at the assembly of so many strangers, they made an uproar, and opposed the word spoken by Paul with contradictions and even blasphemy (Acts xiii. 45).
Their opposition only nerved the Apostles with still greater boldness, and they openly proclaimed the course they would now adopt. In accordance with their Master’s directions, they had addressed themselves first to members of their own nation, but since they despised their message, and deemed themselves unworthy of eternal life, they would turn to the Gentiles885. This declaration many of the latter then present received with joy, and became believers, so that the word of the Lord was published abroad through the whole region (Acts xiii. 49).
This success provoked still greater opposition. Through the female proselytes in the city the Jews gained the ear of the chief authorities, and succeeded in raising a storm of persecution against the Apostles, and expelling them beyond the limits of the colony (Acts xiii. 50). They did not leave it, however, without a solemn protest against the impiety of its inhabitants. In obedience to their Master’s directions886, they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and while, in spite of the persecution that had been raised, the little band of Christians were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost (Acts xiii. 52), they proceeded to cross the barren uplands887 which separate Antioch from the plain of Iconium.
ON reaching Iconium888, as they had done at Antioch, the Apostles repaired to the synagogue, and there proclaimed their message with such success, that a great multitude both of Jews and Gentiles embraced the faith. Thereupon the unbelieving Jews repeated the tactics already found so successful at Antioch. They excited the minds of the Gentile population against the brethren, and stirred up a furious opposition (Acts xiv. 2). On this occasion, however, the Apostles did not feel themselves called to leave the city immediately. They remained at Iconium some considerable time, and spoke boldly in the Name of their Divine Master, who attested the truth of their words by many miracles and signs. In the end the population was divided. The one, including the influential classes, sided with the Jews, the other with the Apostles. At length a conspiracy was formed with the connivance of the magistrates (Acts xiv. 5) to insult and even stone them, and Paul and Barnabas, recognising the signal to leave, betook themselves to the neighbouring Lycaonian towns, Lystra889 and Derbe890.
Lystra was the place first visited, and here there was no synagogue, and apparently but few Jews. It was a small town in a wild district and amongst a rude population speaking a dialect of their own, and serving the gods many and lords many of primitive heathenism. The Apostles therefore could only make known their message by repairing to places of public resort, and addressing themselves to such groups as curiosity or interest might gather together. On one of these occasions, a man, who had been a cripple from his birth (Acts xiv. 8), and who probably sat for alms in the public thoroughfare, listened to them with deep attention. Thereupon the Apostle Paul, moved with compassion, and probably sensible of the necessity of some miracle to attest his authority, as also perceiving that the man had faith to be healed, fixed his eye upon him and addressing him in a loud voice, said, Stand upright on thy feet. In an instant the man sprang up, and leaped, and walked.
Such a cure of such a man in such a manner was speedily noised abroad, and the multitudes gathering together no sooner saw what had been done, than they lifted up their voices, saying in their native Lycaonian dialect891, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men (Acts xiv. 11). That the gods, in the form of mortal men, did often visit the earth, was a cherished belief amongst many heathen nations, and nowhere more than in the very district now visited by the Apostles892. The tutelar deity of Lystra was Zeus, Jupiter, and at the entrance of the town he had a temple, where he was worshipped as its founder and protector. The inhabitants therefore rushed to the conclusion, that in the Apostle Barnabas, probably in consequence of his venerable appearance, they beheld none other than the “father of gods and men,” while in his companion, who was the chief speaker, they thought they recognised Hermes, or Mercury, the god of eloquence, and the frequent companion of Jupiter on his visits to earth893.
The news that these deities had honoured Lystra with their presence quickly spread, and reached the ears of the priest of Jupiter. Accordingly he and his assistants soon appeared with oxen and garlands before the residence of the Apostles, prepared to offer sacrifice in their honour. Perceiving for the first time the object of these proceedings, Paul and Barnabas rushed forth from their abode, and meeting the procession approaching the vestibule894, exclaimed, Sirs, what do ye? we also are men of like passions with you. And then they went on to declare the real purport of their coming, which was to persuade them to turn from the worship of such false gods, to the living and life-giving God, the Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein, who in the past generations had permitted all nations895 to walk in their own ways, interposing not by any visible judgment or by any world-wide revelation, but who had not left Himself without witness, doing good to the creatures of His hand, giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with joy and gladness (Acts xiv. 15–17).
Even this appeal hardly prevailed upon the people to abandon their intentions. At length they reluctantly retired, and led away the victims without offering them in sacrifice to the Apostles. The impression, however, thus made was on the surface only, and was soon to give place to an entire revulsion of feeling. It had become known at Antioch and Iconium, whither the Apostles had retired. From both places, therefore, certain of the Jews made their way to Lystra, and stirred up the minds of the people against their newly-arrived visitors, representing, it is not improbable, that they were impostors, and practised magical arts896. Thereupon, with the fickleness for which they were proverbial, the Lycaonians turned upon the men they had so lately been willing to adore, and actually stoned Paul897, and supposing him to be dead dragged him forth out of their town.
Some disciples898, however, had been made even in Lystra, and these did not now desert their teacher in the hour of peril. While they were standing around him, and probably using means for his restoration, the Apostle arose, and returned with them to his abode. A longer stay was clearly dangerous, and therefore on the morrow he and his companion left for the neighbouring town of Derbe, and thence, having preached the Word and made several disciples (Acts xiv. 21), they returned through the several towns they had visited, exhorting the disciples to abide constant in the faith, and reminding them that through much affliction they must enter the kingdom of God. Moreover in the several churches they had established they now appointed elders899, and after prayer and fasting, solemnly presented them before the Lord (Acts xiv. 23). Thence they proceeded to Perga, and after preaching the Word there, to the sea-port of Attaleia. There they took ship, and sailing to Seleucia reached Antioch, and on their arrival summoned the brethren, and announced to them the success of their mission, and the many proofs they had witnessed that God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts xiv. 27).
Arrived at Antioch, the Apostles continued there for some time, A.D. 47–50, strengthening and confirming the faith of the Church, and during their stay began that contest with the Judaizing Christians with which St Paul was destined to be so largely occupied.
It had by this time become clear that the Christian faith, instead of being the purest and highest form of Judaism, was to prove itself a world-wide universal religion, and that its Jewish elements were to be absorbed and vanish away. In every nation and in every place, at Joppa, at Cæsarea, at Antioch, in rude village-towns like Lystra and Derbe, as well as populous cities like Perga and Iconium, it was seen that God accepted without respect of persons those that feared Him and worked righteousness (Acts x. 34, 35).
Such a revolution of feeling towards the Gentile world900 could not be at once received with entire acquiescence. At Jerusalem, in sight of the Temple, and in the midst of all the associations of his faith and national history, the exclusive feelings, which the Jew carried with him wherever he went, were concentrated and intensified901. Hitherto there had been no attempt to define the mutual relations of Jewish and Gentile converts. “All such questions, it would seem, had been tacitly passed over, neither side perhaps being desirous of provoking discussion902.” Events, however, now occurred, which rendered necessary a solution of the question.
Certain false brethren903 (Gal. ii. 12) went down from Judæa to Antioch (Acts xv. 1), and creeping in unawares904, began to observe with no favourable eye the extent to which the Jewish Law was relaxed in favour of the Gentile Christians, and their liberty in Christ Jesus vindicated (Gal. ii. 4). Before long they began to insinuate, not that the observance of certain ceremonies in themselves indifferent was advisable for the sake of expediency, but that the rite of circumcision was essential for salvation; Except ye be circumcised, said they to the Gentile Christians, ye cannot be saved (Acts xv. 1).
To such a doctrine no one was more opposed than the Apostle Paul. To the subjection which these teachers required, he would not advise his Gentile converts to yield, no, not for an hour (Gal. ii. 5). The consequence was, that no small dissension and disputation arose between himself and Barnabas on the one hand, and the false teachers on the other, and no slight anxiety and perplexity harassed the minds of the disciples.
