“You Can’t Sit With Us”

Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles continued on for fourteen years prior to him meeting the apostles. Paul was motivated to check his teaching with the apostles primarily due to budding tension between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The topic being: circumcision. It is lost on us now, but the Law and the Prophets informed everything about the Jewish identity. from the worship of their God to their day to daily life. The clash of this deeply rooted ethnic culture with the new culture of Christianity presented issues. Circumcision was the defining mark of a Jewish man, and his community that they were the people of God under the old covenant; however, converts to the new covenant would be adopted into the family of God on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ.

The scene painted for us is one where Jewish Christians are wrestling with their previous revelation of God under the Old Covenant with the new revelation of God through Jesus Christ. It cannot be understated how difficult this would have been for a community with hundreds of years of history to unlearn/recontextualize/reshape their understanding of how the God who gave them salvation through the regulations and offerings of the Law now gave them freedom from the Law and salvation through Jesus Christ.

Notice here that Paul acknowledges a difference in mission between him and the other apostles - he is being sent to the Gentiles and the latter being sent to the Jews. Note that at this point there seems to be acceptance. Upon fellowshipping with Gentile Christians, the internal bias of the Peter and even Barnabas come to the surface. What could have been set aside as a misunderstanding is pointed out as hypocrisy by Paul and “against the will of God”. Here we see what could have been a denominational split. Paul for the Gentiles. Peter for the Jews. Both serving God, both finding different means to lead their individual communities to God. Yet Paul refuted this, for there is only one kingdom. To accept that there are multiple ways towards Christ, or multiple blueprints for the kingdom WEAKENS the strength of the gospel.

In what ways do we tolerate internal biases that divide men and women in God’s church? When we look out into the world we see a landscape of multiple different congregations with a myriad of different mission statements, and excessive rhetoric contributing to tolerant religious views that “accept differences” by avoiding necessary conflict to unite different ethnic groups, socioeconomic status, and minorities.

The church is meant to be an expression of God’s love, a union of the nations, and at the tip of the spear in redefining culture. Together we offer a picture of the world to come, a world remade by our loving creator, who made us to be different - together.

Today we have over 40,000 estimated Christian denominations. The division has made its way into the church through disagreements on doctrine, prejudice and culture divides. What lens might the Jew Gentile divide in the first century church provide us as we face divisive social/doctrinal issues today?