Bible. New Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Christianity -- Origin; Paul, the Apostle, Saint
4. Time might have given admission to behaviour on his part, of a sort,
by which distrust might be lessened, confidence strengthened.
Well; now we have him at Jerusalem,--and for the first time after his
conversion. When thus, at Jerusalem,--of those whom he went to see, whom
did he actually see? Answer, Peter for one; James, whom he styles the
Lord's brother, and who, according to him, though not literally a
brother, was, however, a kinsman of Jesus:--these two, according to his
own shewing; these two, and no more. "Then after three years I went up
to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But of the
other Apostles saw I none, save James, the Lord's brother." Gal. 1:18,
19.
SECTION 4.
OCCASION, AS PER ACTS ACCOUNT COMPARED WITH PAUL'S.
Such as hath been seen is Paul's account of the matter:--Paul's own
account, of the interval that elapsed, between his conversion, and the
first of his subsequent visits to Jerusalem:--to the residence of the
Christians, whom he had been persecuting, and of the rulers, under and
by the authority of whom, the persecution had been carried on. Such,
loose as it is, is his account, of the interval between these two
events: and of the place, in which, either almost the whole, or at any
rate the greatest part of it, was passed.
Such was Paul's own account of his own proceedings,--at the distance of
twenty-five years and more. Compare with it, now, the account, given by
his historiographer--given, of the interval, that, according to him, had
place, between these same two events. Acts 9:19-29.
Here, no three years' sojournment in Arabia: no visit to that country:
no notice, of any place, other than Damascus, as being a place, in which
the whole, or any part, of the time in question, was passed. In a
position, with respect to each other, scarcely different from that of
contiguity,--are the two events brought together. The blood of their
disciples scarce washed from off his hands, when, with Barnabas for his
introducer, he presents himself to the Apostles!
At the very time, when the Jerusalem rulers, would have been expecting
to receive from him, the proofs of his punctuality, in the execution of
the important plan, of official oppression, of which, at his own
instance, he had been solemnly constituted and appointed the
instrument; when, after going over to and forming a league with the
criminals, for such they must have been called, whom he had been
commissioned by these rulers to bring to justice;--at this very time it
is, that he returns to the seat of their dominion:--to the place in
which, at that very time, his return to them, with the intended victims
in captivity, could not but be the subject of universal expectation!
Let any one now judge, whether, in any state of things, natural or
supernatural, the sort of conduct thus supposed is credible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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