City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

The apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had welcomed God’s message also. ² When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who stressed circumcision argued with him, ³ saying, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them!”

-Acts 11:1-3 (HCSB)

Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, ³ “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

-Acts 11:1-3 (ESV)

Reflection

If you read the ESV translation for these verses, for example, you’ll notice in verse 2 that it says, “the circumcision party.” This makes it seem as if there’s at least two different parties within the Jewish converts when it comes to circumcision. That cannot be true because all Christians at that time were Jews(or Samaritans) and all Jews were circumcised. So in this context, there wouldn’t be Jews who were of the non-circumcised party. That wouldn’t make sense as being a Jew and being circumcised are inextricably linked (see Genesis 17).

So, the HCSB translation helps share a better insight into what was going on. By stating, “those who stressed circumcision,” it explains that it was Jewish Christians who believed on the importance of following the Mosaic Laws as a pre-requisite to believing in Jesus. Because, after all, Jesus was a Jew, right? It would be a justified position because even the Samaritans who accepted Jesus as their Savior were most likely circumcised because of having adopted Jewish practices and customs (see 2 Kings 17:24-41). In essence, the Jews in Jerusalem wanted anyone to first convert to Judaism, and then believe in Jesus, because being ceremonially clean in regards to the Mosaic Law was of utmost importance.

In this context, it makes sense that God used the situation with Cornelius in the way that He did. Because Peter explains how the Holy Spirit entered ‘unclean’ Gentiles, and by Him doing so, God made it clear that following the Jewish laws and dietary restrictions were no longer a pre-requisite to receiving the Holy Spirit or believing in Jesus.

So why was this such a point of contention? It’s hard to say exactly what the reasoning behind this was. Howard Marshall, in his commentary of Acts, stresses that there may have been a fear of further persecution from other Jews if they started to accept people with ‘unclean’ practices. That would make a lot of sense considering that the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem had to go into hiding and many fled the city due to Stephen’s martyrdom. So, even with this being Peter making the argument to accept Gentiles into the Church, the Jewish Christians questioned him more so out of fear for the repercussions. The Jews would’ve considered them to be unclean for breaking bread with “unclean” Gentiles.

Application

We have to be careful where our “traditions” place people. As it has been with the Catholic and Orthodox churches throughout the centuries. They spend more time converting someone to their religion than teaching them the Word of God. This has happened to other denominations or church networks around the world today. So do we care more about someone following our strict church rules and traditions or showing them the way to Jesus? The Bible tells us clearly what the priority is and history shows this to us in our present time. How we respond to this is what matters, and Acts 11:4-18 shows the way to do so.

Prayer

Father in heaven, help me to be humble in my walk with You. Do not let me focus on traditions or practices that has no real meaning when it comes to sharing the gospel message to others. Let the Holy Spirit guide and direct my path and be a light unto my feet. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.