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In the Regions Beyond
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had previously been formally ordained to the gospel ministry by
prayer and the laying on of hands. They were now authorized by
the church not only to teach the truth but to baptize and to organize
churches, being invested with full ecclesiastical authority. This was
an important era for the church. Though the middle wall of partition
between Jew and Gentile had been broken down by the death of
Christ, letting the Gentiles into the full privileges of the gospel,
the veil had not yet been torn away from the eyes of many of the
believing Jews, and they could not clearly discern to the end of that
which was abolished by the Son of God. The work was now to
be prosecuted with vigor among the Gentiles, and was to result in
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strengthening the church by a great ingathering of souls.
The apostles, in this, their special work, were to be exposed to
suspicion, prejudice, and jealousy. As a natural consequence of their
departure from the exclusiveness of the Jews, their doctrine and
views would be subject to the charge of heresy; and their credentials
as ministers of the gospel would be questioned by many zealous,
believing Jews. God foresaw all these difficulties which His servants
would undergo, and, in His wise providence, caused them to be
invested with unquestionable authority from the established church
of God, that their work should be above challenge.
The ordination by the laying on of hands was, at a later date,
greatly abused; unwarrantable importance was attached to the act,
as though a power came at once upon those who received such ordi-
nation, which immediately qualified them for any and all ministerial
work, as though virtue lay in the act of laying on of hands. We
have, in the history of these two apostles, only a simple record of the
laying on of hands, and its bearing upon their work. Both Paul and
Barnabas had already received their commission from God Himself;
and the ceremony of the laying on of hands added no new grace or
virtual qualification. It was merely setting the seal of the church
upon the work of God—an acknowledged form of designation to an
appointed office.
The First General Conference
Certain Jews from Judea raised a general consternation among
the believing Gentiles by agitating the question of circumcision.