Galatians 2:6-10 As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Cephas, and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
After fourteen years away from Jerusalem, Paul with Barnabas and Titus goes back to Jerusalem to validate what he was ministering in the Greek communities. Some people from Jerusalem and some Jews in the Greek communities have instilled the message of circumcision into the salvation plan of grace alone. They stated that this message of being circumcised was a necessary step in being right with God. Their gospel was faith plus law: this doctrine was contaminating the Greek believers, causing them to lose out in being right with God through faith alone in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. Paul was deeply troubled, for this message was contaminating the churches, curtailing their freedom in Christ alone. The Greeks were used to law, for that was a way to appease their mythical gods. He knew this idea of works would be easily acceptable to the religious nature of the Greeks. Paul saw this idea of requiring good deeds to be acceptable to God would only enslave the Greeks again to the necessity of works. Paul knows this work doctrine would kill the newborn Greeks. So now we see Paul going back to Jerusalem to verify the foundation of what salvation means to the founding fathers. He wanted the Christian fathers to understand fully that he was preaching faith only in Jesus Christ and that he was seeing marvelous, supernatural works in their communities, establishing that the message of grace and mercy found in faith in Jesus was the way to God. By seeing these validations from God, he knows that all people are one in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus you (Jews and Greeks) are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:27-29) Peter got up in the council and affirmed what Paul was saying about faith alone saving people from eternal death. In Peter’s mission to Cornelius’ house, the Roman centurion, he witnessed the Holy Spirit baptizing the whole house of Cornelius, so he knew the message of Jesus Christ as the Savior was for the whole world, not just for the house of Israel. Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:7-9) Peter knew Paul’s message of faith only in Jesus’ work on the cross was the salvation plan for all people everywhere. He understood well why God was performing marvelous works of healing in those Greek communities. God was putting his stamp of approval on what He told Abraham that He would be the father of many nations.
This belief that Jesus came for all people was a difficult concept for Jewish believers. They knew they were the chosen people of God. God’s law came to them because of their special position in his eyes. They had been delivered from the barbarian world of Egypt into the enlightenment of the law. Now Paul and others were preaching that the barbarian could be right with God through Jesus Christ. For them, to remove the law from their lives was like removing God from their lives. Even as they analyzed Jesus’ work on earth, they knew it was centered on the Jewish communities. If that was so, then how can some people extend his ministry outside of Israel? But Paul’s concept went beyond this small land of the Israelites. Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus and expanded his mind to the plan of salvation for all people. To emphasize this vision in Paul’s mind, He blinded Paul for three days. During that time, we can assume that the God of all people enlightened him to the salvation of all people on the face of the earth. His mission would be to go into the dark world of the barbarians and preach the gospel that Jesus Christ saves. For that, he would suffer much. His message of Jesus Christ without any additions for the salvation of all people was crystalized in him by the Holy Spirit. Therefore he expanded this gospel to the Greeks, He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2:17-18) Jews and Gentiles would become part of the kingdom of God as one people. However, for the apostles, this expansion of Jesus’ work on the cross was still difficult for them to accept, for they had heard Jesus’ conversation with the Gentile woman when he said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. (Matthew 15:24-28) In the above verses, we see God verifying this woman’s faith by a healing. Otherwise, we see even in Jesus’ ministry to the Israelites only, God performing a miracle for this woman because of her faith in Jesus’ divinity. Paul is now expressing the same thing to the Jerusalem council. Paul told them, God is approving of my ministry by signs and wonders. He is confirming the ministry of Christ as the only message that will deliver men from their sinful state, their rebellion against God and his authority. For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. Jesus had told Peter specifically to feed his sheep, the house of Israel, and He confirmed this message by having Peter perform great miracles in the Jewish communities where even his shadow falling on people caused the sick to be healed. Now, Paul is saying that he through Jesus Christ’s direct contact with him has been given the contract of FEED MY WORLD. Because of the household of Cornelius being filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter now is affirming Paul’s ministry to the Greek world.
What then for the Jewish council? What admonition should they give to the newly saved Greeks? What guidelines should they direct these former barbarians’ fellowship to follow? These Jewish leaders could have drawn from their previous years of bondage to the Jewish laws and regulations, what they thought people must do to be right with God. But rather than burdening these newly freed people with the Jewish law, they emphasized the grace of God by placing only a few restrictions on the Gentiles. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. (Acts 15:28-29) Even these directives are not given in a spirit that you must not do them or you will go to hell. All they said was that you should avoid doing such acts. Of course, they wanted the Gentile Christians to separate themselves from idol worshipping, from the lifestyle of their communities. Sadly, the stark reality of the Greeks’ idol worshipping communities revolved around a lot of immoral sexual activity. Paul, along with preaching avoidance of sexual immoral behavior, incessantly preached emulating Jesus Christ’s spirit of love and kindness. He wanted them to abandon attitudes and spirits of adversity that corrupted their communities. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32) Paul knew if they carried these disruptive sinful attitudes in their daily activities, they would always remain immature believers. Sexual sins, anger, and division would hinder their souls. They needed to get rid of such behavior. In place of such actions, they should display Christ’s grace, mercy, and love. They should forgive others who troubled them. He wanted them to imitate Jesus in and out of season, when things were going well and when they were not going so well. Now, in addressing the Jerusalem council about his ministry of creating new creatures in the name of Jesus, he tells them that this is the fulfilling of God’s mysterious plan to save the whole world from corruption and sin. God is bringing all people to him through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6) Now, without one fault, all people can enter into the Kingdom of God with the name of Jesus Christ printed next to their names in the Book of Life. May you walk in the freedom of Christ today unencumbered by guilt or sin.
No comments:
Post a Comment