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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S silence their cry against him. There were thousands of Jew ish believers th e re who were still zealous for th e law. This was not strange. How could it be otherw ise? I t is no sho rt sh ift from legalism to grace for a Jew , and it seems to be a long journey for many Christians even in our day. Remember th a t these Jews had no New T estam ent as we have,— nothing bu t the Old T estam ent Scriptures. This, togeth er w ith the n atu ral, prejudices which were ingrained' th rough centu- ties of teaching, made it difficult for them to accept the full gospel of grace. Again, some of th e leaders were only carnal Christians, akin to many of our own day. They believed in Jesus as Christ and Lord, b u t had not su rrender ed to Him. (1 Cor. 3 :1 -8 ). Even P eter had no t been faith fu l to his convictions. (Gal. 2 :11-14). He had encouraged Jew ish prejudice against the Gentile converts and entangled them in bond age to the ceremonial law. P au l acceded to th e advice of th e elders of th e church, and consented to pay th e charges of the four who had tak en a vow, and to m ingle w ith them. P aul has been charged w ith inconsist ency in th is a c t. and it has been said th a t he was led to ta k e it because he had failed to ta k e th e warning of his b reth ren , who urged him no t to go up to Jerusalem . But he had before th is tak en a vow and shorn his head (Acts 1 8 :18 ). P au l was exceedingly desirous of reaching his b reth ren— his kinsmen ac cording to th e flesh. He had made g r e a t.sacrifices to get to Jerusalem to attend th is feast. The elders were in sympathy w ith him and wanted him to commend him self to th e b reth ren and, if possible, to heal th e breach. There was no principle a t stak e; it was simply a question of expediency; so P au l consented to make th is conces sion to th e ir prejudices. In doing so, he did no violence to his conscience,
difficulties surmounted and obstacles overcome. Foundations deep and abid ing had been laid, upon which God erected magnificent super-structures. The offerings from th e Gentiles’ churches were presented and perhaps representatives from these newly-form ed bodies gave th e ir testimonials. (1 Cor.. 16:1-3; Rom. 15:25, 26; 2 Cor. 8th and 9th ch ap ters). P au l had hoped th a t th e evidence of th e seal of God upon his m inistry, and the tokens of loving devotion from the Gentile con v erts to the poor saints a t Jerusalem , would reconcile his opposing brethren. He had even asked in his le tte r to th e saints a t Rome th a t they would pray to th is end. (Rom. 15:31) “ T h a t I m ay be delivered from them th at do not believe in Ju d e a ; and th at m y service which I h ave fo r Jeru salem m ay be accepted of the saints.” Rumors had reached th e church at Jerusalem th a t P au l had ta u g h t th a t ' not only Gentiles, h u t Jews, were free from th e law of Moses, and th a t he was th erefo re underm ining th e founda tions of th e ir faith. P au l did teach th a t a Gentile need not become a Jew to be saved, and th e mother church a t Jerusalem had set its seal of approval to this. (Acts 15:14-17). He ta u g h t th a t th e law was no factor in th e sav ing of either Jew or Gentile (Rom. 8:3, 4) “ F o r w h a t the la w could not do in that it w a s w e a k through the flesh, God send in g his own Son in the likeness o f sin ful flesh, and fo r sin, condemned sin in the flesh; T h at the righ teousn ess o f the law m ight be fulfilled in us, who w a lk not a fte r the flesh, but a fte r the Spirit;” bu t P aul was a tru e Jew and had re spect to the ceremonial law, no t as a means of fu rth erin g his salvation, bu t because he was tru e to his race. (2 ) P a u l’s Peaceful E ffort, vs. 20-26 “Then P aul * * * purifying him self.” The advice of th e leaders of the church was for P aul to make some ocular dem onstration of his adherence to th e customs of th e Jews and thu s :
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