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How is the message about a God who made covenants with a particular people in a particular land move into the gentile world? This was a perplexing issue for the early church, and the early Jewish leaders used the book of Leviticus to help solve the problem. The Apostle Paul was actively involved in sharing the gospel with the gentile world, and to understand his theology we need to understand the context of the churches.
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Anonymous
Acts 15:13-21 (NKJV) 13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men [and] brethren, listen to me: 14 “Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15 “And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: 16 ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; 17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.’ 18 “Known to God from eternity are all His works. 19 “Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 “but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, [from] sexual immorality, [from] things strangled, and [from] blood. 21 “For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
Acts 15:22-24 (NKJV) 22 Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, [namely,] Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren. 23 They wrote this [letter] by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “[You must] be circumcised and keep the law”–to whom we gave no [such] commandment–
What is verse 21 saying?
Is it saying that gentiles must abstain the 4 things mentioned in order to not offend the Jews and then they would be sanctified enough to go into the synagogues with the Jews in order to hear the reading of the law?
And the reason for hearing the Law, was then to begin keeping the law the same as the Jews?
This is what Torah observing Christians believe that verse 21 means.
What you y’all think?
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs oops
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs the Apostles decisions would not have governed the Jewish synagogues, only the churches. The Law (Old Covenant) ended with the Death of Jesus after which the New Covenant of the Spirit.
Anonymous
Philip Williams agreed. But some say that they continued meeting in the synagogues on the sabbath to hear the reading of the law.
Even the believing Jews didn’t abandon the Torah nor the traditions that they had always been keeping even after coming to faith in Jesus.
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs Paul the Jew did evangelize the synagogues among the diaspora until receiving the left foot of fellowship. The Judaizers may have continued to attend until kicked out from what Jesus calls the synagogues of Satan.
Jewish believers in Judea followed the royal law that gives freedom, the same New Covenant as Paul. The Old Covenant (Torah keeping) ends for God’s Israel with the death of Jesus.
Anonymous
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1
The Church is a mystery, being revealed beginning at Pentecost:
…that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel… Eph. 3
Anonymous
1can only suppose so
Anonymous
Christ’s Church is no longer a mystery but the gathering of the Israel of God for salvation together with those Gentiles who come into the Israel of God.
Anonymous
Acts 3: Jew and Gentile are one in the Church, a mystery being revealed beginning at Pentecost.