POD PREP FOR 1-30-15
DOES THE ACTS 15 CONFERENCE DO AWAY WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT LAWS FOR GENTILES?
CULTURAL PREJUDICES WERE NOT UNDERSTOOD OR TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION
Most people think that Acts 15 did away with Old Testament Laws for non-Jewish Christians. They do not investigate the context of Acts 15 nor understand the cultural prejudices extant during that time period and the importance of God’s Laws. Acts 10 declares the attitude that Jewish people had in those days. From the beginning of Gentile conversions, "certain men. . . from Judea" insisted that "unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved" (Acts:15:1 “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.) Notice that they viewed circumcision as a matter of salvation. It was a huge issue to them! They resented the large number of uncircumcised Gentiles entering the Church.
PETER AND PAUL ARGUED THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT HAD ALREADY MADE THE DECISION
Peter and Paul argued that God had already made an exception regarding the law of circumcision for Gentiles. Peter recounts how a Gentile soldier was given the Holy Spirit uncircumcised. See Acts 10:44-48. Paul explained how God had done a mighty work throughout the Gentile world among uncircumcised converts. See Acts 15:12. God’s power was clearly in evidence!
The more zealous converted Pharisees in a self-righteous and anti-Gentile mind set wanted to create a barrier to keep most Gentiles out of the Church. See Acts 15:7-11 and Gal 2:5. Peter understood their motives. Peter and Paul understood that it was a matter of the heart and repentance. Paul wrote circumcise your hearts. See Jer 4:4 and Romans 2:29. The FOUR RESTRICTIONS ON UNCLEAN GENTILES ENTERING CHURCH revolve around their pagan culture and religious practices which were highly offensive to Jews. The practices were listed as 1.) Worshipping Idols 2.) Committing Fornication 3.) Eating strangled meat with blood and 4.) And eating or drinking blood.
Gentiles commonly did all the above items including having sex with temple prostitutes as part of worshipping idols. Most of the Gentile converts attended the synagogues probably in the back and knew to reject those practices but this list was created soothe the sensibilities of Jews. It was also done to signal to all new Gentile Christians to fully reject their pagan past. Does anyone believe that James was saying to Gentiles you can now murder, lie and steal curse God’s name because they were not among the four items. Clearly he was not saying anything so outrageous! Further James said they would learn all the other things they needed to know by continuing attending the synagogues on the Sabbath. See Acts 15:21.
THE JUDAIZING THREAT REMAINED INSPITE OF THE INSPIRED DECISION
Some of these law driven zealots secretly went behind Paul’s back and worked to undermine the Jerusalem conference decision. The negative work of the circumcision party continued for years and is a major theme in most of Paul’s letters. One cannot fully understand the New Testament without understanding this secret struggle. Oddly enough these Judaizers that required all converts to be Jewish in affect would pull them also into some of the errors that Jewish people had regarding God’s laws. Christ criticized them for some of their traditions and so did the Apostle Paul. See Mark 7:7 and Gal 6:12-13. Acts 15 is the history of the New Testament Church and shows how much the two testaments were in line with each other. The new covenant Gentiles were taught to obey the Old Testament where appropriate.
Jim
