This morning I am continuing the theme of rules, lists and rites, vs. relationship in regards to our faith walk. I felt like I should read from Paul's letter to the Galatians, and frankly I was pretty tired this morning so wasn't thinking about what might be in Galatians 2, or wanting to continue my recent reflection, however, when I turned there I saw that Paul was dealing with one of the biggest issues in the early church, adding rules to Gospel of grace, and even Peter was being swayed by this teaching.
To begin with, I want to understand the timing of this all, as I think it is germane to how I think about the situation. Now Paul dates this as happening after some 17 years of his ministry, and I will copy a few of the verses and then look at them - Galatians 2:1,8-14 NIV:
[1] "Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also."
[8] "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. [9] 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. [10] All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along."
[11] "When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. [13] The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray."
[14] "When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?"
So we know that Paul was converted after the persecution of the church broke out following Stephen's stoning, which was clearly a few years after Pentecost (church history has him dying in 36CE). Paul lays out the timeline of this situation in Antioch, as being some time after his 2nd journey to Jerusalem, his first occurring 3 years after his conversion (39 - 40CE). So this is now 14 years later, at least, since we don't know how long it was from Paul's second visit to Jerusalem that Peter made his way to Antioch, in Acts 15 it sounds like Peter might have actually been to Antioch before Paul's 2nd visit to Jerusalem. Anyway, we have at least 3 + 3 + 14 = 20 years after Jesus death and Resurrection. My point in looking at this, is my amazement at how quickly things can get screwy, or twisted.
Peter received the original revelation of the Gospel being opened to the Gentiles in Acts 10 & 11, which clearly happened after the stoning of Stephen. After Peter went back to the leadership team in Jerusalem and explained this all, they were all in agreement that this was clearly of God - Acts 11:18 NIV: "When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
We know that the Gospel rapidly spread, and the church expanded into many of the regions and Antioch was one of the main centers, and really the second major church, as we see in these next verses - Acts 11:20-26 NIV: Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. [21] The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord."
[22] "News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. [23] When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. [24] He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. [25] Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, [26] and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch."
So here we have the rapid expansion of the Gospel into the Gentile populations, and it is the Gospel of Grace through Faith. However, the circumcision group wasn't happy with these new converts because they weren't being required to follow certain of the rites and requirements of the Jewish faith. Because they (Jewish believers) were following these rules (the basics of the Law) they felt that they were better Christians, and were even separating themselves according to the old requirements. They went so far as to say that unless you were circumcised you couldn't be saved (Acts 15:1)! The whole thing is captured in Acts 15, although with much less passion than Paul describes it here in his letter to the Galatians. Paul, immediately saw the danger of this type of teaching and mindset and confronted it head-on, even to Peter's face.
What is clear is that this teaching introduced questioning and doubt about the Gospel of grace through faith, and was trying to add rules and requirements. The people wanted to pursue the Lord to the best of their ability, and this was made to sound like that! They were being convinced that in some way they were lesser Christians because they hadn't checked off certain activities, or followed certain rules. They were losing sight of the glorious truth of the Gospel of Grace through Faith!
Going back to the timeline, while 20 years doesn't seem like much time in the overall history of the church, it is plenty of time for things to change and morph, and get out of balance. As I look back at the last 20 years of my life, my thinking and attitudes have certainly changed, I am hoping for the better and towards greater maturation. However, when I look back at my life, I also know that there has been a depth of insight and understanding in the scriptures that I can use to guide my thinking, to guide my theology, and most of that wasn't available to these people. They hadn't written any of Jesus' teachings down yet (that we know of), James had written his letter and Paul had only written two of his pastoral letters. The church was very susceptible to wrong teaching and ideas that sounded good, sounded like a better way, and whole groups were being swayed and affected. Even people like James and Peter were embracing this thinking and they were original Apostles!
As I mentioned before, the whole thing seems to me to be based on fear and doubt. Peter was afraid of the members of the circumcision party (Gal 2:12). What was he afraid of?? I think He was afraid that people would think he wasn't embracing the highest calling, and was abandoning it in favor of the easy path of the Gospel of grace through faith. Most leaders want to be known for taking the hard path, leading the charge, not slouching in the rear, taking it easy. On top of that, people were fearful that they weren't really saved just by faith, and were wondering if they had responded to a false Gospel! This isn't that different than many of the teachings that are floating around today, some that teach that a simple sin can cause you to lose your salvation, others that say sinful lives are evidence that you were never saved, others that hold up radical life-styles as the highest calling! All of these cause people to respond out of fear or fervor, rather than living out of relationship.
It is so easy for us to embrace teaching we hear from some fired up teacher calling us to the higher calling! To often we don't stop and think and look to the Lord, to listen to Him! We can listen to someone expounding on the depravity of sin, and see some of that in our own lives and wonder if we have even been saved! There are those that hold up certain experiences as the only true sign of salvation, and others that say these certain experiences are from the devil! All of these deal in fear, and I just don't believe the Gospel of grace through faith uses fear as a primary motivation. We are being called into relationship with a God who loves us, and who set us free from sin and death. He loves us and is motivated by love (John 3:16)! He wants us to be motivated by love (John 13:34-35)! John tells us that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), so what place does fear have in the Gospel, the Good News?
It is so important that we focus on the person of Jesus, the person of the Father and the person of the Holy Spirit! Our faith is about relationship, not rules or rites! We are invited into a life of relationship with them, the Holy Trinity! They want to live with us, live in us, speak to us, guide us, teach us, remind us, and love us! God relates to each of us uniquely, as any Father would relate to each of His children! We are invited to the highest calling in life as His son or daughter! It doesn't get any higher than that! Jesus is the firstborn of many sons and daughters (Rom 8:29), and there is no rank in our relationships as sons and daughters!
We can get caught up in looking at others and comparing ourselves to them, to their walk, to their life, to their fervor, and we should be looking to the Lord! We are called to love Him first, and then to love one another! Nowhere are we called to compare ourselves to one another! We can learn from others, be encouraged by others, but our primary focus must always be our relationship with the Lord! He is the only one who is our Lord! He is our Father, and He loves us and He will guide each of us in the best possible path!
In summary, I come back to a statement I heard Graham Cooke make, "the Gospel is such good news that it seems too good to be true, but it is true!" Let us look to our lives and cast out fear and doubt, judgment and critical spirits, and let us embrace the Gospel of grace through faith, through relationship with the Lord! Let us set ourselves and others free from the thinking that adds to this Gospel! As Paul says - Galatians 2:21 NIV: "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law (rules and rites), Christ died for nothing!”
Amen!
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