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Commentary on "Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles"
Day 6: Thursday, September 29, 2011 - Conflict Within the Church
Overview
The entry of Gentiles into the body of Christ, the church, introduced conflicts that needed to be resolved between them and the Jewish converts who believed their unique Hebrew Old Covenant practices were required of all those who worshiped God. However the body of believers that worshiped together needed a common set of doctrines and practices if peace and the bond of love, Matt. 22:34-40, were to bind them together and be a positive witness of the power of God to the world around them.
Observations
Here is the issue as it was set forth by those who belonged to the party of the Pharisees:
But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” (Acts 15:1-5 ESV)
After much debate and the testimony of Paul and Barnabas, Peter who Jesus, in front of the other apostles, had given him authority to ‘bind things on earth’ had these concluding words to say which was followed up with a letter from the Council at Jerusalem and sent to Antioch:
Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. (Acts 15:19-20 ESV)
Doctrinally, when you study the epistle of Galatians, it is made clear that these changes of practices were founded upon a change of covenant introduced by Jesus Christ by his sacrifice at Calvary. The Old Covenant and the Law of Moses had been replaced by the New Covenant.
- Under the Old Covenant the Law of Moses was a single unit which the bible never breaks into parts. It is either now all obsolete or it is all still binding upon those who surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and obey God.
- Circumcision, even though it was the seal of the eternal Abrahamic Covenant, is now obsolete because it was written into the Old Covenant. Now when we speak of circumcision we understand it to mean the circumcision of our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
- The ‘Ten Commandments’ was the written binding contract of the Old Covenant, along with the seal of Sabbath Keeping, between God and the Hebrew people which is now obsolete and has been replaced by another law founded upon a new and better covenant.
Summary
- Under the New Covenant Gentiles were given entry in the kingdom of God on an equal standing with Jewish believers without any of the requirements that were binding on those who had previously lived under the requirements of the Old Covenant.
- You cannot mix into one set of practices that of both the obsolete Old Covenant with the New Covenant it has totally replaced. This would by definition include Sabbath Keeping which was the seal of the obsolete Old Covenant given only to the Nation of Israel. This is exactly what Jesus meant when he stated that you cannot put new wine in old wine sacks, Mark 2:18-22.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised September 19, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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