Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-05-27
In the Religious World
5y WILLIAM + ELLIS.
we're not angels.
Mischief Makers in Antioch.
6y WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

"ISVU1SI lUdNSTO III VUStCCtls' ..."y
Some Christians from Judea-the
historian does not think them worth
Identifying by name-had gone down
to Antioch and had troubled the new
church there by trying to correct its
procedure. They accused the Antioch
Christians of not being thoroughly or
thodox. Imagine it!
Down in Antioch the church had
wise shepherds who were not willing
to let their flock be continually wor-
ried by. the new. issues raised. They
decided to appeal to the mother
church at Jerusalem. They knew the
wisdom Of getting decision. Why
wrangle and squabble forever over q
point that should be decided once and
for all? So Paul and Barnabas were
sent to Jerusalem to confer with tho
apostles and the elders and the home
church. Is
It was by rail but aboard patient
donkeys or else afoot, that Paul and
Barnabas made their way down
through Phoenicia and Samaria.
preaching as they went. 49,,
The men from Antioch were wei.
coined by the church at Jerusalem.
The differences Of opinion did not dis
turb their cordial relationships And
those Jerusalem Christians were more
eager to hear of the gospels tfUnnphs
in Syria and in Asia Minor than khay
were to talk about the CONTROVERSY
that had brought Paul and RaIn1k1D
to Jerusalem.
The last mention in the inspim0e4os
| tory that we have Of Peter occu1vR8
this discussion at. the first church
council, when he stood up a. ne
champion of Christian liberty. H64e4
points he made The first waEfs fhGl
the spirit had borne witness ia The
validity Of the Gentle converts. Thip
was the argument that had prevailed
when he himself was answering TO
the church for his experience with tho
house Of Cornelius.
! The second point was that the yoke
which Judaism was trying to lay on
the neck of the new Christians was
one which even their fathers had not
been able to bear AS the golden text
says: For freedom did Christ set
us free . .sas
| Then the third point, and the eli
max Of Peters argument was that
the cross of Christ alone is sufficient
for salvation 1t is not rites, nor or
dinances, but Christ himself who
saves the believer. 944s4 s
! ayae The Law Of Liberty. T@
| > In most meetings there is some one
man who makes the motion that
shows the way out. James, the Lords
brother, was that sort of hard headed,
practical man, as his epistle shows.
He suggested the procedure which
was adopted "a letter of greeting to
the new Christians, setting forth tho
4 mind of the church at Jerusalem, He
i put the y conviction of tho whole
I church, apostles, elders and laity, In.
to written form, freeing the Gentle
Christians from the yoke Of bondage
They were enjoined to abstain from
all connection with idolatry and to
shun the immortality Of heathendom
and they were also hidden to abstain
from meat that had not been prop
erly killed. To us this last point
seems but confusion Of the lesser
with the greater but wa can under.
stand how it bulked large IN the think
ing of these Jewish Christians, to
whom the Levitical law was part OF
their daily life.
Thus was issued the Magma Charta
of Christian liberty. Christianity Is
not an enlarged Judaism; it is a new
life and new liberty, applicable to
every nation and condition. The GOT
pei is not code, but a confession:
not a program, but a principle, not
laws, but a life. -.