The Acts of the Apostles

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
Law. This question was answered in the negative
indeed, even St. James declared that the burden of
the liaw was not to be placed upon their shoulders,
but that they must simply observe the great morsJ
precepts. They were therewith recognised as Chris-
tians ; but nothing is said in the Decree regarding
the practical attitude which the Jewish Christians
intended to adopt towards them in the future.
Nothing, however, is said about this in Galatians.
Though the words of that epistle : " e/xof ol SoKovirre^
ovSev irpoG-aveQevTO^'' and " ^e^m? eScoKav ejuioi koI
l^apvdfia KOivcovlag, Iva ^/mei^ eig to. eOvtj, avTol Se cig Tt]V
TrepiTOjULi]!/,'*'' as well as " aXX' ovSe T/roy . . . tjvayKaa-Qtj
TTcpiTjuLtjO^vah'' do not contain verbal confirmation of
the record of the Acts ; yet no one can any longer main-
tain that the Acts gives at this point a representation
which conflicts with the account given by St. Paul—an
account that has evidently a distinct personal colour-
ing and reference. We have here two entirely independent
reports (one by St. Paul, the other by
a man who was equally interested in Jerusalem and
Antioch), accounts which can quite well be reconciled
with each other, and which both of them show that
the result arrived at by the Council was simply a
theoretical recognition of the Gentiles, together with
only an unsatisfying and an unsatisfactory determina-
tion to keep the peace.^ Nevertheless, the advance was
^ The scene in Antioch between St. Peter and St. Paul is now,
even after what the Acts tells us, not unintelligible. If we are
obliged to regard the Decree as prohibiting meats, the scene would
be difficult to explain ; for such regulations could only have been
enjoined in order to make it possible for Jewish and Gentile Chris-
tians to have fellowship with one another and to eat together.
;