The Council of Jerusalem
‘And certain men which came down from Judasa taught the brethren, and said, Except ye he circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot he saved,” etc. — Acts xv.
WHEN the deputies arrived at Jerusalem, the interest in the missionaries and their accomplished work among the heathen was so great, that the dispute on a point of doctrine was in the first instance thrown into the shade.
The Council of Jerusalem.
Even on their way through. Phenicia and Samaria every town claimed a meeting, and every church rejoiced in the glad news. In the capital, too, the desire to hear of the Lord’s work predominated over all other claims; and nothing was done towards the adjudication of the appealed case, until first the disciples were all satisfied with the details of the mission in Cyprus, and throughout the cities of the Lesser Asia. When this great appetite was satisfied, then the apostles and elders made preparation for an assembly to sit in judgment on the question, whether the Mosaic rites should be imposed upon the Greek converts. The Christian Pharisees lost no time in bringing the question up, and pressing for a decision in their own favour. Whether these were the same men now returned from Antioch, or others resident in Jerusalem, who entertained the same opinions, is not made clear. “The apostles and elders came together to consider of this matter.” The assembly was called to order, the case was introduced, and the debate began. After a good deal of preliminary discussion, Peter took occasion to narrate his own experience, and to express his views. He had, at an early date, been Divinely called to carry the gospel to Gentile families residing within the territory of Judaea; and reasoning by analogy, he held strongly the view, that Paul and Barnabas were justified in admitting the Greeks on a foreign soil directly and simply into the privileges of the Church, without enjoining the observance of the law of Moses. The next step was to hear a narrative of the facts from the lips of the two missionaries. A great impression seems to have been .made by the intelligence from foreign parts. “All the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Paul and Barnabas.” It is clear that besides the apostles and elders, a very great number of Christians were present when this report was submitted.
Immediately after the address of the missionaries, and while the assembly were under the solemn and tender impressions of the scene, James, the Lord’s brother, who seems to have acted as a kind of president, summed up the evidence, and proposed the decision of the court. The proposal submitted by James was unanimously adopted. It unequivocally condemned the demand made by the Pharisaic Christians upon the Gentile converts. It maintained for the Church an absolute freedom from the bondage of the ceremonial law. It enjoined the abstinence from certain pollutions which were common among idolaters, but prescribed no ritual as necessary to salvation. This is the charter of the Church’s liberty to the present day. No man or body of men has a right to prescribe for Christians, as of authority, any observance or any form. The conscience is not subject to human law.
It is well worthy of observation in our own day, that when a schism was threatened between two portions of the Christian Church, the difficulty was overcome, and the breach prevented, by refusing to adopt a new and additional term of communion. The introduction of new dogmas as essential to salvation, necessarily rends the body of Christ. Christians must hold and profess all that their Saviour gave them, even at the risk of division; but woe to those who on any pretext disturb the brotherhood by imposing any yoke which the Master did not impose!
The Council at Jerusalem deputed Judas and Silas, two of their own number, to accompany Paul and Barnabas on their return to Antioch. Xhese two confirmed the testimony of the missionaries, and certified the authenticity of the letter which they bore. The Christians at Antioch greatly rejoiced in the consolidation of their liberty, and the suppression of the threatened schism.
The Council of Jerusalem. 3 1 7
Silas, one of the deputies from Jerusalem, having become interested in the foreign work, remained at Antioch with the missionaries when his colleague returned. The work of evangelisation was now prosecuted with renewed zeal in the great Syrian capital. The foundation of the Church in that city must be laid deep and broad, that it may serve as a basis for carrying the mission into Europe. But the spirit of Paul could not long submit to the conditions of a settled ministry. He longed for labour on the foreign field. His restlessness was of the Lord for the good of the world. It would have been an unspeakable loss to the Western nations if this man had grown indolent, and settled down in comfortable and honourable employment at home.
Accordingly, after a period of united effort in Antioch, Paul proposed to Barnabas that they should revisit the churches which they had planted in Western Asia. Barnabas acquiesced heartily in the main features of his brother’s plan; but a hitch occurred in the choice of a junior assistant. Barnabas preferred Mark, his own nephew; and Paul refused to concur in the choice, on the ground that Mark had prematurely deserted the mission in its time of need before. This weakness, against which the good Barnabas was not proof, has wrought much mischief both in Church and State. It has obtained a name, — nepotism, — from the very relation in which Mark stood to the senior missionary. So greatly has it interfered with every good work in the world, that those men have always been held in special honour who have been able to resist it, and have appointed the fittest men to important trusts, without respect to family connections.
But when a decisive difference of judgment occurred, although the altercation was sharp at the moment, these two men ultimately adopted a wise resolution, and permanent good sprang from incidental evil. Two well-appointed missions sprang from one, and the benefit was doubled. So the Lord over all makes the wrath of even his own servants to praise him, and the remainder of that wrath he restrains. How tender and long-suffering is our Father in heaven! Instead of punishing us for our quarrels, he often turns them to the furtherance of his own cause. He served himself of the weakness, as well as of the strength, of these two primitive missionaries.
Barnabas, with Mark as his companion, went by sea to Cyprus; Paul, with Silas as coadjutor, travelled overland westward through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.
Thus each of the two senior missionaries on that occasion visited the home of his youth; for Tarsus, the place of Paul’s nativity, was the chief city of Cilicia.
Nothing is said of Paul’s reception as a prophet in his own country. It is evident that he did not linger long about Tarsus. Probably he found too much curiosity among the people there regarding himself personally. He disliked and resented everything that turned the people’s attention from the Christ whom he preached. He pressed accordingly westward through the province, and tarried nowhere long till he reached Derbe and Lystra, the scenes of his success and his sufferings on his former tour.
At Lystra on this occasion occurred his first interview with Timothy. This young man was already a Christian of high reputation in the neighbourhood, and we know that the early religious training of the youth had been quickened into positive spiritual life by Paul’s word spoken during the former journey. This must have been a glad and tender meeting. When Eunice, Timothy’s mother, introduced her son to Paul, and informed him of the youth’s conversion, the spirit of the laborious missionary must have been greatly refreshed. Here was evidence that his labour and his sufferings had not been in vain. At sight of Timothy, Paul would thank God and take courage. The history is fresh and full of consolation still. It contains encouragement to every sower of the good seed, down to the end of the world. Many seeds which go out of the sower’s sight, take root and bear fruit unto eternal life.