The Acts of the Apostles

!
THE APOSTOLIC DECREE 1261
pretation of the Decree spread from Alexandria and
gained general recognition .^ In the West it was
not until the time of Augustine that, under Greek
influence, the false interpretation replaced the true.
If this conception of Acts xv. is correct, then we
can close whole libraries of commentaries and investi-
gations as documents of the history of a gigantic
error ! What has not been written concerning the
Apostolic Decree as prohibiting meats—concerning
the relation of Gal. ii. and Acts xv. on the assump-
tion that Acts XV. deals with the question of prohibited
meats—concerning Jewish and Gentile Christianity
—
concerning the " commandments of the Covenant with
Noah "—and concerning the historical worthlessness of
the Acts of the Apostles ! The scribe who first wrote
the little word itvlktov opposite aiiJLa, on the margin
of his exemplar, created a Flood which has for almost
two thousand years swamped the correct interpretation
of the whole passage ! The joy that the truth
has been at last discerned is mingled with sorrow and
vexation over labour that has been unspeakably great
and utterly useless
If the interpretation which we have here demon-
strated is correct, then according to Acts xv. the only
question in debate was this—whether Gentiles who
wished to become brother Christians were to be
circumcised and subjected to the yoke of the Mosaic
^ The consensus of all the Uncials (except D) in support of an
interpolation is a new and strong proof that this consensus offers
no guarantee that the text is genuine, and that it points to an
Alexandrian recension. The importance of Codex D—supported,
to be sure, by all the Western authorities—is here brought into
great prominence I