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52 EXEGETICAL NOTES

tha t followed by James and the

apostis at Jerusalem. It was a mat

ter of such importance that the dis

pute threatened to stifle the life of

the Church and therefore the

preaching of the gospel right from

the start. So it was essential that

Paul's position be made clear to the

apostles at Jerusalem. Gal. 2:8-10 is

the record of the mutual acceptance

of each party by the other in their

common evangelistic task.

We are therefore told in Gal. 2:9

'James and Kephas and John, who

were considered to be the pillars,gave to me and to Barnabas the right

hand of fellowhip '. Notice in the

sentence the order of the words

\ : there aretwo terms in the composite expres-sion. First it is said that they gavethe right hands to Paul and Bar-nabas, and then this is qualified by

the additio n of tot . Thefirst is a regular Greek expressionfor showing fellowship and unity.The phrase is normally found in theplural, even when it refers to theright hand given by, or receivedfrom, a single person (1 Mac. 11:50,62; 13:50). J.B. Lightfoot

1there-

fore rightly sees it as an idiomaticexpression, though this need not

imply that there was no outwardgesture of mut ual acceptance. Itwas not originally a commonJewish practice, but it was commonamong the Persians and other east-ern nations, from whom presum-ably it spread among the Jews.Josephus (cit. ap. J.B. Lightfoot)well describes it as 'the most force-ful demonstration among all the

barbar ians in that region to give sec-urity to those who converse with

them' (Ant. 18:328f). Lightfootfurther draws attention to the Greekpractice of 'sending images of righthands clasped, as a token offriendship' when a personal meet-ing was not possible.

Gal. 2:9 is the only example of theexpression in the New Testament.

As a symbol it is perfectly fitted todescribe mutual recognition andacceptance, and it is used on thisoccasion at one of the critical pointsin the history of the early Church.Neither party is expecting submis-sion from the other: they recogniseeach other as striving together forthe same purpose of preaching thegospel. A more unified approach tothe problem facing the Church wasmade possible only in later years:

but this act marked the beginning ofthe process.

To this Greek idiom ('giving theright hand') there is added at the

end the vital word ,separated from 'the right hand' bythe mention of 'me and Barnabas '. Itis thus in an emphatic position andis itself a word rich with meaning. Itis for example closely connected

with the thought of the fe llowshipwith Christ into which believers arecalled by their baptism (I Cor. 1:9);it describes the fellowship or par-

ticipation in the Holy Spirit (2 Cor.13:13); it describes the sharing inthe body and blood of Christ (1 Cor.10:16), where such participationmeans a real involvement in the lifeof Christ. X0tV)VL(X and relatedterms express the unity given to

believers with the Lord and there

fore with each other. For Paul the

La was concerned above

all with the unity achieved in Christbetween Jew and Genti le . The col-l ti Ch i ti i G

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JOURNALOF THEOLOGY FORSOUTHERNAFRICA 53

this sense of community (2 Cor. 8:4,

9:13). The meaning of

etc. is represented in Hebrew by the

root l l f l for which t a

etc. is occasionally the translationin the LXX. The verb 11 means

'unite' or 'join together', and isoften used metaphorically. Jdg.

20:11 talks of all Israel setting out

'united as one man' ( 0 * 2 ) .

t a is also used by Philo

to indicate the religious sharing of

fellowship between God and man2.

Al though was a regu

lar Greek concept it clearly had itsHebrew roots too. Paul understood

Christians as forming such a close

group with their Lord and through

him with one another as to make it

impossible to form any similar

association with non-Christians. 2

Cor. 6:14-16, whatever its precise

origin and status, well representsPaul's thought - 'What *

can there be between light anddarkness? . . . or what connect ion

between a believer and an unbe

liever?' (A parallel expression is

found in Ecclus. 13:17 - 'What

Ca is there between a

wolf and a lamb?')

