When Customs Cause Confusion

THE CUSTOM

For a Gentile male to become accepted into the Jewish community, circumcision was required (Mt. 23:15). Circumcision connected them to the Abrahamic covenant and separated them from their pagan neighbors (Ex. 12:43-49).

Now that God opened the door of faith to Gentiles, some Jews, naturally, want to know “what else” Gentiles must do to be fully welcomed into the Christian community (cp. Ac. 13:26, 43).

Accepting, welcoming, and fellowshipping Gentiles was new for Jewish believers (Ac. 11:2-3; 14:24-28). I assume many struggled because fellowship was something they’d “never done before” and circumcision was the “the way they’d always done it."

THE CONFUSION

The issue of inclusion and fellowship came to light when Jewish brethren from Judea arrived in Antioch attempting to impose additional requirements for salvation (cp. Ac. 11:2, 18; 15:1, 5, 29). [Three issues were at the center of the debate: 1) circumcision, 2) the Law of Moses, and 3) table fellowship.]\

The assumption that Gentiles must first become Jews before they can become Christians undermined everything Paul and Barnabas accomplished on their first missionary journey and (cp. 14:26-15:5). [Was a great mission trip. A lot to undo if they were wrong.]

By acting without authority (Ac. 15:24) and imposing requirements God never commanded (15:10-11), these brethren could have potentially split the church and turned people away from the gospel (Gal. 2:1-5, 13-14). [Legalism often flows out of the best of intentions and is mixed with just enough scripture that people believe it. It is often portrayed as the “safe way.” Nothing is wrong with being careful; everything is wrong with calling something sin that God hasn’t. Prefer the biblical way over the safe way.]

THE CAUTION

We should be cautious of any application of scripture based upon implication rather than explicit command (cp. Ex. 12:43-49; 1 Cor. 5:7; 6:19-20; Heb. 12:28). [We don’t have the freedom to pick and choose which of the Bible’s commands we like and which ones we don’t.We don’t have freedom to lie, steal, slander, turn a deaf ear to the poor, hoard the gospel, worship idols, or fornicate.1 Cor. 6. No smoking, no piercings, no tattoos… why? Because If you wouldn’t deface the temple in Jerusalem with graffiti or rearrange the tabernacle, why would you deface or remodel the temple of the Holy Spirit? Heb. 12… you must wear your best to church out of reverence for God because God deserves it… Why? You wouldn’t go before a judge or to a funeral with nice clothes on and church is much more important. Customs are not wrong but become wrong when we impose them on others.]

We should be cautious of any person who says we have to do more than God requires in order to be fully accepted into the Christian community (Ac. 15:5; cp. Jn. 1:12; Rev. 3:20).

We should be cautious of any person who says we have to do less than God requires in order to be fully accepted into the Christian community (Ac. 15:11; Rom. 5:15; 6:1-5; Tit. 2:11-13).