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"If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools;
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools."
Had Paul known these lines, we think he would have felt that they were almost a part
of his biography.
Did Paul, at this time, remember Stephen, with whose death he was so intimately
associated? Did he remember how the truth Stephen had stood for had been "twisted"?
"Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words
against Moses, and against God . . . . . This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words
against this holy place, and the law; for we have heard him say, that this Jesus of
Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered
us" (Acts 6: 11, 13, 14).
Most certainly the Apostle had not taught the believing Jew to "forsake Moses". He
had taught him to see that his hope of righteousness by his own attempts to keep the law
was vain, but he had spoken not a word about the circumcision of the children of the
believing Jews, and had actually circumcised Timothy. What he had resisted was the
attempt to force the yoke of the law upon believing Gentiles and to compel them to be
circumcised, but such distinctions would be brushed aside by a partisan. Seven times do
we read of "customs" in the Acts (6: 14; 15: 1; 16: 21; 21: 21; 25: 16; 26: 3, and
28: 17), and any teaching that touched the sacred "rites" of either Jew or Roman was
sure to arouse intense antagonism. The word translated "forsake" in the phrase "forsake
Moses" has an ugly sound in the original. It is apostasia, a word that occurs but once
more in the New Testament where it is used for the awful "falling away" that is
associated with the days of the Man of Sin (II Thess. 2: 3). Apostasion moreover is
translated "divorcement", and this would also be uppermost in the mind of a Jew.
Here, then, was the state of affairs at Jerusalem, and the Apostle, however he might
endeavour to conciliate such opposition, would know that out of this condition would
arise the circumstances which prophets had foretold in every city through which he had
passed on his journey to Jerusalem. Paul knew what it was to fear, he knew what is was
to pray for boldness, and he required all the grace and strength that his faith could muster
as he listened to this accusation and foresaw its consequences. We watch him going to
the temple at the request of the rulers, as a lamb to the slaughter. He was, however, to
hear "the night following" the encouraging words:
"Be of good cheer Paul' for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou
bear witness also at Rome" (Acts 23: 11).
We have however anticipated our subject a little, and must return to follow the steps
of the Apostle as recorded in the section we are examining. This we will do in our next
article.