Saul was present at Stephen's death, and consenting to it. [see note #14]
This is the end of the first phase of the assembly of God-its history in
immediate connection with Jerusalem and the Jews, as the centre to which
the work of the apostles related, "beginning at Jerusalem"; carried on,
however, in a believing remnant, but inviting Israel, as such, to come into
it, as being nationally the object of the love and care of God, but they
would not. Some accessory events follow, which enlarge the sphere of labour
and maintain the unity of the whole, previously to the revelation of the
call of the Gentiles, as such, properly speaking, and of the assembly as
one body, independent of Jerusalem, and apart from the earth. These events
are-the work of Philip in the conversion of Samaria and of the Ethiopian;
that of Cornelius, with Peter's vision that took place after the vocation
of Saul, who himself is brought in by a Jew of good report among the Jews
as such; the labours of Peter in all the land of Canaan; and, finally, the
connection established between the apostles at Jerusalem and the converted
Gentiles at Antioch; the opposition of Herod, the false king of the Jews,
and the care which God still takes of Peter, and the judgment of God upon
the king. Afterwards comes the direct work among the Gentiles, having
Antioch for its starting-point, already prepared by the conversion of Paul,
through means and with a revelation that were quite peculiar. Let us follow
the details of these chapters.
After the death of Stephen persecution breaks out. The victory, gained by a
hatred the accomplishment of whose object was allowed by Providence, opens
the floodgates to the violence of the Jewish leaders, enemies to the
gospel. The barrier that restrained them once broken, the waves of passion
overflow on all sides. People are often held back by a little remaining
conscience, by habits, by a certain idea of the rights of others; but when
the dykes are broken, hatred (the spirit of murder in the heart) satiates
itself, if God permit, by actions that shew what man is when left to
himself. But all this hatred accomplishes the will of God, in which man
would perhaps otherwise have failed, and which in some respects he could
not or ought not even to have executed, that is to say, the will of God in
sovereign judgment. The dispersion of the assembly was Israel's judgment-a
judgment which the disciples would have found it difficult to declare and
to execute by the communication of greater light to them; for whatever may
be the blessing and energy in the sphere where the grace of God acts, the
ways of God in directing all things are in His own hand. Our part, too, in
His ways as to those without, is in grace.
The whole assembly then, except the apostles, is scattered. It is
questionable also, that the apostles did right in remaining, and whether a
more simple faith would not have made them go away, and thus have spared
the assembly many a conflict and many a difficulty in connection with the
fact that Jerusalem continued to be a centre of authority.[see note #15]
The Lord had even said with Israel in view, "When they persecute in one
city, flee into another"; and after His resurrection He commands them to go
and disciple all nations. This last mission we do not find executed in the
history of the Acts and the work among the Gentiles, and, as we see in
Galatians 2, by a special agreement entered into at Jerusalem, it fell into
the hands of Paul, being placed on an entirely new footing. The word tells
us nothing of the accomplishment of this mission of the twelve towards the
Gentiles, unless it be the slight general intimation in the end of Mark.
God is mighty in Peter toward the circumcision and in Paul towards the
Gentiles. It may be said that the twelve were not persecuted. It is
possible, and I say nothing decided on the point; but it is certain that
the passages which I have quoted have no fulfilment in the Bible history,
and that another arrangement, another order of things, took place in lieu
of that which the Lord prescribed, and that Jewish prejudices had in fact
an influence, resulting from this concentration at Jerusalem, from which
even Peter had the greatest difficulty to free himself.
Those who were scattered abroad preached the word everywhere, but only to
the Jews, before some of them arrived at Antioch (chap. 11:19).
Philip however went down to Samaria, and preached Christ to them, and
wrought miracles. They all give heed to him and are even baptised. A man
who until then had bewitched them with sorcery, so that they had said he
was the great power of God, even he also submits to the power which
eclipsed his false marvels, and convinced him so much the more of its
reality as he was conscious of the falseness of his own. The apostles make
no difficulty with regard to Samaria. The history of Jesus must have
enlightened them in that respect. Moreover, the Samaritans were not
Gentiles. Still it was a Hellenist who preached the gospel there.
