SEARCH FOR THE 12 APOSTLES #3

 SEARCH FOR THE 12 APOSTLES  

The Apostles leave Jerusalem?

The amount of Facts we have

by McBirnie Ph.D.

CHAPTER TWO

When Did The Apostles Leave Jerusalem?

     St.Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, selected as his thesis

the emergence of Christianity as an universal faith, not to be

held for long in the matrix of Judaism, but liberated, mainly

under the pioneering of St.Paul, so that the gospel might be

presented also to the Gentiles. From first to last in The Acts,

Luke expresses this theme. Christianity, he wrote, began with 

God and Jesus Christ, His Son. Upon the rejection of Jesus 

by the Jewish national and religious leadership, the gospel was

presented as was always intended by God to the Gentiles. That

methodology is reported many times in The Acts.

     First, Pentecost was an international experience. Jews from

many nations were in Jerusalem, but surely, so were many

Gentiles. "Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers

in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and

Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya

about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes

and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful

works of God." (Acts 2:911) Then Acts records how St.Philip

witnessed to the Ethiopian treasurer, under the direct leadership

of the Holy Spirit. The implication of divine approval and

authentication upon Gentile evangelism is explicit. St. Luke 

is making a point which misses most modern readers.

     Next, Peter was directly commanded o f God to witness to 

and baptize Cornelius, the Roman centurion, at Joppa. Paul was

meanwhile shown as the persecutor of the Church motivated by his

zeal for keeping the Law of Moses and the Jews themselves from

adulteration. He haled into prison those Jewish Christians who 

would forsake Moses for Christ. No one can accuse Paul of not

being initially a faithful Jew, though his critics certainly tried.

     After Paul's conversion, Luke records, often as an eyewitness, 

the growing missionary triumphs of St.Paul, but carefully notes 

that St.Paul nowhere broke the Mosaic Law, but always in each city 

went first to the Jewish synagogue to try to win those Jews who 

would believe. Only then did he go to the Gentiles after the inevitable 

persecution in the synagogue. 

     As Luke concluded his story in The Acts, Paul was in Rome, having

first witnessed to the Jewish religion's leaders. He was rejected by most, 

as usual, so he turned to the Gentiles. There the book of Acts ends the 

story.

     The book of Acts is a limited, but rich slice of Apostolic

Christian history. It is the record of only some of the Apostles

and their deeds. It is the story of the mighty acts of the Holy

Spirit in the establishment of the early churches. It is a

shining vindication of Paul and of his decision to carry the

gospel "to the Jews first and afterwards to the Gentiles." To

these purposes, all Biblical commentaries abundantly agree. But

if we stop here, perhaps we have missed the most compelling oŁ

all effects which Luke may have been trying to achieve by writing

The Acts. This was to encourage all Jewish Christians to

consciously go forth to the Gentile world and, like Paul, bear

witness directly to it in full confidence of success, believing

confidently that this was the Holy Spirit's intention and that

God would bless their efforts in this mission and crown them with

suceess!

     In a word, Acts is a book of successful procedures in

international evangelism. The truths contained in it were aimed

to stir up those early Jewish Christians who for too long were

bound to Jerusalem and Judea or at least to Judaism.

     Biblical scholars have long been troubled by the lengthy

time after the Resurrection which some of the Apostles spent 

in Jerusalem. It was as if some of them clung to the Temple and

Judaism for perhaps a quarter of a century, despite the clear

commandment of Jesus to discipline all nations.

     Even when the Apostles occasionally were able, or forced, 

to lead a Gentile to Christ, they themselves soon returned to

Jerusalem. Even when the believers were scattered abroad by

persecution and sent everywhere preaching, Luke notes that the

Apostles were expected to remain in Jerusalem, which they did.

Why? Possibly because they were reluctant to go forth officially

to win Gentiles and start organizing Gentile churches. Who knows

the agony or timidity these Jewish men had in breaking with

Judaism?

     The date of the writing of The Acts seems certain to have

been about the year 66 A.D. By then the Apostles, for the most

part, would surely have already left Jerusalem on their world

missions.

     But The Acts covers a considerable period of time, at least

thirty-five years. Perhaps the experiences of St.Paul provided a

direct challenge to the early Christians and even to some of the

Apostles, to get on with the task which belonged to them from the

beginning; opening the whole world and all nations to the gospel.

     The Apostolic council in Jerusalem told Paul, "You go to the

Gentiles and we will go to the Jews." The Acts may well have 

been later used as an historical handbook of methods Paul had

triumphantly used, how he fared, and the clear proof that the

Holy Spirit was visibly willing, despite all obstacles, to bless

a mission to the Gentiles. But though we do not suggest that the

Apostles were shamed into their task of world evangelism by The

Acts, for the date of writing precludes this conclusion, it might

still be possible that some early portions of the book, or at least 

the experiences of St. Paul that were later recorded in the book, 

might have had this effect.

     We know nothing of the "Theophilus" to whom Luke addressed

The Acts. Theophilus is a Greek name to be sure but it simply

means "Lover of God." Perhaps, with infinite tact, Paul sought to

teach some of the "Teachers" a lesson they somehow had not yet

all learned. If it had been couched as a frontal attack or criticism 

they could not have accepted it at the hands of Paul, since they were 

disciples and Apostles before he had ever encountered Christ, 

and were therefore probably reluctant to accept new light on their 

duties from this "latecomer" to the faith.

     If these conclusions are sound, that means the early parts

of the book of The Acts were perhaps intended for some Apostles

(James having been martyred) as a virtual handbook on "successful

methods of witnessing to Gentiles", with due credit carefully

given to the anointing of the Holy Spirit in all instances. This

possibility is strengthened in the various epistles of St.Paul,

particularly in his reference to St. Peter's reluctance to even

eat with Gentile Christians in Antioch when Jewish Christian

emissaries from James in Jerusalem arrived on the scene. "I

withstood him to the face," said Paul, "because he was to be

blamed." (Galatians 2:11)

     St.Paul, in fact, had experienced the reluctance of the

Apostles to go to the Gentiles in any systematic way and pointed

out their strategy as follows: "And when James, Cephas, and John,

who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto

me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship;

that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the

circumcision" (Galatians 2:9).

     Whether or not one of the purposes of the recording of 

St. Paul's experiences, which later grew into what is now called the

book of The Acts, was to encourage and instruct the Apostles and

other early Christian workers in their duty to the Gentiles, that

was what in fact eventually resulted. Somewhere, sometime,

formally or naturally, the Apostles one day apparently decided on

a world strategy of evangelism, and each went his separate way.

Eusebius tells us the Apostles "divided the world and set forth

to all points of the compass. Was this decision prompted or

influenced by the experiences of St.Paul later recorded in the

book of The Acts? We cannot know with certainty, but it seems

likely, at least, that Paul's success could not possibly have been 

unnoticed, ignored, or uncopied. There is a fragment  of early 

Christian history which indicates there may be some substance 

to this idea.

"At the beginning of Book 3 of his History of the Church, after

having described the Fall of Jerusalem, Eusebius says that 'the

inhabited world' was divided into zones of influence among the

Apostles: Thomas in the region of the Parthians, John in Asia,

Peter in Pontes and Rome, Andrew in Scythia. This statement

contains a certain measure of historical truth, particularly for

John, but it is difficult to verify for the others. One fact, however, 

gives support to it. The apocryphal writings of the New

Testament are divided into cycles: the cycle of Peter, the cycle

of Thomas, the cycle of Philip, the cycle of john. These cycles

seem to refer to definite geographical areas, and it seems, in

particular, that the Judaeo-Christian mission at the beginning of

the second century took several different forms: the Mesopotamian, 

linked to James and Thomas; Asiatic Christianity, which depends 

on Philip and John; the Petrine group comprising Phoenicia, Pontes, 

Achaea and Rome." (The Christian Centuries, J. Danielou, p.39).

     A study of what became of the Apostles, then, must take into

account the possibility that the experience of Paul later

recorded in The Acts may have served as a catalyst to hasten the

decision of the Apostles to go into all the world and preach the

gospel. A study of the date of the book of First Peter certainly

allows time for the book of Acts to have been completed by A.D.

64. This is mentioned because it is clear from I Peter 1:1 that

Peter made missionary journeys to Asia Minor before the

conclusion of Paul's first Roman imprisonment in A.D.64. But 

even if Peter became an earlier witness to the Gentiles (despite

Galatians 2:9) this does not mean all the other Apostles had also

left Jerusalem by A.D.64, which is the earliest possible date of

the writing of The Acts. Nor does it imply that, even if all the

Apostles had left Jerusalem itself long before A.D.64, that they

had necessarily engaged in a ministry to the Gentiles wherever

they may have gone, for Jews were found everywhere. To have

achieved this, even among some of the Apostles would be a

worthwhile purpose for the experiences of St.Paul to be told and

later incorporated in The Acts.

     In any case, once they had been launched into the far reaches 

of the Roman Empire, the Apostles lighted a fire that shines in 

most of the world to this day.

                            ..................

NOTE:

It is true that the first century Apostles "turned the world up-

side down" (Acts 17:6). The "true" Gospel and the truth of God

was established near and far. But when McBirnie says, "the

Apostles lighted a fire that shines in most of the world to this

day" the light that he is talking about (which he would not admit

being a Protestant) is the dark light of Roman Catholicism and

Protestantism, both of which are Babylon Mystery Religion of the

book of Revelation - not the truth of God's word (though of

course SOME truth is mixed in with error - the Devil works that

way) as proclaimed by the Apostles. Even in the days of Jude, he

had to tell his readers to hold on to the "faith which was once

delivered to the saints." Over the centuries as the Roman

Catholic religion gained POWER throguh the rise of the Holy Roman

Empire, true Christianity as a large and bright light was

overcome and exchanged for the false light of Catholicism and

Protestantism. 

There are a number of studies on my Website showing you HOW

and WHEN the the true LIGHT was extinguished. The last books of

the Bible in "The New Testament Bible Story" also show you that

before the end of the first century A.D. there was a movement

from WITHIN the very true Church of God to depart from the faith

once delivered to the saints. That movement that started from

WITHIN the Church of Christ gained more and more influence and

power through the Empire of Rome, until it became the HOLY Roman

Empire. God calls it Babylon Mystery Religion, the woman whore

that rides the Beast, in the last chapters of Revelation. That

power is the working whereby all the world is deceived, and being

deceived more and more each week, month, and year. It is the

power that is responsible for the killing of true saints, down

through many of the centuries of the last 2,000 years. She is

truly drunk with the blood of the saints.

The 12 Apostles may have not left Jerusalem in the early years

after Pentecost of 30 A.D. but SOME of the true children of God

did, and some of them came into the British Isles, before 40 A.D.

But that's another history story for another book and another

time - although SOME of that history is in some of the studies on

my Website (i.e. "When did Christianity come to Britain") -

Keith Hunt

To be continued

Entered on my Website November 2007