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In the section of Tom Lee's manuscript that we publish today, the focus is on how Paul came to focus on the Gentiles in his missionary endeavours and how this in turn led to the first major dispute that needed resolution through a Council of Elders of the embryonic Christian community. Tom Lee examines the decision of the first Council held at Jerusalem under James, the brother of Jesus…

A shift in focus to the Gentiles leads to the first dispute and Council
Part 5.2
by Tom Lee

A new threat to the Roman authorities…

The Roman authorities were by this time alerted to a menace they were ill-equipped to counter; a menace that elusively traveled from country to country like a plague; a menace that had no face, no center, no definite substance at all. It was an idea; a belief that a Jew who had been crucified in Judaea as a rebel against Rome had been taken up to heaven like the deified emperors and was now issuing orders through dreams and visions. Soon, it was reported, he would return to earth with great power to overthrow the empire. Former pagan resentment of Jews and their converts shifted to the Christians, who with their more aggressive proselytizing efforts, were gaining more converts than the Jews.

Emperor Claudius took what counter-measures he could that would not be too provocative. He wrote a stern letter to the Jews of Alexandria warning them not to entertain itinerant Jews from Syria and Upper Egypt, if they did not wish to be treated as abettors of "a pest which threatens the whole world". He published an edict in Israel that decreed death as the penalty for the violation of tombs, having heard that Christianity was centered on a belief in the reappearance from the tomb of a dead man; and he expelled the Jews from Rome "who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus," as Seutonius put it. Among these were Aquila the tent-maker and his wife Priscilla. Aquila was a native of Pontus in Asia Minor. Paul, also by trade a tent-maker, met this couple at Corinth. Presumably Peter, if he ever was in Rome, as Roman Catholic tradition claims, moved out to other mission areas or returned to the Holy Land at this time.

Judging by the accounts of Paul's experiences, the Nazorean and Zealot agents cannot have been very successful in their missionary efforts abroad. The Acts tells a tale of opposition, rejection and frequent failure. Paul himself speaks of few Jewish converts, the greatest response coming from Gentile God-fearers, who were much more open to Paul's Pharisaic doctrine which gave entitlement to Jewish privileges without the onerous obligations imposed by Jewish Law.

The shift in focus to Gentile converts…

Paul laid himself open to the charge that due to his lack of success with his own people he was admitting Gentiles, on condition of faith alone, in order to secure a substantial following at any price. It also seemed to many Nazoreans that Paul was bent on setting up a rival schismatic organization to that of the Nazorean Elders at Jerusalem. It was at Antioch in Syria, at the end of his first missionary journey, that the question of the terms of admission to the Nazorean brotherhood of Gentile converts first became a serious issue.

Tension was mounting among the faithful, as they believed that the Day of Judgment was fast approaching. To merit deliverance and have a place in the coming Kingdom the utmost diligence was called for in the practice of the Law. It was thus essential to keep free from any taint of heathenism. In these grimly critical days protective regulations and controls had to be rigidly enforced. The Zealot-Essenes even threatened to slay any Gentile daring to take part in a discourse about God and his Law if he refused to be circumcised.

At the Passover of 49 a new Roman governor, Cumanus, posted troops on the roofs of the Temple porticoes to keep an eye on the multitudes of pilgrims. On the fourth day of the festival one of the young soldiers, obviously bored and perhaps acting on a dare, exposed himself to the worshippers and made indecent noises and gestures. The enraged crowd, screaming that a blasphemy against God had been committed, reviled the governor, thinking that he had authorized the display. When they could not be pacified, Cumanus unwisely ordered all available troops to the Antonia fort, overlooking the Temple compound. The thoroughly aroused crowd, fearing they were to be attacked, struggled to get through the Temple exits and, according to Josephus, twenty thousand were killed, most of them crushed to death in the melee.

Shortly afterwards some Zealots robbed a Roman government official on the road some twelve miles from Jerusalem. In response Cumanus sent troops to pillage the villages in the area. A soldier, finding a scroll of the Law, publicly tore it up and burnt it. When the news spread crowds converged on the governor's residence at Caesarea demanding redress. Cumanus, taking no risks, had the luckless offending soldier beheaded.

