Easter Week 6

Psalm: Psalm 98
Acts: Acts 10:44-48
Gospel: John 15:9-17
Epistle: 1 John 5:1-6

I want to continue our discussion of Acts this week especially in terms of the historical precedence set by Acts chapter 10 and the significance of where Luke places this account in his narrative of the early Church. Previously, the most notable non-Jewish convert in Acts was the Ethiopian eunuch we discussed last week who was converted to faith in Jesus by Philip. Following the account of Philip the narrative takes a turn to the conversion of Saul/Paul and the beginning of his ministry around Jerusalem and other cities in the areas of Judea and Samaria. But then beginning in chapter 10 the narrative takes a break to interject an account of Cornelius and Peter. We are probably familiar with Cornelius' and Peter's complementary dreams. Cornelius' dream tells him to find a man named Simon Peter in Joppa and invite him to your house. Peter on the other hand has a dream that tells him to kill and eat unclean and forbidden food for devout Jews. Peter was reluctant to make himself unclean, but as he woke-up Cornelius' servants arrived and invited him to visit the home of the gentile Cornelius. Although Cornelius was "one who feared God," it is unclear if he was a full proselyte--one who had converted to Judaism and followed all the Jewish customs, including circumcision. In any case some in his household, or his associates, were uncircumcised because Peter latter causes controversy by entering the house of and eating with uncircumcised Gentiles. But Peter interpreted his dream to mean that in Christ he was able to associate with unclean gentiles. (10:28)

Through the 2 dreams and Peter's interactions with Cornelius, Peter realized that God was opening up the Gospel to all people. This was no small revelation and when controversy erupted over the work Paul waas doing among the Gentiles, Peter defended Paul. I think it was Peter's interaction with Cornelius years earlier, as well as the testimony of Paul and others familiar with the work among that Gentiles that lead Peter, and ultimately the church, to decide that following Jesus does not require one to follow the Jewish dietary laws and circumcision.

This issue was important to the early the Church and it is seen in how the narrative of Acts was set up. the narrative of Paul's work is interrupted, as I said earlier, here in chapter 10 to explain that Peter accepted Gentiles and was willing to allow that they could be followers of Jesus despite not following Jewish customs. Then Luke tells us about Paul's first missionary journey before returning again to the circumcision controversy at the Council of Jerusalem in chapter 15. Luke then returns back to Paul's journeys for the remainder of Acts. These earlier controversies of the Church cannot be overstated in terms of the importance of how the Church and its doctrine grew. The circumcision controversy in Acts (Mirrored in Paul's conflict with the Judaizers in Phil 3 and Gal. 2) and Paul's multifaceted debates with various Gnostic sects in his Epistles provide the framework or lens through which we get the New Testament. Had Paul faced different theological opponents or had the Church resolved the issue of how Jewish a Christian must be earlier without much debate, the New Testament would have looked a lot differently. So it is important that we understand the environment in which these texts were written and the setting of the audience. Understanding those type of things can help us to understand better what the writers are saying to the original audience and even to us 2,000 years later.

Well, I don't think we have time this week to explore our other texts, but our readings from John 15 and 1 John go together nicely, both discussing the love we must have for others. We discussed some of this last week. So I encourage you to read these two passages if you have time. I think the take away for me this week is that the Gospel is always pushing out into new places, new cultures, and to new people. The Gospel was never meant to be kept a secret! By its very nature news is only news when it proclaimed to others. My hope is that we do not fall on the side of the Judaizers who wanted to exclude and set up unnecessary boundaries that God does not want. So let us not forget this week that God's love is for all people, not just those who act, look, or think like us. Let us proclaim the Good News of Christ this week with our words and our actions.

Grace and Peace.