6. THE RESULT OF THE PERSECUTION
The persecution resulted only in the spread of the gospel. Gamaliel was right. It was useless to fight against God. The disciples were in possession of an invincible power, and they knew it from the very beginning. When Peter and John returned from their first arrest, the disciples responded in a noble prayer. Acts 4:24-30. Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against Jesus, had accomplished only what God's hand and God's counsel foreordained to come to pass. So it would be also with the enemies of the Church. When the disciples had prayed, "the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness." The answer to that prayer was prophetic of the whole history of the Church.
In the Library.—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 40-42, 47-55. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": articles on "Gamaliel," "Theudas," "Judas" (6), "Deacon"; Purves, article on "Stephen." Ramsay, "Pictures of the Apostolic Church," pp. 44-65. Rackham, pp. 69-111. Lumby, pp. 61-97. Plumptre, pp. 28-47. Cook, pp. 386-406.
LESSON XI
THE FIRST GENTILE CONVERTS
This lesson treats of a number of steps in the extension of the gospel. The beginning is the purely Jewish Church that is described in the first chapters of The Acts; the goal is the Gentile Christianity of Paul. Gentile Christianity was not produced all at once. The extension of the gospel to Gentiles was a gradual process. The present lesson is concerned only with the early stages. The teacher should present the lesson in such a way as to emphasize the main feature of the narrative. The main feature is the central place assigned to the Holy Spirit. Though the extension of the gospel to the Gentiles was a process, that process was due not to mere natural development, but to the gracious leading of God.
As was observed in Lesson X, Stephen perhaps introduced into the Church a more independent attitude toward the existing Judaism. There is no reason, indeed, to suppose that he thought either of preaching to Gentiles or of forsaking the ceremonial law. But possibly he did venture to exhibit the temporary and provisional character of the temple worship as compared with the promises of God. Indirectly, therefore, though certainly not directly, Stephen opened the way for the Gentile mission.