To the apostleship of the circumcision.
The results of the conference
Barnabas must have been struck with the coincidence between his own conduct towards the newly-enfranchised converts at Antioch (Acts 11:22-23) and that of the apostles towards the delegates of these converts.
I. What the apostles saw--
1. In Paul and Barnabas personally. The closest scrutiny of speech, deportment, aim, could create but one impression.
2. In their work; the conversion of the Gentles and the uprising of so many Christian Churches could be due only to Divine grace.
II. What they felt.
1. That the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed to Paul. The conclusion was irresistible.
2. That Paul was as worthy of his commission as was Peter.
III. What they did.
1. Gave the delegates the right hand of fellowship.
(1) Spontaneously. Paul did not ask for it.
(2) Heartily.
(3) Irrevocably.
2. Assigned to Paul and Peter--
(1) the spheres which each could best work;
(2) the honours to which each was entitled.
Learn:
1. That God’s grace when experienced should be employed in work for Him.
2. That true worth is determined not by rank, but by work.
3. That honest work ultimately confers the highest rank.
4. That harmonious and effective working is best promoted by a division of labour.
The gospel commission
I. The gospel is not ours but God’s.
II. The gospel is committed to human trust.
1. What an honour.
2. What a responsibility.
III. The minister’s duty with reference to the gospel is--
1. To keep it.
2. To maintain the truth of it.
3. To apply it to the best use.
IV. Only God can make the gospel effective (1 Corinthians 3:7).
V. The believer’s duty is--
1. To hear it humbly.
2. To receive it thankfully.
3. To obey it diligently.
4. To propagate it earnestly. (W. Perkins.)
The gospel of the uncircumcision
St. Paul’s attitude towards circumcision. The great controversy in which St. Paul was engaged within the Church turned upon the question whether the Jewish observances, and circumcision in particular, were necessary for Christians. A large party of Christians whose centre was Jerusalem, who were probably influenced by the current opinions in the school of Shammai, and who made free use of the names of the apostles Peter, James, and John, maintained that these observances were necessary. To these men St. Paul’s work appeared to be radically revolutionary; and where they could they went over the ground which St. Paul had evangelized. They insisted that if the Gentile converts would be really good Christians, they too must be circumcised. St. Paul maintained that while if a man happened to be circumcised it did him no sort of harm, to insist upon circumcision as necessary for a Christian was to deny fundamental truth, for there were two points of the gravest importance which really were involved in this apparent trifle.
1. Was the work of Christ, as the Restorer of man to a state of righteousness before God, complete in itself; or was it merely a supplement to the Jewish creed? Was the system of the Jewish law, after all, able to make men righteous; and, if it was, where was the need of the work of Christ? If this was the case, moreover, was it even conceivable that Christ was greater than Moses and the prophets--greater in His essential nature? [[he Judaising theory that the law in its entirety was still obligatory meant, at bottom, that Christ’s work was not nearly complete, and so that His Person was really only human.
2. Was Christianity meant to be the religion of mankind, or only of a small sub-division of the Jewish world? Was it to be merely national, or to be catholic? If Christianity was serious in its claim to be the true, the absolute religion, it could not but also claim to be universal. (Canon Liddon.)
Diversity of gifts
We discover a diversity of gifts by a reference to Whitfield and Handel. The one was in eloquence what the other was in sacred song; the one appealing, through the understanding, to the heart and conscience, calling on men everywhere to repent and turn to God; the other drawing out, and bearing upward, as a sweet incense before the altar of the upper sanctuary, the devout aspirations of the new-born soul. There was “an air, a soul, a movement,” in the oratory of Whitfield which created indescribable emotions in his vast assemblies. Handel equally electrified the multitudes in Westminster Abbey. His power of song, while he performed the Messiah, raised them to their feet; and yet greater wonders did Whitfield when preaching the Messiah to the scores of thousands in Moorfields. (H. Read.)
Power of grace in saints
Longfellow in his Hiawatha sings of--
“The pleasant watercourses,
You could trace them through the valley,
By the rushing in the Spring-time,
By the alders in the Summer,
By the white fog in the Autumn,
By the black line in the Winter.”
So traceable are the lives of really gracious men and women. They are not solicitous to be observed, but the gracious “signs following” are sure to reveal them. Like their Master they cannot be hid. (C. H. Spurgeon.)