For the true story, see Acts 15:1-35 and Galatians 2:11-14.
Let me start by getting this straight: I am a follower of Jesus. Not a boss, an overlord, a dictator or an autocrat – unlike others whom I could name.
However, by God’s grace, I do hold a position of leadership amongst the believers and have often been able to help others through my understanding of scripture. I have studied the Law of Moses for many years and can see in it many links to Jesus as our saviour. I have also, for many years, been a Pharisee.
Unfortunately, though, many amongst the believers are now calling the Law the “old covenant”, as if there is nothing we can learn from it.
Worse, some of the less educated brothers amongst us have seized on this terminology and ignorantly claim that we should abandon Moses’ Law altogether. They say that we should ignore the laws, the feasts and even – would you believe it? – circumcision.
Yet even that is not the worst of it. Worse even than those who don’t know better are some who should know better, but still do their best to coerce others into discarding the laws that God gave to Israel.
Jesus himself said: “I did not come to abolish the law.” Since Jesus did not come to abolish the law, why are some believers trying to do so?
Jesus encouraged us to be servants and to practice humility, so I do not try to insist that everybody follow me and acknowledge me as a great leader; unfortunately, however, it seems that various others do want to make such demands for themselves. Even people who came very late to a belief in Jesus seem to feel that they have a right to override everybody else and enforce their opinions on the majority! Some also have a way of convincing others to follow their ideas, and are not shy
about using those powers.
It is fair to say that I am outraged and disgusted – but I am also very concerned about the future of The Way. I joined the fellowship because I believed that Jesus was the Messiah promised to our people, the prophet Moses had spoken about, the son of David. It was clear that there had to be some changes to our way of life to follow Jesus, but now I am concerned that we are going too far; throwing out the grain along with the chaff!
I can’t keep quiet about this because I fear that if things continue the way they’re going, The Way will just become another of the many cults that have come and gone over the years. Yet we have truth, if only we can maintain it.
So, now I want to explain what has made me so upset.
In Jerusalem and other parts of Judea there are many Pharisees like me who have believed in Jesus. Jesus’ preaching forced us to review our religion, and when we did so, we had to admit that he was right when he called us “hypocrites” not long before he was crucified.
We opened our minds and softened our hearts, then swallowed our pride and welcomed Jesus as our saviour.
We told our friends about him, and did our best to spread the hope of salvation to all we met. We taught people about how Jesus was the fulfilment of the promises made in the Law and the prophets. We encouraged people to continue to follow the Law just as Jesus had done. After all, Jesus attended the synagogue every Sabbath, and so many of his teachings came directly from the Law. His answers to temptation, to his enemies’ questions and to those who genuinely wanted to
learn the truth of God all included reference to Scripture. Indeed, one of his criticisms of his enemies was that they did not know the Scriptures – and he was referring to our Hebrew Scriptures. Those writings also speak of his coming, so it all makes a very clear picture.
But apparently not to some. Some treat the law as outdated, outmoded, superseded and useless. Imagine that! The Law that guided David and the prophets, provided Jesus’ most compelling arguments, showcases the holiness of God and shows his love for Israel – being discarded!
A few months ago, some of my friends, fellow believers, started to hear some disturbing stories from Antioch in Syria, where a congregation had formed years ago soon after Stephen was martyred and we had to run for our lives. Initially it was made up entirely of Jews, then some believers from Cyprus and Cyrene began to speak to Greeks. I suppose that wasn’t all bad; most of those Greeks had a passing knowledge of Judaism, and they were quickly convinced about Jesus and his
resurrection. However, things were moving too swiftly and it sounded like it was becoming a free-for-all. When the leaders in Jerusalem heard about it, they sent Barnabas to see what was going on. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with Barnabas – he was there only a short time before giving it all his blessing and moving on. It would have been better if he had stayed and kept a guiding hand on the tiller.
Instead, he seems to have gone to Tarsus specifically to find Saul, an unexpected convert who had been a Pharisee like me – but one who was very much on the side of the chief priests in the beginning, including standing with them when Stephen was murdered.
We had all been very suspicious of him when we heard that he had been converted, but he seemed genuine, and deeply humbled by the experience of seeing a living Jesus. For several years he kept very quiet, but anyone who has worked for and lost a position of importance in the past is likely to try again sometime.
Anyway, Barnabas returned to Antioch with Saul, and together they did seem to help to settle things down for a time. Then after a year or so, they went on a journey together through Cyprus, Pamphylia and other places, preaching The Way. I suppose it should have been predictable that working among Gentiles for years would affect even people with strict backgrounds like Barnabas and Saul. Whatever the reason, by the time Saul returned he seemed changed. He had even changed
his name and wanted everyone to call him Paul.
Presumably while they were away, their ideas slowly changed and became more lax. Standards are always hard to maintain, and if you mix too much with people who have no idea of God’s laws then your morals are likely to suffer. Not only that, but being admired and praised all the time can go to your head. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Saul was able to perform many miracles, and I guess it must be hard to keep your balance when you can do that.
I don’t want to be critical, of course, but when I met him some time after that journey, he seemed less humble, and more eager to be a leader among the believers.
Anyway, some friends and I went to Antioch because of those concerning reports. Peter had been there for a while, so you might think that there wouldn’t be any need to worry, with one of the apostles there, but Peter… well, he’s Peter, and it was clear that the situation wasn’t great.
When we arrived, he welcomed us and we discussed the wonderful way in which God was calling the Gentiles to join us in the faith. He had some Gentiles with him at the time, but we suggested tactfully that we had some private business to discuss – matters for true Israelites only – and Peter sent them away. That let us get down to business: how the Gentiles needed to take on the Law. Peter’s response to the question of how many Gentile converts had been circumcised was a bit
evasive, so we reminded him of the need for circumcision so that we could welcome Gentile believers as sons of Abraham.
Everything was going well until it came to mealtime. Peter, naturally, ate separately with us, since we Jews all know the requirements for cleanliness and holiness. We were having a relaxed meal, us in one corner of the room and the Gentile believers across the other side, when in stormed Paul. His eyes were positively flashing with anger and he immediately marched across to Peter, who was sitting right next to me, and began berating him! No private communication, no “Can
I talk to you quietly,” or anything like that – just straight into it in front of everyone. Well, you can imagine just how shocked I was. This former persecutor criticising one of the Master’s 12 disciples in public!
He accused Peter of having behaved like a Gentile until we came and then trying to insist that Gentiles should behave like Jews.
It was terribly embarrassing. I did my best to defend Peter and to make a stand for the Law of God, but Paul’s manner was overbearing and opinionated….
I wrote that stinging assessment of events several months ago, the night after it all blew up.
Last week, I took it out and read it over. With all that has happened since, I almost burned it straight away. Instead, I decided to show it to a friend so that we could discuss together what the outcome had been. (There were a few more sentences at the end; I did burn those – I should never have written them, and the anger I felt at the time is no excuse.) We talked about it for hours and felt that we learned some serious lessons. However, I don’t want my diatribe
to survive, because it is a worrying example of how far wrong honest people can go without realising it.
Let me explain.
The discussions that day were very heated, and at the time I felt that I and my friends were completely in the right. We had been followers of Jesus for more than 15 years. We had confidence in our faith and confidence that we understood the truth that Jesus had taught. Yet we were wrong.
Shortly afterwards, a conference was arranged in Jerusalem where the apostles and elders met together to discuss whether the Gentiles had to follow the Law of Moses or not.
I arrived at the conference with a certainty that God would help truth to prevail, and an equal certainty of what that truth was! I wanted – and expected – an unequivocal statement that the Gentiles must follow Moses’ Law.
Yet as the discussion progressed, it became clear that the work of Paul and Barnabas in foreign lands had been blessed by God. God had been calling Gentiles to his way without demanding that they turn into Jews.
Peter reminded the audience that God had shown through him that the Gentiles could be saved through faith just as we Jews could be. He made no attempt to criticise Paul or reject what he had said in Antioch; instead, he agreed with Paul that there was no distinction between Jews and Gentiles.
Likewise, Paul made no attempt to ridicule Peter or to look for arguments; instead, the two of them worked together to achieve unity and convince doubters like me that this was God’s will.
And with God’s blessing, it worked! What giants of faith they are!
These words make it sound as if I found it easy to change my views, but I most certainly did not. More than 15 years of belief cannot be overturned in just a few moments. But the experience did teach me humility. Both Peter and Paul showed it, and I have tried to learn it too, because if we want unity, we need to have humility first.
I also learned a really important lesson: how long I had believed in Jesus didn’t matter. What mattered was whether I was willing to soften my heart and really listen to what he taught. Teaching us Jews first was part of God’s faithfulness to Abraham, but so was calling the Gentiles so that all nations could truly be blessed in Abraham.
I hope that my heart has finally opened up to God’s teaching, and I’m trying hard to read our Scriptures with an open mind and learn.
How much I have learned over the last few months – I who really thought that I already understood it all!