In Gal. 2:9 we find 'an expression

of the full fellowship established by

common faith in Christ. Paul is in

this way acknowledged to be a

genuine xoCvtuvdS of Christ and

therefore of the earlier believersrepresented by the apostles.

3The

giving of 'the right hand of fellowshi p' therefore was much more than

a sign of welcome and peace, as it

would be on the secular plane. It

signifies the acceptance of oneanother as in Christ,

as members of the same

2 F Hauck in Theological Dictionary of the New

or communio n, whi ch is declared

whenever Christ ians share together

in the communion ()

of the body and blood of Christ. In

spite of differences of approachthere is a fundamental unity 'in

Christ'.

In the proposed service for themutual recognition of ministries

between the churches of the Church

Unity Commission it is proposed

that the ministers of the participating churches lay hands on each

other in silence. It is made explici t

that there is no question here of anykind of ordination or re-ordination.

All sides are agreed that this wouldbe most undesi rable.

Now it is true that the laying on ofhands in the New Testament and in

the early Church had various mean

ings. It was pre dominantly a sign ofblessing, used at the entrance intothe christian fellowship (Ac. 19:6),

in cases of healing (Mk. 6:5) and inordination or commissioning to

particular tasks (Ac. 13:3). In the

early Church it was used too as a

sign of blessing on readmission tothe communion of the Church. It is

widely used today in the so-calledcharismatic movement, either for

healing or for imparting blessings ofthe Holy Spirit. In the proposed rite

for the mutual recognition of ministries it is not clear which meaning is

to be assigned to the laying on ofhands in silence. It is certainly not

initiation or ordination; it may be a

sign of the reconciliation of penitents, though some might find that

difficult. By metonymy it could be

referred to the healing of the sickness caused by our divisions. It is

presumably most akin to the meaning as understood in 'charismatic'

i l i if i f ll ift f th

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54 EXEGETICALNOTES

now to be put. There is of course no

reason why we should not give anew meaning to an old sign. Butthis act of recognition of ministries

is a solemn and important step, andbecause there are some who think

that there may be a covert ordination involved there is much to besaid for using a scriptural sign

whose meaning is perfectly clear.

The giving and receiving of 'theright hand of fellowship' (in the fullsense demanded by Gal. 2:9) has a

further advantage. The position of

ministers who (through illness orfor other reasons) do not share in

the rite of mutual laying on of hand smay (under the present proposals)

be somewhat ambiguous. Has their

ministry been officially recognisedand extended or not? The giving ofthe right hand of fellowship is soclearly a sign of welcome andacceptance that even if some minis

ters do not participate in it theirparticipation may be said to be

included in the representative actsof the chief ministers of the

churches involved, and formal

local services can easily bearranged, if so desired, when the

right ha nd of fellowship may be

given and received.

The Church in this century is

faced by a challenge every bit asserious as that which faced Paul.

This century has seen the turning of

the tide: whereas from 1054 (if notbefore) the Church has been racked

by divisions, and each church has

claimed to represent the truth of the

gospel, so now there has developeda remarkable understanding of the

common unity in Christ whi ch weshare and which needs to be clearly

manifested. But we continually

reach an impasse when it comes to

the mutual recognition of minis

tries, since there are many who tend

to think of ways of validating ordination. In any united Church there

must clearly be a single recognisedrite of ordination, of a form whichshows the continuity of the Church

today with the Church of previous

centuries: but as a first step towardsthe goal of a united Church it wouldseem to be theologically approp

riate, as well as charitable goodsense, to declare our acceptance of

one another's ministries in a way

which is clear and unambi guous. Inthe face of all that militates against

the Christian gospel the Church is

called upon, as always, to assert in the Spirit of all

who believe in Christ, that the truthof the gospel may be proclaimed.

What better way of showing our

determination to achieve this than

by the use of the same sign which

Peter, James and John gave to Pauland Barnabas?

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^ s

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