15:9-10 - We cannot save ourselves. There is no amount of dressing up, service, study, sacrifice, etc. that a person can do to save themselves. The early Jewish Christians were trying to shackle the new Gentile Christians with circumcision, although the Gentiles had already experienced the circumcision of the heart (The part that really mattered). It was unnecessary. In fact, they were calling God's grace into question by saying that the only way the Gentiles could receive salvation was through circumcision. They were trying to put God's vast grace into a little box and that doesn't work. What are some of the things that modern Christians have tried to force on new believers?
15:24 - This really cracked me up when I was reading it - "We have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your mind..." If I was an uncircumcised 30 year old man in Antioch where they did surgery with a flint stone knife...I'd be a little unsettled too, by what they were trying to force them to do! Unsettled is putting it a little lightly!
15:29 - They withdraw their demand that the Gentiles be circumcised, but they do have some really good and God honoring instruction for them: don't eat food sacrificed to idols, don't drink blood or eat bloody food, don't eat animals that were strangled, and flee from sexual immorality. All of these things were tied into religious cults. The early Christians understood that what they allowed into their lives would shape who they were. They wanted to separate themselves as far from false gods and cultic behavior as they possible could. Do we maintain those same guidelines in our lives? Do we fight against the influences in our lives that would shape us into thinking or acting in and anti-God fashion?
4 comments:
Just wanted to drop a note to say that Josh checks your blog whenever he has time and he loves it! Very encouraging and uplifting....thanks :)
Hey Brandon. Could you please pray for my family and me. You'll probably here the details from Joe on the latest news. Please pray for safety and unexcesive worrying, if that's a word. See you Wednesday if not Sunday. I'll try and have a good weekend. You do the same. =) Thanks.
Jaimee
I will Jaimee - I tried to call Joe the other night...when you see him, tell him to give me a call.
B
Something different sticks out to me: Paul and Barnabas split up because of John Mark. Why did Paul not want to give Mark a second chance? What was so wrong with Mark tagging along? Was it not Paul himself who was also given a second chance, to the hands of Barnabas. Here he is, the man who took him in, asking to give another a second chance, and he doesn't. I guess Paul had some issues in his life. By the way, 1 Corinthians makes mention of John Mark's presence. Paul is the writer. Paul eventually gave Mark a second chance. Even Paul had some growing up to do...
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