with fornication, and denounces them together.^462 Paul had to struggle against this laxity in the
Corinthian congregation, and condemns all carnal uncleanness as a violation and profanation of
the temple of God.^463 In this absolute prohibition of sexual impurity we have a striking evidence of
the regenerating and sanctifying influence of Christianity. Even the ascetic excesses of the
post-apostolic writers who denounced the second marriage as "decent adultery" (εὐπρεπὴς μοιχεία),
and glorified celibacy as a higher and better state than honorable wedlock, command our respect,
as a wholesome and necessary reaction against the opposite excesses of heathen licentiousness.
So far then as the Gentile Christians were concerned the question was settled.
The status of the Jewish Christians was no subject of controversy, and hence the decree is
silent about them. They were expected to continue in their ancestral traditions and customs as far
as they were at all consistent with loyalty to Christ. They needed no instruction as to their duty,
"for," said James, in his address to the Council, "Moses from generations of old has in every city
those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."^464 And eight years afterwards
he and his elders intimated to Paul that even he, as a Jew, was expected to observe the ceremonial
law, and that the exemption was only meant for the Gentiles.^465
But just here was a point where the decree was deficient. It went far enough for the temporary
emergency, and as far as the Jewish church was willing to go, but not far enough for the cause of
Christian union and Christian liberty in its legitimate development.
Notes.- The Apostolic Conference at Jerusalem.—This has been one of the chief battle-fields of
modern historical criticism. The controversy of circumcision has been fought over again in German,
French, Dutch, and English books and essays, and the result is a clearer insight both into the
difference and into the harmony of the apostolic church.
We have two accounts of the Conference, one from Paul in the second chapter of the
Galatians, and one from his faithful companion, Luke, in Acts 15. For it is now almost universally
admitted that they refer to the same event. They must be combined to make up a full history. The
Epistle to the Galatians is the true key to the position, the Archimedian ποῦ στῶ.
(^462) Apoc. 2:14, 20.
(^463) 1 Cor. 6:13-20; comp. 1 Cor. 5:9; 1 Thess. 4:4, 5; Eph. 5:3, 5; Col. 3:5. What a contrast between these passages and the
sentence of Micio in Terence.
"Non es flagitium, mihi crede, adulescentulum
Scortari, neque potare."—Adelph. i. 2. 21, 22. (Ed. Fleckeisen p. 290.)
To which, however, Demea (his more virtuous married brother) replies:
"Pro Juppiter, tu homo adigis me ad insaniam.
Non est flagitium facere haec adulescentulum?"—Adelph. i. 2. 31, 32
(^464) Acts 15:21; comp. Acts 13:15; 2 Cor. 3:14, 15.
(^465) Acts 21:20-25. Irenaeus understood the decree in this sense (Adv. Haer III. 12, 15: "Hi qui circa Jacobum apostoli gentibus
quidem libere agere permittebant; ipsi vero ... perseverabant in pristinis observationibus ... religiose agebant circadispositionem
legis quae est secundum Mosem."Pfleiderer (l.c. 284) takes a similar view on this point, which is often overlooked, and yet most
important for the proper understanding of the subsequent reaction. He says: "Die Judenchristen betreffend, wurde dabei
stillschweigend als selbstverständliche Voraussetzung angenommen, dass bei diesen Alles beim Alten bleibe, dass also aus der
Gesetzesfreiheit der Heidenchristen keierlei Consequenzen für die Abrogation des Gesetzes unter den Judenchristen zu ziehen
seien; auf dieser Voraussetzung beruhte die Beschränkung der älteren Apostel auf die Wirksamkeit bei den Juden (da eine
Ueberschreitung dieser Schranke ohne Verletzung des Gesetzes nicht möglich war); auf dieser Voraussetzung beruhte die
Sendung der Leute von Jakobus aus Jerusalem nach Antiochia und beruhte der Einfluss derselben auf Petrus, dessen
vorhergegangenes freieres Verhalten dadurch als eine Ausnahme von der Regel gekennzeichnet wird."
A.D. 1-100.