CHAPTER III.

_THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM._ A.D. 50.

FOLLOWING the coast-line of Phœnicia[909], 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 interviews[910] (Gal. ii. 2) with the more prominent members[911] 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 believers[912]. “He himself had been chosen some years before[913] 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 yoke[914] 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