What Do You Need To Do To Be a Christian?

 Fifth Tuesday after the Epiphany

Lectionary rexts for today:

OT: 2 Kings 5:15-19

NT: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

The 2 Kings text is surprising. Namann the Syrian returns to Syria after his healing through at the hands of the prophet Elisha in the Jordan. Namaan promises to worship God only, but will kneel down in the Temple of the Syrian God Rimnon, when Namaan goes to that Temple with his master. Namaan asks God for forgiveness for this act of reverence for another god, an act which Namaan plans to continue doing. Our usually jealous God of the OT says to Namaan simply, "Go in peace." 

 

Today we return to our Acts Bible study with chapter 15, a crucial and pivotal chapter not only for the Book of Acts but for the whole history of earliest Christianity. You might read the whole chapter now. It will take us probably three Bible Study days to cover it.

 

The action takes place in Jerusalem, probably in the year 48. Scholars refer to this meeting as the Apostolic Council. The immediate issue is whether gentiles need to follow the Torah, the law of Moses, those 613 laws in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy in the OT in order to be Christians. If so, the gentile men will have to undergo circumcision, eat only kosher, etc. Gentile women will have to be isolated from men during menstruation and pregnancy and will be considered unclean during those times.There are these and many other strictures that the Law imposes.

 

The larger issue is Christian identity. Is Christianity going to remain a sect of Judaism, or will it become a new religion? Although the Apostolic Conference comes to a decision, that decision will not be accepted by some early Christians. Paul's letters to the Romans and Galatians show that the "remain within Judaism position" persisted in some quarters long after the Apostolic Council. 

 

The issue is also being decided on the other side. The Rabbis in the latter part of the first century are coming to grips with their question: should believers in Christ be allowed to be Jews. The final break comes in 94-95 AD, when the rabbis at Jamnia, on the southern coast of Palestine, issue the birkat ha-minim, which effectively excludes Christians from the synagogue.

 

The whole issue is immensely complex. Hundreds of scholarly books have been written about it. On a bookshelf five feet from me right now I have James D.G. Dunn's 850 page new book, Neither Jew nor Greek: A Contested Identity, which is volume III of his mammoth series "Christianity in the Making." I'll be diving into it soon. As I have mentioned, I am reading along with our Bible study Ben Witherington's massive 900 page commentary on Acts. Witherington, incidentally, studied under Dunn at the University of Durham in England. Witherington also was an undergraduate of UNC,  where he majored in Classics and studied under the late esteemed Professor George Kennedy, under whom I once had the pleasure of auditing a course on Cicero. 

 

Two things I would stress. First is that this issue, long decided, not an issue for us at all, was crucial for the earliest Christians. If it had gone the other way, Christianity would never have grown into the largest religion in the world. Second is that Christianity underwent enormous change in the first century. Jesus was a Jew, the Apostles were all Jews, Mary Magdalene, Paul was a Jew. All of the earliest Christians were Jews. Christianity over the course of the first century went from being 100% Jewish to being 100% gentile. That was a major historical shocker.

God of Jews and Christians,

Lead us to deeper understanding of our Christian faith and their Jewish faith through this study. Help us to reject anti-Semitism wherever we may encounter it, including the vestiges of it within scripture itself. Enlighten us Lord. Inform us as you inspire us. Bring us Shalom.

In the name of Jesus the Jew,

Amen.

 

Faithfully,

Christian