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"One by one he would call forward the beloved delegates, that they might with their
own hands, lay at the feet of James, the sums of money which his Gentile Churches had
contributed out of their deep poverty, and which in many and many a coin bore witness to
weeks of generous self-denial. There lay all this money, a striking proof of the
faithfulness with which Paul, at any rate, had carried out his share of the old compact at
Jerusalem . . . . . and on this occasion, if ever, we might surely have looked for a little
effusive sympathy, a little expansive warmth, on the part of the community which had
received so tangible a proof of the Apostle's kindness. Yet we are not told about a word
of thanks, and we see but too plainly that Paul's hardly disguised misgiving as to the
manner in which his gift would be accepted, was confirmed" (Farrar).
We are certainly told that when the Elders at Jerusalem heard Paul's report, "they
glorified the Lord", but this was immediately followed by words that must have well nigh
quenched any glow of anticipation those first words of the Elders had kindled:
"And they said unto him, Thou seest brother, how many thousands of the
Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law. And they are
informed of thee . . . . ."
Let us pause at this word "informed". The structure brings it into prominence, for it is
repeated in verse 24. "Studiously indoctrinated" or "sedulously informed" have been
suggested as conveying the veiled threat that, with all the charity in the world, one feels
to have been behind the words. Zeal can alas be the outcome, not only of love and faith,
but of envy. Zelotes would remind the Apostle that once, as a Pharisee, he had been
"zealous" for the tradition of his fathers (Gal. 1: 14), and what a bitter sectarian it had
made him. The verb zeloo, while it is used in a noble sense in the New Testament, is
mostly used for the cruel emotion of "envy". The two occasions where it comes in the
Acts are:
"The patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph" (Acts 7: 9).
"But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy" (Acts 17: 5).
Zelos, too, though it stand for a "zeal of God", may also stand for zeal "not according
to knowledge" (Rom. 10: 2). So then, the introduction of such words as "zealous of the
law" and "they are informed of thee" would stifle any uprising of joy at the brief
doxology that had first been uttered.
"They are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the
Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither
to walk after the customs" (Acts 21: 21).
How near, and yet how far from, the truth, false charges arising from sectarian zeal
can be! For instance, the Christian public have been "informed" or "studiously
indoctrinated" that The Berean Expositor takes away all Scriptures from the church,
except four short epistles, and that as an inference from our teaching concerning the
Lord's Supper, we have very little regard for the doctrine of the atonement. We also
understand that we are said to deny the Second Coming of the Lord. Further, like
misstatements are made, which become weapons and stumbling-stones to the unwary.
We may not expect to find much in the theology of Kipling that we could endorse, but we
can enter very really into the words: