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 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 committed[915]. No man was more calculated to command the earnest attention and deference of all present. Austere[916] and inflexibly upright[917], 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 garb[918], 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 Peter[919] 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 idols[921]; (2) from the flesh of animals which had been strangled[922]; (3) from the eating of blood[923]; (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 Antioch[924] and Paphos[925].
These sentiments found acceptance with the majority. Titus[926] 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 Pillars[927] 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 Jerusalem[928].
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 men[929] among the brethren (Acts xv. 22), Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas or Silvanus[930], 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 abused[931]” (Gal. ii. 12). They brought with them their old Pharisaic[932] repugnance against intercourse with uncircumcised heathen, and awed by their presence the Apostle of the Circumcision began timidly to withdraw and separate himself[933] 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 Judaism[934] 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 Antioch[935] (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 dissimulation[936] (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 practically[937] coerce the Gentiles into Judaism. Both of them, though born to all the privileges of the elect nation, not sinners[938], 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 two[939]. 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 divided[940].