PAUL THE APOSTLE ( Part 15) | BACK AT THE CHURCH OF ANTIOCH IN SYRIA
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3114
PAUL THE APOSTLE ( Part 15)
BACK AT THE CHURCH OF ANTIOCH IN SYRIA
( Acts 14: 27-28; 15:1-2 )
The Gentile believers of the Antioch church rejoiced at the success of the First Missionary Journey.
But the Jews in the Jerusalem church had mixed feelings as the majority of their members were Jewish.
The Gentile believers were fast becoming the majority - if one includes the new believers beyond Judea who were largely non-Jewish.
This significant fact became an issue when the more traditional Jews suggested that Gentile converts to Christianity should follow the same requirements as those who had joined Judaism earlier as proselytes i.e. they needed to circumcise themselves and undertake to keep the law of Moses.
Paul vehemently disagreed. If God had justified both Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ on equal terms -through faith in Jesus and not through following the law - how could the Jews insist that Gentile believers be circumcised first as a pre-condition?
Three things made matters worse:
1. In AD 49 James sent a delegation of Jewish believers from Jerusalem to Antioch who were Judaizers ( "the circumcision party"). They preached: " Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved" ( Acts 15:1 ).
2. Some Jewish believers thought that the inclusion of more and more Gentiles will be seen as an act of reconciling with their Roman overlords whom they still looked upon as their hostile enemies.
3. It is believed that these Judaizers refused to eat with the Gentile believers on the same table - an act which even Peter would emulate but would invoke an open rebuke from Paul!
Such a major problem required immediate attention. So the church at Antioch sent a delegation headed by Paul and Barnabus to Jerusalem to seek a solution with the leaders there.
Abba Father, when You open a door, the enemy will try to use human agents to close it. In this case, the Judaizers from Judea visited the church at Antioch and taught that Gentiles must become Jews before they can be Christians. Their teaching denied salvation by grace through faith ( Ephesians 2:8-9 ).
They tried to blend the old religion with the new ( Matt. 9:14-17 ). They failed to see that their glorious religious system, given by God, has been fulfilled in Christ. That was why the book of Hebrews was written to explain to them that the law and their traditions could not grant salvation. Only the Risen Son of God could.
