Axis Mundi: Syria

"Peregrinatio Pauli" by Jodocus Hondius from a reprint
of "Hakluytus Posthumus" by Samuel Purchas, 1625

Ordinary believers brought the Gospel to their home regions of Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. We can safely assume that they shared the Gospel among their co-religionists with varying degrees of discretion in and out of the Synagogue setting. At some point, men from Cyprus and from Cyrene (Libya) also began to proclaim the Gospel to Greeks, who by implication were not God-fearing Gentiles associated with a Synagogue. The believers in Antioch did not share this practice of preaching to Gentiles; so when men from Cyprus and from Cyrene won converts in Antioch, it resulted in the awkward establishment of a non-pagan, non-Jewish congregation of believers in that city, whom the locals termed “Christians.” The apostles sent Barnabas (himself a Levite from Cyprus) to Antioch to evaluate the novel situation of Gentile believers unattached to a synagogue. Perhaps influenced by Peter’s example at the house of Cornelius, Barnabas accepted the novel situation as an outworking of the grace of God. He recruited Saul from Tarsus to help him minister to this unusual congregation. Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen (a childhood companion of Herod the Tetrarch) also provided leadership.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Ac 11.19-26)

We have no account of Paul’s activities between the time he returned to Tarsus and the time he joined Barnabas in Antioch, though some of the trials he enumerates in 2 Corinthians 11.23-24 must have occurred during that period. This means that he had continued to preach Christ as dynamically as he had in Damascus and Jerusalem. Antioch did not represent a return to service for Saul. He simply reenters the narrative frame of Acts. This is worth noting because we are easily tempted to believe that nothing significant happened if it wasn’t reported—or that anything famous is by definition more significant—which leads us to equate celebrity with godliness.

Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one; three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; I spent a night and a day in the open sea. (2 Co 11.23-24)

The lingering question of circumcision (acceptance of the Law) eventually came to a head at the council in Jerusalem. The council ruled against burdening non-Jewish believers with the full weight of the Law, singling out only food sacrificed to idols, blood, and sexual immorality. One might reasonably ask why the council specified these restrictions instead of simply citing the Ten Commandments. Moreover, one might ask what is implied by the comment: “Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath” (Acts 15.21). The answer to both questions is likely twofold. Firstly, the so-called Noahide Laws were considered binding on Jews and non-Jews alike. The Talmud summarizes the basic formulation of these laws as follows: “Seven precepts were the sons of Noah taught: social laws, [and] to refrain from blasphemy, idolatry, adultery, bloodshed, robbery and eating flesh cut from a living animal” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin VII.56a). Observance of these laws was not considered meritorious unless performed by faith upon hearing Scripture proclaimed—hence the reference to Moses being preached. Secondly, Leviticus 17-19 applies to non-Israelites living within the domains of Israel, which would include any community where the laws of Moses are proclaimed.

Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. (Ac 15.1-2)

The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ things known from long ago.’

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” (Ac 15.12-21)

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Co 2.13−17)

[The practice of meeting on Sunday probably arose at this time for the simple reason that this day was observed as a rest day throughout the Eastern Provinces by everyone except the Jews, who had official sanction to observe the Sabbath. These provinces observed an astrological week requiring seven days to reconcile a cycle of two twelve-hour periods with a cycle of seven planetary influences. The cycle of planets ruling any given hour corresponded to the seven observable planets arranged in descending order of presumed distance from the Earth: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Each day of the week assumed the name of the planet ruling the first hour of that day, resulting in successive days named after Saturn, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. Because the first day of the week was identified with the unlucky planet Saturn, the eastern provinces celebrated the second day of the week as a kind of feast day in honor of a tutelary deity of Rome: Sol Invictus (i.e. The Sun). The astrological week was originally out of phase with the sabbatical week by one day, but the two systems were eventually reconciled with Sunday reckoned as the first day following the rise of Christianity as a major social force in the Roman Empire. (see Hutton Webster. Rest Days. New York: McMillan, 1916).]