At length it was resolved that he and Barnabas with certain others should go up to Jerusalem, and seek an interview with the Apostles and Elders, with the object of settling the dispute905. Any hesitation the Apostle might have felt about the expediency of the course proposed was removed by a special revelation906 (Gal. ii. 2) which conspired with the declared view of the church at Antioch, and intimated to him that the journey found favour with God, and that an authoritative settlement of the question was necessary to the well-being of the Christian churches907.
Accordingly he himself, accompanied by Barnabas, a Jew and a Levite by birth, and therefore a fair representative of the circumcision, Titus, a living example of the power of God among the heathen908, and some of the Christian brethren of the towns through which they passed, set out on their memorable journey.
FOLLOWING the coast-line of Phœnicia909, and then traversing the midland districts of Samaria and Judæa, the deputation from the church at Antioch proclaimed in every town they entered the conversion of the Gentiles, and caused great joy among all the brethren (Acts xv. 3). On their arrival at Jerusalem they were welcomed by the Apostles present, as also by the elders, and recounted to them all that God had done by their instrumentality amongst the Gentiles. Very soon, however, the Pharisaic section in the Church which the emissaries at Antioch represented, put forward their objections. They rose up and insisted that the Gentile converts should be circumcised and instructed to conform to the Mosaic Law (Acts xv. 5). Their sentiments, put forward with such determination, revealed the importance of the crisis, and it was resolved that a formal assembly of the church should be convened.
In the interval, knowing how much depended on the decision now invoked, the Apostle Paul held private interviews910(Gal. ii. 2) with the more prominent members911 of the Church, and especially with James, Peter and John, the great Pillars of the new society, and used every effort to remove the prejudices against the reception of heathen converts without conforming to the requirements of the Law, and to avoid misunderstanding as to the great principle he had proclaimed wherever he had preached—the freedom of the Gentile churches.
At length the council met, and consisted of the Apostles, elders, and general body of disciples. The debate was earnest, and led to much disputing (Acts xv. 7), in the midst of which Peter rose up, and reminded his hearers that these recent converts in Syria and Cilicia were not the first Gentile believers912. “He himself had been chosen some years before913 to preach the word to ‘those without’ and admit them into the Christian Church, and God who knoweth the hearts had shewn that He was no respecter of persons, for He had bestowed upon them the same miraculous gifts as upon the Jews, and had purified their hearts by faith. In the face of these facts, then, he for his part could not believe it was right to tempt God by laying upon the necks of the new converts a yoke914 which neither they themselves nor their fathers had been able to bear, and from which they had only been delivered by the salvation offered through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts xv. 11).”
This address of the Great Apostle of the circumcision was received with attention by the Council, and in the midst of the general silence (Acts xv. 12) Paul and Barnabas rose, and were eagerly listened to while they recounted in a continued narrative what God had wrought by their instrumentality among the Gentiles in Antioch and Cyprus and the cities of Pamphylia and Lycaonia, and declared how He had attested their labours by the signs and wonders which He had enabled them to perform (Acts xv. 12).
When they had concluded, another speaker arose to address the assembly. This was James, the brother of the Lord, to whom the direction of the Church at Jerusalem had apparently been committed915. No man was more calculated to command the earnest attention and deference of all present. Austere916 and inflexibly upright917, so that both Jews and Christians called him James the Just, resembling not only in the earnestness of his exhortations, but even in his outward garb918, the Baptist or one of the prophets of the older Dispensation, he might be expected to conciliate even the Pharisaic section in the Council.
He began by reminding those present of the reality of the conversion of the household of Cornelius to which Peter919 had alluded (Acts xv. 14). This taking of a people from amongst the Gentiles was not contrary to, but a direct fulfilment of, the words of ancient prophecy (Amos ix. 11, 12)920, which foretold that the tabernacle of David should be gloriously revived, and the worship of Jehovah extended to all nations. What, therefore, had occurred in Syria and Cilicia, in Pamphylia and Lycaonia, need not excite any astonishment. God, to whom all things are known from the beginning, was but fulfilling His eternal counsels, and the words He had Himself spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets. His judgment, therefore, was that they should not trouble the minds of believers from amongst the Gentiles, or lay upon them any obligations beyond those necessary to ensure peace and goodwill amongst them and their Jewish brethren. The latter from ancient times and from immemorial usage were wont to hear the Law read in their synagogues every Sabbath-day, and any direct violation of its vital principles could not fail to give the deepest offence. He advised, therefore, that the Gentile converts should be required to abstain (1) from that which had been polluted by being offered in sacrifice to idols921; (2) from the flesh of animals which had been strangled922; (3) from the eating of blood923; (4) from fornication, and those licentious orgies, which were so closely connected with heathen sacrificial feasts, and nowhere more than in the centres of those very countries about which they had been speaking, the sanctuaries of Antioch924 and Paphos925.
