Chapter VI: The Beginning of the Christian Church

=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.

PENTECOST.

=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.

THE IMMEDIATE SUCCESS.

=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.

THE FIRST PERSECUTION.

=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.

CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

=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.

AZOTUS, CÆSAREA, LYDDA, JOPPA.

=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]