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| Paul preaches in the synagogue |
Every message we preached was that one. We used the Old Testament writings to prove our case Biblically. We knew we were under a new agreement with God through Christ. One which was greater than the Old Covenant. One which superseded the Old Covenant. One which made the Old Covenant obsolete.
We were at a gathering one day when some men claiming to be followers of Christ were preaching.
"Men of Antioch, hear us well! It is all well and good to believe in Christ and His resurrection. But there is much more to pleasing God than that. God has ordained that to please him you must also be circumcised. After all, God is still Jewish, and he still requires you to follow the Law of Moses."
"What?" I argued with them. "Where on earth did you get that notion? Pleasing God is having a relationship with Him through Christ, nothing more. That's what the New Covenant is all about! It's Jesus plus nothing! Can't you see that?"
"You are wrong!" they replied. "You must not forsake any of the teachings of the Law of Moses or any other part of the Covenant (by which they meant the Old Covenant). You must be circumcised, you must follow the Ten Commandments, you must tithe, you must attend the synagogue on Saturday.
"You can still be 'Christian,' but you must not forsake any aspect of your Jewishness!"
I was getting antsy. "You don't get it, do you? All of those things have been done away with by Christ and His resurrection! We cannot follow Him and the Old Covenant, too. It is impossible!"
"Tell you what," said some of the others. "Why don't you go down to Jerusalem and speak with the other apostles and elders and see what they have to say about it?"
"We will," I answered. And off to Jerusalem we went.
When we got there, we held a meeting, complete with a covered dish supper.
Some of those at the meeting were converted Pharisees. They sided with the need to be circumcised and to follow the Law of Moses.
Good old peter stood up and spoke.
"God sent me to the Gentiles to present the gospel to them. Did you get that? Gentiles! And guess what! God made no distinction between us and them. Can you Pharisees even imagine being compared to a Gentile?
"God purified their hearts the same way he purifies any heart: by faith in the resurrected Lord. Why do you now want to add baggage to that? We are all saved by, and only by, the grace of our Lord, Jesus."
The room fell silent. The air was both tense and reverent.
James spoke up. "Simon has testified how God has chosen people for Himself from among the Gentiles." Then he quoted from Isaiah a proof of what he was saying.
He went on, "It is my judgement that turning to Christ should be easy for Jew and Gentile alike. Sure, there are things that we should not do, such as eat food dedicated by idols, sexually immoral behavior and such, but those are things no legitimate follower would do anyway."
In the end, the conference decided the matter and sent a letter to the Gentile believers. We wanted to settle the matter of circumcision. We told them that it would be good for them to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. They were not to be burdened with any of the Mosaic or ceremonial Law.
We delivered the letter, making the Gentile believers glad for its encouraging message.
Barnabas and I stayed in Antioch while the rest of the group went to other countries to preach the gospel. We did so in Antioch. We preached Christ crucified and resurrected...nothing more.
Barnabas and I disagreed about whether to take Mark with us. I, in one of my frequent bouts of arrogance, still harbored resentment that Mark had "deserted" us in Pamphylia.
In the end, Barnabas took Mark and headed for Cyprus. I took Silas with me and went out to spread the gospel and to strengthen the churches.
Little did I know that later I would learn from the Holy Spirit that Mark was one of us, after all.
God's forgiveness in Christ is complete or it is not forgiveness at all.
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