A new truth comes out here in connection with the regular process of the
assembly-namely, that the apostles conferred the Holy Ghost by means of
prayer and the laying on of hands: a very important fact in the history of
God's dealings. Moreover Samaria was a conquest which all the energy of
Judaism had never been able to make. It was a new and splendid triumph for
the gospel. Spiritual energy to subdue the world appertained to the
assembly. Jerusalem was set aside: its day was over in that respect.
The presence of the power of the Holy Ghost acting in Peter preserves the
assembly as yet from the entrance of hypocrites, the instruments of Satan.
The great and powerful fact that God was there manifested itself and made
the darkness evident which circumstances had concealed. Carried along by
the strong current, Simon had yielded, as to his intelligence, to the
authority of Christ whose name was glorified by Philip's ministry. But the
true condition of his heart, the desire of his own glory, the complete
opposition between his moral condition and all principle-all light from
God-betrays itself in presence of the fact that a man can impart the Holy
Ghost. He desires to buy this power with money. What a thought! It is thus
that the unbelief which appears quite to pass away, so that the things of
God are outwardly received, betrays itself by something which, to one who
has the Spirit, is so grossly contrary to God that its true character is
manifest even to a child taught by God Himself.
Samaria is thus brought into connection with the centre of the work of
Jerusalem, where the apostles still were. Already the Holy Ghost's being
bestowed on the Samaritans was an immense step in the development of the
assembly. Doubtless they were circumcised, they acknowledged the law,
although the temple had in a certain degree lost its importance. The body
of believers was more consolidated, and, so far as they still held to
Jerusalem, it was a positive gain; for Samaria, by receiving the gospel,
entered into connection with her ancient rival, as much as the apostles
themselves were so, and submitted to her. Probably the apostles, during
that time of persecution, did not go to the temple. God had opened a wide
door to them outside, and thus made them ample amends in their work, for
the success of the rulers of Israel who had stopped it in Jerusalem; for
the energy of the Spirit was with them. To sum up: that which is presented
here is the free energy of the Spirit in others than the apostles, and
outside Jerusalem which had rejected it; and the relations maintained with
the apostles and Jerusalem by their central action, and the authority and
power with which they were invested.
Having accomplished their work, and themselves evangelised several villages
of the Samaritans, Peter and John return to Jerusalem. The work outside
goes on, and by other means. Philip, who presents the character of prompt
unquestioning obedience in simplicity of heart, is called to leave his
prosperous work with which all his personal importance (if he had been
seeking it) was connected, and in which he was surrounded with respect and
affection. "Go," said the angel of the Lord, "toward the south, unto the
way that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza." It was a desert. Philip's ready
obedience does not think of the difference between Samaria and Gaza, but of
the Lord's will: and he goes. The gospel now extends to the proselytes from
among the Gentiles, and makes its way to the centre of Abyssinia. The
Queen's treasurer is admitted among the disciples of the Lord by baptism,
which sealed his faith in the testimony of the prophet Isaiah; and he goes
on his way, rejoicing in the salvation which he had taken a toilsome
journey from a far country to seek in legal duties and ceremonies, but with
faith in God's word, in Jerusalem. Beautiful picture of the grace of the
gospel! He carries away with him, and to his home, that which grace had
bestowed on him in the wilderness-that which his wearisome journey to
Jerusalem had not procured him. The poor Jews, who had driven away the
testimony from Jerusalem, are outside everything. The Spirit of the Lord
carries Philip far away, and he is found at Azotus; for all the power of
the Lord is at the service of the Son of man for the accomplishment of the
testimony to His glory. Philip evangelises all the cities unto Caesarea.
