Day 78 – The Council @ Jerusalem
Who is in? Who is out? This is a question which always seems to be of great interest within the church over the last two thousand years. Where is the fence, so to speak?
Who are the people of God? Who is the church? Who is the church for?
The Jews had their answer, based on what had been the common interpretation of their scripture (our Old Testament), to this point. Now the early followers of Jesus, who also saw themselves as good Jews, must make a decision: Must Gentile followers of Jesus, first declare faith in Jesus, almost as a transition stage, then follow Jewish law as well. This would include circumcision as well as other aspects of law. These additional actions would certainly raise a deterrent to becoming part of the “in group”. Is this interpretation truly the gospel of Jesus? The meeting in Jerusalem
A final decision is reached after much discussion, one can assume prayer, and interpretation of scripture. A compromise solution is presented by James, the brother of Jesus. The solution is then written in a letter. I love the wording: For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28-29)
Obviously this meets with wild acclaim from the Gentile converts. Over time even the food issues are generally eliminated. But the issue is not settled for some time. The idea of belief in Jesus as a mere transition to “true” Judaism will continue as a challenge for many years.
The underlying issue is still with us today. Is there a bare minimum? What do we confuse as cultural behaviors which have no true faith meaning? Who is the judge?
In Christ,
Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment