The life and work of St. Paul

IHE CONSULTATION AT JEETJSALEM. 235
these in repute added nothing." Such is a literal translation 01 his actual
words in this extraordinary sentence ; and he then proceeds to narrate the
acknowledgment of the Three, that his authority was in no sense disparate
with theirs ; nay, that in dealing with the Gentiles he was to be regarded as
specially endowed with Divine guidance.
But does he mean that, " I never for a moment yielded and circumcised
Titus, in spite of the enormous pressure which was put upon ine " ? or does he
mean, " I admit grieved as I am to admit it that in the case of Titus I did
yield. Titus was circumcised, but not under compulsion. I yielded, but not
out of submission. The concession which I made vast as it was, mistaken as
it may have been was not an abandonment of principle, but a stretch of
charity " ?
It must be remembered that Paul "cared for ideas, not for forms;" the
fact that circumcision was a matter in itself indifferent the admitted truth
that men could be saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by that
alone may have induced him, under strong pressure, 1 to concede that the rite
should be performed with the same kind of half -contemptuous indifference to
the exaggeration of trifles which makes him say to the Galatians in a burst of
bitter irony, " I wish that, while they are about it, these Judaisers, who make
so much of circumcision, would go a little farther still and make themselves
altogether like your priests of Agdistis." 2 When Paul took on him the
Nazarite vow, when he circumcised Timothy, 3 he did it out of a generous desire
to remove all needless causes of offence, and not to let his work be hindered
by a stiff refusal to give way in things unimportant. We know that it was his
avowed principle to become all things to all men, if so be ho might win some.
His soul was too large to stickle about matters of no moment. Can we not
imagine that in the wild strife of tongues which made Jerusalem hateful so
long as the uncircumcised Titus was moving among the members of the
Church, Paul might have got up and said, " I have come here to secure a
decision about a matter of vast moment. If the presence of Titus looks to
you like an offensive assertion of foregone conclusions well, ifc is only an
individual iushinco and while the question is still undecided, I will have him
circumcised, and wo shall then be able to proceed more calmly to the considera-
"
tion of the general question ? Might he not have regarded this as a case in
Yi-hich it was advisable " reculer pour mieux sauter " ? and to his own friends
who shared his sentiments might he not have said, " What does it matter Lti
this particular instance? It can mean nothing. Titus himself is generous
enough to wish it for the sake of peace ; he fully understands that he is merely
yielding to a violent prejudice. It may be most useful to him in securing
future admission to Jewish assemblies. To him, to us, it will bo regarded as
'concision,' not 'circumcision;' an outward observance submitted to from
voluntary good nature not ; by any means a solemn precedent, or a significant
rite " ? And would not Titus have also urged the Apostle not to be deterred
) Acts xv. 10.
* GaL Y IT In the Creek). ActsxvL&