Chapter XIII.—DECISION OF THE CHURCH AS TO OBSERVING THE MOSAICAL LAW.
"And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and," alluding to the affair of Cornelius, "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." He then reminded them, that the Holy Ghost had been visibly poured out upon those Gentile converts, showing that in the eyes of Him Who seeth the heart, they were as acceptable as the Jewish converts; and that therefore it could not be necessary for them to observe the ceremonial part of the Law, which Jesus came to do away with. The Jews themselves had never kept the Law so perfectly as to deserve the favour of God; and now that Jesus had delivered them from the observance of that Law, why should the Gentiles be required to observe it. "Now therefore," Peter asks, "why tempt ye God," why provoke ye Him to anger in opposing His Will, "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."
Such words from St. Peter, who was well known to have been formerly of a different opinion, could not fail to produce an effect upon his hearers, who now listened quietly and patiently to what was told them by St. Paul and St. Barnabas. "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."
When these two Apostles had ended their history, and "held their peace," James, the ruler and director of the Church, declared it to be his opinion, that it was most certainly the Will of God, that the Gentiles should be received into the Christian Church without being required to keep the Law, as the Jewish teachers had insisted; and that this had been the intention of the Lord from the beginning, and had been accordingly foretold by the prophets. "Wherefore," said he, "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."
This speech of St. James requires a little explanation. The Law of Moses required that animals used for food should be killed in a particular way; and a Jew was to be considered as unclean, if he ate any meat not prepared in this manner. Much of the meat eaten by the Gentiles, was the flesh of animals offered in sacrifice to their false gods, or idols: to eat of such food polluted a Jew,—that is, made him unclean. Now, an idol was in reality nothing, nor did it signify how food was prepared, if it was eaten with thankfulness. But at that time there were very many Jewish converts who had long kept the Law of Moses, and held that to eat of meat offered to idols, or of the flesh of animals "strangled," instead of being killed as the Law required, did pollute a man, and render him unclean. St. James therefore considered, that for the present, it would be better for the Gentile converts to abstain from animal food, prepared in a different way from what the Jews thought lawful, that they might not offend them; and that they might, moreover, show that they had given up offering any sacrifices to idols. St. James therefore thought it well, in excusing them from most of the observances of the Law, to caution the Gentile converts not only to keep themselves free from all manner of sin, but also to avoid every appearance of idolatry. The reason which St. James gives for this decision is, that as the Law of Moses was read every Sabbath day, and reverenced by all the Jewish converts, it was better not to disregard such ordinances, though in themselves they were matters of indifference. What St. James said was approved of by the other members of the Church.
"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; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: and they wrote letters by them," bidding the Gentile converts at Antioch not to be troubled by the teaching of the Jewish teachers, saying, "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."
In this letter, St. Paul and St. Barnabas are spoken of as "beloved," "men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ": and the Christians of Antioch are told, that Judas and Silas have been sent, in order that they might explain more fully what had been written on the subject, about which St. James and the Church at Jerusalem had been consulted. Sending these two brethren was a very wise measure. Had St. Paul and St. Barnabas returned alone, the Jewish teachers might have raised a question, as to how far they, being interested in the matter, could be trusted to deliver any messages correctly; but Judas and Silas, having nothing to do with the affair, must be regarded as unprejudiced witnesses as to what they had heard in Jerusalem.
Judas and Silas are both called Prophets. "The Prophets" appear to have been a class of teachers who were inspired to foretell future events, as well as to preach the Gospel; but they had not so much power and authority as the Apostles. Then, again, there were other teachers, who were not Prophets. God gave different gifts and powers to different men, according to the work He appointed for them to do. It is the same now: we have not all the same power, but each one of us should try to do all we can to serve God, and do good to our fellow creatures.
The letters being written, and delivered to Judas and Silas, the Apostles were dismissed, and "came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: which when" the Christian brethren "had read, they rejoiced for the consolation" it had given them, in the assurance that they were by no means called upon to keep the whole Law of Moses.