St. Paul and St. Barnabas abode for some time with the disciples at Antioch: probably for about two years. Towards the end of this period, the Christians at Antioch were disturbed by the mistaken teaching of certain men who came down from Judæa. These men, who were Jews, had belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, and though now converted to be Christians, they could not yet believe that all the ceremonial part of the Law of Moses was to be entirely done away with: therefore, when they were come to Antioch, they "taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." Such teaching, so very different from that of the Apostles, caused great distress in Antioch, where most of the believers had either been proselytes of the gate, only worshipping the Lord God of Israel, but not observing any of the ceremonies commanded by the Law of Moses; or else idolaters, until they became Christians. All these converts had been truly taught by St. Paul and St. Barnabas, that if they believed in Jesus so as to obey His word, that was quite sufficient; and that they would be as acceptable in the sight of God, as if they had been Jews from their birth, keeping the whole Law perfectly. The Christians of Antioch therefore might well be frightened and distressed, at being now told that they could not obtain the salvation promised by the Gospel, unless they kept all the ordinances of the Mosaic Law: in short, that if they wished to be saved, they must be Jews as well as Christians. The Apostles of course opposed these Jewish teachers, and tried to convince them that the Gospel was all-sufficient; and that Christ's disciples had but to follow their Master's teaching. They do not seem, however, to have succeeded, and the perplexity of the Christians continued. "When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and elders about this question"--that is, to ask James and the elders of their Church, to decide, whether the Jewish teachers or the Apostles were to be believed. Just before this time, we learn from other histories, that there had been great troubles amongst the Jews in Judæa. A famine had afflicted the country,--probably that which Agabus had foretold. This had been followed by riots. In the year 48 (A.D.), a Roman soldier, who cared nothing for the religion of the Jews, and did not look upon the temple as a holy place, profaned it in some way, and thus made the Jews very angry. A great tumult was immediately raised, and several thousand Jews were crushed or trampled to death, in the narrow ways leading to the temple; and other disturbances followed.