The Advocate of the Gentiles
P.C. Barker Acts 21:18-20 And the day following Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present.… With great determination Paul had made his way to Jerusalem. The public ways terminating in the city were frequented, and the city itself would soon be filled with visitors. Paul knew well in the spirit that stern conflicts and no imaginary dangers awaited him. But before he encountered these he had to count with some other dangers, and which were in some aspects justly more formidable. Paul does not shirk them. He had not come up to desert his colors at the last, nor to prove his faithfulness gone. That a disunited Church should meet the crowd of the world, and even of various ecclesiastical parties, was a thing not to be thought of, certainly not to be allowed. It is the very thing that, times without number, since Paul showed the illustrious example to the contrary now, has been the weakness of the Church and the strength of the great foe. It is evident from the passage now before us that Paul's course was a course that meant practically that so far things should be "en regle," and that nothing should be wanting on his part in order to secure a firm and united front. How many throw the hindrances of sell-will and of crotchets into the way at moments the most critical, most inopportune! It is with some particularity that we are here shown how Paul did the opposite. Let us notice - I. THE FORMAL VISIT OF PAUL TO THE CONSTITUTED CHURCH. It is a visit to the Church as represented by James (who was evidently at present acting as its chief pastor in Jerusalem) and by the elders. There might have been plausible excuse for it if Paul had not thus reported himself to the Church, but he does not put any to the need of searching for its warrant. He comes to the Church; recognizes its reality as a power; recognizes its unity; recognizes it as the source and the depository of much possible future knowledge and wisdom; and recognizes it as the one earthly bar of judgment (so far as there can he one at all) before which either Christian disciple or Christian apostle may stand without infringing the allegiance due either to individual conscience or to the great bar of judgment above, invisible, but ever open and effective. II. THE SALUTATION OF PAUL. What this salutation was we may gather sufficiently from a comparison of the instances, in all about seventy, in which reference is made to it in the New Testament. In the English Version the thing intended appears under the description of "saluting," "greeting," "embracing," and "taking leave." There can be little doubt that, in the case of persons present with one another, the outward act of recognition, whether of a more or less intimate kind, was accompanied by some expression of Christian wish, or prayer, or gratitude; while in the case of messages, so many of which are found conveyed in the Epistles, the essence of the salutation consisted generally in the ever-grateful significance that lay in the fact Of the remembrance of the absent. All the rest, Christian wish, prayer, or thanksgiving, would be readily taken as "understood." In the present instance the special mention of the salutation reminds us justly of the humane and inartificial characteristics of Christianity. In sketches of its history of the most solemn import, nothing forbids, conceals, or even obscures their entering in as constituent elements of the whole scene. Even prominence is given to them, and they are not infrequently the light and color of the history. The unmeasured steadfastness of Christian principle and truth, is a thing utterly different from unfeeling severity and the expression of the natural instincts of human hearts. III. THE ADDRESS OF PAUL. It consisted of a faithful - we might almost call it also a dutiful - report of his own mission to the Gentile world. We can see, but, perhaps, can scarcely enter into, the exceeding interest of the subject at Jerusalem. So much hinged on exactly what had taken place, and upon the exact statement by one competent and trustworthy of what had taken place. Hence we may observe the particularity with which even the history rehearses and repeats it. 1. Paul gives God, indeed, the glory of what had been done, but probably also means to make a very pronounced affirmation before the Church at Jerusalem, that the work was indeed the work of God, to stop the unbelieving mouth or mind. 2. Paul speaks of the work of his own ministry. It is no hearsay, no impression, no hopefulness with which he entertains the listeners. There was not a statement he made, nor an incident he described "particularly," for the full weight and force of which he was not prepared to become guarantor. 3. Paul's subject of address was specially kept to the things that had been accomplished among the Gentiles. Yet we very well know how much of thrilling interest he had met with in his associations with his own people, in addition to the occasions when their fortunes were inevitably linked with the things that happened to the Gentiles. Throughout it is evident what the returned ambassador of Jesus Christ had in his eye and on his heart. In a sense, he staked all on accrediting the Gentiles as heirs of the grace of God, and to be acknowledged as fellow-heirs with himself and the Church he was addressing. His own singleness of eye and purity of mind and fidelity to his original call appear in bright and bold relief in all this. IV. THE RECEPTION ACCORDED TO PAUL'S REPORT. Paul's character was no longer the thing it was when, some years ago, he had first visited the Church at Jerusalem as a convert. This is his fifth visit since his conversion. Now for him to testify, and to testify "particularly," was to secure a ready hearing and a trusted attention. 1. They believe him. 2. And they "glorify" God. Envy, and bigotry, and pride, and exclusiveness are falling away from that typical Church, "the mother of us all," Length and breadth are seen and are acknowledged in the gospel of Christ. The world's day has dawned, and the light of it, refused by so many, is entering into the eyes of that meeting of the chief pastor at the time at Jerusalem, and the elders. And they did well to "glorify the Lord" because of it. - B. Parallel Verses KJV: And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. WEB: The day following, Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present.