The reaction of the leaders of the new Christian movement in Jerusalem to Peter's interaction with the new Gentile believers tells us alot about the deep resistance to allowing non-Jews into the new church. Peter recounts his experience with those who question him, and when they hear that the Holy Spirit has fallen on the Gentiles their mood softens and they welcome the new converts into the faith. How to handle the conversion of non-Jewish believers will be an issue for the young church for years to come.
Barnabas is dispatched to Antioch to investigate an outbreak of Christianity among the Gentiles there, and he finds them to be full of grace, and the holy Spirit and faith! Barnabas travels to Tarsus to find Paul and brings him back to Antioch, and for an entire Paul helps teach the new gentile believers there. It is interesting piece of church history, "and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called "Christians." Acts 11:26 NRSV.
Saul begins his leadership in the early church here thanks to Barnabas. I wonder who I can encourage this week to come along side of me and be a future leader in the church. Are you encouraging anyones service?
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
4 comments:
Again, I can only imagine all the turmoil, confusion and jealousy generated by "allowing" the Gentiles to partake of Christ's salvation.
Brave men following the voice of the Spirit instead of the voices and threats of mankind.
My challenges seem petty and minor compared to theirs.
Lord grant me the patience and faith to see past the natural and focus on the unseen.
Praise God.
I always have to ask myself who are my gentiles - who do I exclude from being part of the family of God. This is uncomfortable for me because I have "good reasons" for not liking some people! So did the Jews, and they were wrong. Lord help me to Love who you love and accept who you accept.
Bill
It is crazy how much things change from one passage to the other - in chapter 10, we got the verses that basically say that God loves everyone equally, then verse 11 talks about the founders of the early church and the trouble they had accepting new believers who were gentiles. It must have taken Peter a lot to be able to speak and preach to these men, but clearly you can not mess with the Holy Spirit.
I love the stories of Saul, as his is such a powerful one to tell believers who think there is no way to be forgiven. Crazy, isn't it?
I can think of some of the gentiles in my life too, PB. I pray that I can love them and show them the love of God also.
God bless all!
Marshall N.
I don't think I realized the significance of the expansion of the mission and ministry to the Gentiles until I was in seminary and we talked about it in church history. Can you imagine how small Christianity would have remained if it had never been outside of Judaism? Or how different it would look if we all had to become Jews first and then be baptized into the church?
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