Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-05-20
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
THOUGHTS WORTHY or CALM
REFLECTION.
A Pieasant, Interesting, and Instruct.
I've Lesson, and Where IL May He
Found-A Learned and Concise Re-
view Of the Same.

AvC AcooOus anu Wncx0 AZ may -
Found-A Learned and concise Re.
view Of the Same.
Lesson for May rs.
The Conference at Jerusalem.-Acts 10
1-6, 1920.
Golden Text.-"Through the grace OF
the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
even as they."--Acts 10: IL.
Returning from their first missionary
journey late in the year AZ, Paul and Bar
nabas spent some two years with the dis
ciples in Antioch (Acts IA: 2S). Then
there arose difficulty in the church al
Jerusalem which threatened to cause Sc
rious trouble, but was amicably settled by
the conference or council which forms the
subject of this lesson. The decision ar
rived at did much to begin the long pro-
cess of broadening the views of Jewish
Christians, though it by no means put an
end at once to the disagreement, as is
shown by the conduct of Peter afterwards
at Antioch, and by the teachings of the
Jews who followed Paul on his journeys,
misleading the Galatians and other
churches by their words. The Importance
Of this crisis in the history of the church
cannot be too strongly emphasized. Had
it not been for the liberal tendency repre-
scented by Paul-following, of course, the
liberality of Jesus himself-the church
would have been but branch of the Jew
ish religion, and, so far as we can see,
| could hardly have survived the great
shock that came with the fall of Jerusa-
lem and the dispersion of the Jews; or,
at any rate, could never have spread much
beyond the Mediterranean coasts. In
| studying the lesson, Acts 10: 1-35 should
be read, and also Galatians 2: ITO, the
latter being the passage in which Paul
speaks of his visits to Jerusalem with the
purpose of proving that he did not re-
ceive his gospel from the apostles there
nor indeed from any men, but from Christ.
The matter of harmonizing the accounts
In Acts and in Galatians is referred to
below.
Explanatory.
Certain men which came down from
Judea": several things are to be inferred
from this phrase. Judea, and especially
Jerusalem, was still the center of the
Christian churches, and false teachers
from there would be especially imfuen-
tial. 1t was also the center Of the strict
est form of Judaistic Christianity. Not
since the first preaching of the gospel to
Gentiles, the sentiment at Jerusalem re-
NAMED strongly against the admission of
Gentle converts to equal rights with jew
ish converts unless they submitted to the
requirements of Judaism, that is, became
proselytes. Paul speaks strongly of these
persons, who were not content to hold
these views themselves, but attempted to
force them on a church situated in entire
ly different surroundings and with differ
ent needs; he calls them false brethren,
who come in privily to spy out our lib
erty which we have in Christ Jesus, that |
they might bring us into bondage" (Gal. |
Z: .. There seem to have been two |
classes, ii not two parties, the Jerusalem |
church itself, one extreme, the other mod |
erate-James, Peter and John belonging |
to the latter. 1t was probably the for
mer that busted itself with hunting out |
heresy in neighboring cities and sent men
to Antioch to undermine Pauls work un-
der pretense of holy zeal. 1t can easily |
be imagined how such, preaching at Anti |
och would cause infinite trouble for Paul
and Barnabas
Evidently not only the Antioch church,
but those further south, between Antioch
and Judea, were altogether in sympathy
with the liberal Christianity for which
raul stood. They were received of the |
and of the apostles and elders:
mis- Is as good place as any to inquire
Just when this visit to Jerusalem occur |
red and how it is to be connected with the
account in Gal. 2: ITO. This is not a
simple question, and into it's details it will
not be profitable to enter in class, but the
teacher should be familiar with the
in order not to be caught mapping
by some quick-witted pupil, if for no 9TH
sr reason. For full discussion see Cony-
)eare and Howson's note, Ramsay and
'ther books on Paul. The teacher may
study this out for himself by comparing
accounts But it is fairly safe to say that
he account in Galatians refers to this
essen, and that the apparent differences
ire not really contradictions. If so. the
late is fifty.
1t appears from Galatians that Paul
conferred first privately with the apos-
les and leaders of the church c'them
which were of reputation" Gal. 2: p. in
rider to make sure that the accidents of
'ublic debate might not defeat his cause.
The account in Acts does not contradict
his statement; it refers simply to the
ublic meeting
The speeches of Peter and James. or
ather the abstracts of their speeches.
hould be read, especially by the older
upils. Peters attitude is liberal; he re-
ers to his experience at the time of the
Inversion of Cornelius, and deprecates
ny return to the old bigoted ideas. James
elies en- the scriptural argument for the
aviation of the Gentiles. These two 4
mes of proof, together with the living
roof afforded by Paul's numerous con-
erts, suftced to convince the members
the conference that Paul was right. :
hey accordingly drew up form of let ! r
,r to the churches which had been dis .
irbed by the erroneous teaching-those !,
Antioch and in Syria and Cilicia-em- :
odying their views Of the matter. This
contained in verses 1920. 1t should
E carefully noted that the decision was a
ot compromise in which each side con- A
'ded something. Verse 20 might seem | e.
} indicate that the Judaizers really Sc | fl
ired part of their purpose in requiring | s,
emile converts to observe certain pro- | is
sions of Jewish ceremonial law. alb a
aiming from the eating of meats offered !,
idols, from blood, and from the flesh !,
animals strangled, as well as from the =
n Of fornication. But as a matter of "
ct these requirements were, under the III
a desirable If not necessary | oil
cans of keeping Christians from the sus- NJ
cion of falling back into paganism. 1t &C
as a safeguard against that rather than al