These sentiments found acceptance with the majority. Titus926 was not compelled to submit to circumcision (Gal. ii. 3), and the course adopted by Paul was entirely approved by the other Apostles. James, Peter, and John, who had the reputation of being Pillars927 of the truth, gave to him and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship (Gal. ii. 9), and agreed to recognise unreservedly his independent mission to the heathen as well as their own to the Jews (Gal. ii. 9). One condition only was annexed, that in his journeys among the Gentiles and the dispersed Jews he would not forget the wants and the sufferings of the poorer brethren at Jerusalem928.
Thus the dispute was settled, and a circular letter (Acts xv. 23) was drawn up embodying the views of the Council. This was entrusted to Paul and Barnabas, and they accompanied by certain chief men929 among the brethren (Acts xv. 22), Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas or Silvanus930, returned to Antioch, and the whole body of the disciples having been assembled, read it in their ears. Great was the joy manifested at the contents, and no less welcome the consolation after so much discussion and perplexity (Acts xv. 31), which was in no small degree increased by the fact that Judas and Silas, being both “prophets,” exhorted and confirmed the brethren in the enjoyment of that free and unfettered liberty now assured to them. After some days they returned to Jerusalem, but Paul and Barnabas prolonged their stay in the Syrian capital, and together with many others proclaimed the message of Redemption, and employed themselves in the general work of Christian instruction (Acts xv. 35).
During their stay, for some reason which is not specified, Peter came down to Antioch (Gal. ii. 11). At first he lived in free and social intercourse with the Gentile converts, met them on terms of equality, and ate with them at the Agapæ and on other occasions, in the true spirit of the recent decree, and as he had done in the house of Cornelius (Gal. ii. 12). Before long, however, there arrived from Jerusalem certain brethren, either deputed by James on some special mission, “or invested with some powers from him, which they abused931” (Gal. ii. 12). They brought with them their old Pharisaic932 repugnance against intercourse with uncircumcised heathen, and awed by their presence the Apostle of the Circumcision began timidly to withdraw and separate himself933 from those whom he had lately met on free and equal terms.
Such conduct roused the deepest indignation in the heart of Paul. Through fear of the converts from Judaism934 Peter was violating the very principle of the late decree, and by his example causing others to vacillate. Not only the other Jewish converts resident at Antioch935 (Gal. ii. 13), who had mingled freely with the Gentiles, but even his friend and colleague Barnabas, who had defended their cause at Jerusalem, was carried away with the flood of their dissimulation936 (Gal. ii. 13). It was clearly necessary to interfere, and accordingly he withstood his fellow Apostle to the face (Gal. ii. 11), and rebuked him before all. The dissimulation he had practised carried with it its own condemnation. If he, born and bred a Jew, had made it his principle to discard Jewish customs and to live with the freedom of a Gentile, why did he practically937 coerce the Gentiles into Judaism. Both of them, though born to all the privileges of the elect nation, not sinners938, as they used proudly to call the Gentiles, convinced that a man could not be justified by the works of the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ, had become believers in Him, that of that justification they might become partakers. How, then, could he seek to impose on others the yoke of conformity to the works of the Law?
What ensued upon this indignant rebuke is not recorded. It is not probable that any actual quarrel took place between the two939. Though the character of Peter was impulsive and susceptible of quick and sudden changes, it was loving, generous, and forgiving. Certain it is that afterwards he was not ashamed to allude to the Epistles of his beloved brother Paul (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16), albeit that the censure upon himself finds a place in one of them, and though afterwards they seldom met, yet their lives were united in the propagation of one great cause, and in their deaths they were not divided940.