"And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication. Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purifcation, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them."
Today's quote exposes the great dissension between Paul and the Jewish membership of the Church at that time.
The quote relates how when Paul returned to Jerusalem he was welcomed by James and the Jewish elders of the Church.
Those Jewish elders who were (supposed) followers of Christ, at first congratulated Paul and his company for the great success of their foreign ministry. However, As soon as the welcoming and congratulations amenities were over, the Jewish elders, out of fear of the Jewish majority in Jerusalem, began to ridicule Paul for not forcing the new Gentile disciples to strictly adhere to the Law of Moses.
As we now, and Paul then knew, Jesus made no such demand upon the Gentiles. In fact, He explicitly taught just the opposite. Jesus came to fulfill the Law so that it wouldn't be a burden around the necks of those who would seek God's grace. Yet James and those Jewish elders insisted the Gentiles follow the Law. Paul responded; "As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication."
Paul then, for some reason doing as they asked, relented to undergo a seven day process of "purification", I suppose to pacify those elders who were clearly wrong about what was required of the Gentile Christians. This erroneous point will be further examined as these lessons progress.~
It is important to note that the term "Purify" as it is applied in this text, refers to the ritual water cleansing (baptism) that was required of the Jews before they entered the temple to worship.
No comments:
Post a Comment