he was drawn out of the city, they
"supposing he had been dead." But he was not dead, he
soon rose up and came back into the city and the next
day departed with Barnabas to Derbe, where they
preached the gospel and taught many.

+The Return Journey+ is very briefly recorded (Acts
14:21-28). The missionaries returned through the same
cities, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, and so back to Perga.
But from the last city they did not sail to the island of
Cyprus, but took a different course, westerly along the
coast to Attalia in Pamphylia and from thence they sailed
to Antioch, the starting point of their trip. During this
return journey they proved to their friends and enemies
that, in departing from the cities where mobs threatened
them, it was through no cowardice on their part, but for
other reasons and for the purpose of preaching the gospel
in the regions beyond. They "confirmed the souls of the
disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith." They
also further perfected the organization of the churches,
ordaining elders in every church. They prayed with and
for the disciples and commended them to the Lord.

When the missionaries at last entered the city of
Antioch, "they rehearsed all that God had done with them,
and how He had opened the door of faith unto the
Gentiles." There must have been great rejoicing over this
happy return of Paul and Barnabas.

THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL

_Acts 15:1-35_

+One Problem of the Early Church+ was how to
reconcile the commandments of Moses with the new law of
liberty in Jesus Christ. Ought the Gentile Christians to
observe the law of Moses? Ought they to become Jews
before they became Christians? Were there to be two
churches? One for Jewish and another for Gentile
Christians? These questions are obsolete now, but then they
were burning ones and hotly debated. Hence this Jerusalem
Council, where the matter was debated and settled,
was exceedingly important and fraught with great and
grave consequences for the future welfare of the church.
Because certain of the Jewish brethren came to Antioch
and began to teach that it was necessary to salvation
that a certain Jewish ordinance and the law of Moses be
kept, it was determined to send Paul and Barnabas to
Jerusalem.

A council of "the apostles and elders came together
for to consider of this matter" (Acts 15:6). At this
council in Jerusalem, Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James
were the chief speakers. All matte