Lesson 3664

 (Lesson 3664)(01-16-22) Acts 15:1-5

    “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. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

    Today’s quote relates how many elements of the Law of Moses began to be intertwined into the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ among the early Christians. Those impositions were demanded by such authorities as James and other of the apostles.

    Contrary to what James and some of the others wanted, Jewish rituals, such as water baptism, circumcision etcetera, were never intended to be a part of Christian doctrine. 

    As Paul and others so eloquently and forcefully preached, the old law and the gospel of Christ were like oil and water, they COULD NOT be mixed together. Jesus made that perfectly clear in Matthew 9:16-17, “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the  ottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”

    As we will learn from upcoming lessons, Paul, Peter, James and some other apostles would have a parting of their ways because of this issue. 

    Paul, however, with some negligible concessions, held onto, and continued to preach, the basic principles of Christianity, in spite of the interference from James et al.

    It is also very important to note that the influences of Paganism and Roman Catholicism began to creep into the gospel message, among many, as Christianity was spreading throughout the region. This too will be borne out as these lessons continue.~