Then Barnabas and Paul gave an account of their missionary tour through Asia Minor, and of the wonderful success with which God had blessed the preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles. James then rose, whose opinion as presiding officer, and pastor of the metropolitan church, would have great weight with the council, and very earnestly and convincingly sustained the views advocated by Peter, Paul, and Barnabas. The result recorded by Luke was as follows:―― “Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: and they wrote letters by them after this manner:―― “The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law (to whom we gave no such commandment), it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,――men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent, therefore, Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth: for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things,――that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.”[122] The brethren returned to Antioch, and communicated to the assembled church there the result of the council. It gave great satisfaction; and though, for a time, the all-important question continued here and there to trouble the churches, eventually there was universal acquiescence in the decision of the brethren at Jerusalem. After this, Paul and Barnabas continued some time in Antioch, “teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.” In the mean time, Peter came to Antioch to assist the brethren in their labors there. Impetuous and versatile, and far from infallible, he at first lived in free intercourse with the Gentile converts, eating with them, and meeting them in social friendship on terms of entire equality; but suddenly, “through fear of those who were of the circumcision,” we find him withdrawing from those whom he had just been treating as equals, and giving his example in favor of those who demanded that the Gentiles should become Jews. This vacillation and inconsistency on the part of Peter excited the indignation of Paul. The account which Paul gives of this transaction is as follows:――