Chapter XLII: Section 4

RESULT, SUPPOSED APOSTOLIC DECREE AND LETTER TO ANTIOCH, WHICH, PER ACTS, PAUL CIRCULATES.

Of a decision, agreed upon and pronounced to the above effect--a decision expressed by a decree;--and of a copy of that decree, included in and prefaced by a letter addressed to the saints at Antioch,--were Paul and Barnabas, along with others who were associated with them, on their return to that city, the bearers:--that is to say, if, as to these matters, credence is given, to the statement, made by the author of the Acts; by whom the alleged decree and letter are given, in words, which, according to him, were their very words:--these words are those which follow:

ACTS 15:22 to 32.

22. Then pleased it the Apostles and Elders, with the whole church,
to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch, with Paul and
Barnabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren.--And they wrote
letters by them after this manner: The Apostles and elders, and
brethren, _send_ greeting unto the brethren which are of the
Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.--Forasmuch as we have
heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with
words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye _must_ be circumcised, and
keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:--It seemed good
unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto
you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,--Men that have hazarded
their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.--We have sent
therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things
by mouth.--For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay
upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;--That ye
abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from
things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep
yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.--So when they were
dismissed, they came to Antioch; and when they had gathered the
multitude together, they delivered the epistle.--_Which_ when they
had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.--And Judas and Silas,
being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many
words, and confirmed _them_.

Supposing it genuine,--a most curious, important and interesting document, this letter and decree must be allowed to be. Supposing it genuine: and, in favor of its genuineness, reasons present themselves, which, so long as they remain unopposed, and no preponderating reasons in support of the contrary opinion are produced, must decide our judgment.

Not long after the account of the acceptance given at Antioch to this decision,--comes that of a conjunct missionary excursion from that place made by Paul, with Timotheus, and perhaps Silas, for his companion. At the very commencement of this excursion--if, in the decree spoken of, this decree is to be understood as included; and there seems no reason why it should not be, they are represented as taking an active part in the distribution of it. Acts 16:4. "And says the historian, as they" (Paul, &c.) "went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the Apostles and Elders that were at Jerusalem."

That, by Paul, this token, of association with the Apostles, should at that time be exhibited and made manifest, seems altogether natural. It affords a further proof, of the need, which, at that period of his labors, he regarded himself as having, of the appearance--the outward signs at least--of a connection with the Apostles.

True, it is, that the persuasion of any such need is altogether inconsistent with that independence, which, in such precise and lofty terms, we have seen him declaring in his Epistle to his Galatians,--is sufficiently manifest. But, in the current chronology, the date, ascribed to that Epistle, is by five years posterior, to the date ascribed to the commencement of this excursion: date of the excursion, A.D. 53; date of the Epistle, A.D. 58: difference, five years: and five years are not too great a number of years, for the experience of success and prosperity, to have raised to so high a pitch, the temperature of his mind.[36]

Even before this time, we find him even outstretching the concessions, which, in that decree, in the case of the Gentiles, in compliance with the scruples of the Jewish disciples they had to deal with, we have been seeing made by the Apostles, in favor of the Mosaic law. Abstinence--from meat offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication--composed all the Mosaic observances exacted in that decree. To these, he, in his practice, at this time, added another, and _that_, in respect of extent, in a prodigious degree a more important one: to wit, the submitting to circumcision. For, to this painful observance,--in which a submission to all the other Mosaic observances was implied,--he had already subjected his new convert Timotheus, whom, in this excursion, in addition to Silas, he took with him for a companion. Born of a Greek father as he was,--adult as he was,--he took him, says the historian, and circumcised him. Circumcised him--and why?--"_Because of the Jews, which were in those quarters._"[37]

FOOTNOTES:

[29] Acts xv. 1 to 4:--"1. And certain men which came down from Judea, taught the brethren, _and said_, Except ye be circumised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.--2. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and Elders about this question.--3. And being brought on their way by the Church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.--4. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the Church, and of the Apostles and Elders; and they declared all things that God had done with them."

[30] Gal. i. 18, 19. "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.--9. But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother."

Acts 15:4. "And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the Church, and of _the_ Apostles and Elders; and they declared all things that God had done with them."

The cause of this contrariety lies not far beneath the surface. Paul had one object in view; his historiographer another. In the two passages, they wrote at distant times, and with different purposes. In his address to his Galatian disciples, Paul's object was to magnify his own importance at the expense of that of the Apostles: to establish the persuasion, not only of his independence of them, but of his superiority over them. The generality of them were not worth his notice; but having some business to settle with them, Peter, the chief of them, he "went" to see, and James, as being "the Lord's brother," he vouchsafed to see. On that particular occasion, such was the conception which Paul was labouring to produce: and such, accordingly, was his discourse. As for the historiographer, his object was, of course, throughout, to place the importance of his hero on as high a ground as possible. But, in this view, when once Paul had come to a settlement with the Apostles, the more universal the acceptance understood to have been received by him--received from the whole body of Christians, and from those their illustrious leaders in particular,--the better adapted to this his historiographer's general purposes would be the conception thus conveyed: accordingly they were received, he says, "of the Church, and the Apostles, and Elders."

[31] Acts xv. 4. "And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the Church and of the Apostles and Elders, and they declared all things that God had done unto them."

[32] Gal. ii. 6. "But of those who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person: for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me.--And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.--Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.--But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed."

[33] Acts 15:5-21. 5. "But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.--And the Apostles and Elders came together for to consider of this matter.--And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel and believe.--And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as _he did_ unto us;--And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.--Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?--But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.--Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.--And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:--Simon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.--And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,--After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:--That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.--Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.--Wherefore my sentence is,--that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:--But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.--For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day."

[34] After the word blood, the mention made of things strangled seems to have been rather for explanation than as a separate ordinance. Of strangling, instead of bleeding in the Jewish style,--what the effect would be, other than that of retaining blood, which the Mosaic ordinance required should be let out, is not very apparent.

[35] Another observation there is that applies even to the Jews. By Moses were all these several things forbidden. True: but so were a vast multitude of other things, from, which (after the exceptions here in question) the prohibition is, by this decision, taken off. These things, still proposed to be prohibited, as often as they entered a synagogue, they would hear prohibited: but, so would they all those other things, which, by this decision, are left free.

[36] In the account of this excursion, Galatia--now mentioned for the first time in the Acts,--is mentioned, in the number of the countries, which, in the course of it, he visited. It stands fourth: the preceding places being Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Phrygia. Acts 16:1 to 6. In Acts 18:23, "He ... went over [all] Galatia ... strengthening the disciples."

[37] Acts 16:1 to 3. Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess and believed: but his father was a Greek:--Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.--Him would Paul have to go forth to him, and took and circumcised him, because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.

CHAPTER VII.

_Paul disbelieved continued.--After His Third Jerusalem Visit,
Contest Between Him and Peter at Antioch._ PARTITION TREATY: PAUL
_for Himself_: PETER, JAMES _and_ JOHN, _for the Apostles_.