The Nazoreans saw themselves as in the vanguard of the struggle. As the Elect of the King of Israel, soon to return from. heaven, it was for them to set an example to the whole nation of devotion to the Law. But now they were faced with the contentious issue, thanks to Paul's preaching, of whether Gentiles could be admitted to Israelite privileges without accepting the obligations of Israel, simply on the basis of faith in Israel's king and the rejection of idolatry.

Paul argued that all who are in Christ are automatically thereby the seed of Abraham and heirs of the promises made to the Patriarchs. Whatever their origin, Paul believed they had become Israelites, members of the People of God, because the Messiah represented Israel in person. There was only one People of God and that was Israel. But that privilege had now been granted by faith to those who had not before been God's People.

John Mark and probably other missionaries had reported back to Jerusalem on the unorthodox nature of Paul's teaching and, when Paul and Barnabus returned to Antioch, Peter was sent to check on the position. According to Paul, Peter partook of the communal meal with the Gentile converts, the news of which caused an outburst of zealous anger among the purists in Jerusalem. Armed with authority from James, the brother of Jesus, some Elders set out for Antioch. Peter and Barnabus were reprimanded and promptly and penitently returned to the orthodox fold. There was no argument about whether Gentile believers could be saved if they did not become circumcised; it was already common Jewish belief that they could. What was at issue was Paul's insistence that there was no need for Gentile believers to become full proselytes to Judaism to qualify for membership of the House of Israel.

The first Council of the Church at Jerusalem…

The Elders contended that Jesus as the Messiah was a true Israelite, obedient to the Mosaic covenant and an upholder of the Law by both his teaching and example and they ruled that an official judgment must be obtained in regard to Paul's teaching from a Council meeting in Jerusalem.

Paul, astute politician and skillful manipulator of men that he was, arranged a private meeting with James, Peter and John prior to the fateful council meeting to state his position and try to gain their favor. A face­saving compromise solution was worked out, but in the long run it can have given Paul little joy.

The final decision taken at Jerusalem, probably at Pentecost in 49 or 50, and announced at the formal council meeting by James, after preliminary statements by Peter, Paul and Barnabus, was that so far as the Jewish followers of Jesus were. concerned there could not be any relaxation of their obligations to keep to the letter of the Law. In relation to Gentile converts the council would not go beyond the regulations laid down for Gentile God-fearers attached to Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora. Those who formally renounced idolatry and took upon themselves the Primeval Laws, but not the full yoke of the Mosaic code, were not to be regarded as members of the House of Israel, but were to be regarded as fully equal participants in the felicities of the World to Come. James, the brother of Jesus, quoting the prophet Amos, declared the findings to be in accordance with Scripture. The assembly agreed to this ruling and Paul had to bow to it.

Paul's own status as an apostle was officially endorsed only on condition that he confined his activities exclusively to Gentiles, so that the question of Jews believing he was encouraging them to forsake the Law would not arise. The right of full Israelite status for the Gentile believers was refused except upon the normal terms of full acceptance of Israelite responsibilities, and to prevent any misrepresentation of the decision, the judgment was set down in writing and conveyed to Antioch by two of the Elders, Judas BarSabbas and Silas, who accompanied Paul and Barnabus on their return journey.

This early crisis in Christian affairs plainly witnesses to the pre-eminence accorded to the Nazorean Council at Jerusalem, consisting of the Apostles and Elders under the presidency of the brother of Jesus. But the peace and concord that was expected to flow from their decision proved illusory. Paul himself broke the compact by continuing to preach in the synagogues everywhere he went, and those who were envoys to the Jews of the Diaspora equally interfered in Paul's affairs, visiting his Gentile communities to undermine his authority and induce his converts to become full members of Judaism.

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Tom Lee is an Australian, now semi-retired in Phoenix, Arizona, who has had an illustrious international career as an actor, writer, and broadcast commentator. He does not claim to be a professional theologian, nor an historian, but he undertook this study because, like many of the people who are attracted to what we're doing here at Catholica Australia, he was simply inquisitive about the history of Christianity and trying to better understand what he had been brought up to believe. In a sense, his book is a one-man journey seeking to better understand who Jesus was and what his own faith was about.

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©2009 Tom Lee (Star Concepts LLC) 15633 N. 17* Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85023-3409

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