Black Sheep Are Real

J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.
Bible Illustrator

Acts Chapter 6

1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

We are introduced to a class of people here called Grecians, who were proselytes to the Jewish worship, and Jews born and bred in foreign countries, whose language was Greek. In Acts 2. a long catalogue is given us of the countries from which they came. The home Jews, or Hebrews, looked down upon their foreign brethren as having contracted contamination by their long contact with the heathen. As a natural result, considerable jealousy sprang up between them. The Church did not create the division; on the contrary, its direct influence was to merge the two factions into one — they were all of "one accord." But in process of time the old spirit of rivalry manifested itself. The world often taunts the Church with having within its fold contentious and hypocritical people. But where have they come from? The Church has black sheep; but they were black when they first came in from the world, and remain black in spite of the cleansing influences around them.