While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted. When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them. But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.” So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written: ‘Afterward I will return and restore the fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord, including the Gentiles— all those I have called to be mine. The Lord has spoken— he who made these things known so long ago.’ “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”
Acts of the Apostles 15:1-21 NLT
There was a debate: should the Gentile Christians get circumcised and be required to follow the Jewish cultural food laws? There is a deeper question here: does a person have to be circumcised—culturally Jewish—to be accepted by God? The Pharisees (who were Christians) said that circumcision was required to be accepted by God, along with the food laws and many other requirements. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James disagreed – this was not the way of Jesus, the leading of the Holy Spirit, or even the direction of the Old Testament.
The Spirit had led Peter in a vision and showed, by filling the Gentiles, that He accepts uncircumcised people as they are. Paul and Barnabas told how the Gentiles came to Jesus, led by the Spirit and demonstrated by signs and wonders. James related how Scripture itself points to the day when God would come and call the Gentiles as He called Abraham. The Jewish law is important – it sets cultural distinctions around the Jewish culture. However, it does not make someone accepted by God. Judaism at its heart taught grace – a person was accepted because of God’s covenant (symbolized in circumcision), and a person was forgiven because of sacrifices. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice, the fulfillment of the law, and the end of the division between Jews and Gentiles. Culture would no longer be the dividing line.
Christ calls His people to cross cultural lines to share His love. To live the gospel, these early Christians overcame faulty theology, painful history, and their own upbringing. They set an example for us to follow. Find ways to cross cultural lines without trying to erase the other person’s culture.
Can you distinguish between your culture and Christianity? How can you find ways this week to cross cultural lines with God’s love?
