belonged to the liberal school of Gamaliel, to the views of
which the teachings and practices of Peter, James, and John might easily
be accommodated. Probably not their belief in Jesus as the Messiah,
for at the riot in which Stephen was murdered and all the Hellenist
disciples driven from Jerusalem, the Jewish disciples were allowed
to remain in the city unmolested. (See Acts viii. 1, 14.) This marked
difference of treatment indicates that Paul regarded Stephen and his
friends as decidedly more heretical and obnoxious than Peter, James, and
John, whom, indeed, Paul's own master Gamaliel had recently (Acts v. 34)
defended before the council. And this inference is fully confirmed by
the account of Stephen's death, where his murderers charge him with
maintaining that Jesus had founded a new religion which was destined
entirely to supersede and replace Judaism (Acts vi. 14). The Petrine
disciples never held this view of the mission of Jesus; and to this
difference it is undoubtedly owing that Paul and his companions forbore
to disturb them. It would thus appear that even previous to Paul's
conversion, within five or six years after the death of Jesus, there was
a prominent party among the disciples which held that the new religion
was not a modification but an abrogation of Judaism; and their name
"Hellenists" sufficiently shows either that there were Gentiles among
them or that they held fellowship with Gentiles. It was this which
aroused Paul to persecution, and upon his sudden conversion it was with
these Hellenistic doctrines that he fraternized, taking little heed of
the Petrine disciples (Galatians i. 17), who were hardly more than a
Jewish sect.

Now the existence of these Hellenists at Jerusalem so soon after
the death of Jesus is clear proof that he had never distinctly and
irrevocably pronounced against the admission of Gentiles to the
Messianic kingdom, and it makes it very probable that the downfall of
Mosaism as a result of his preaching was by no means unpremeditated.
While, on the other hand, the obstinacy of the Petrine party in adhering
to Jewish customs shows equally that Jesus could not have unequivocally
committed himself in favour of a new gospel for the Gentiles. Probably
Jesus was seldom brought into direct contact with others than Jews, so
that the questions concerning the admission of Gentile converts did
not come up during his lifetime; and thus the way was left open for the
controversy which soon