God and the Nations

The Gospel and the Gentiles

Acts 10-11

Jesus had told the disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. But it seems the early Church was slow to grasp the incredible implications of these words. Eventually the Gospel did go to Samaria. But reaching full-blooded Gentiles was a thing that took some special help from heaven to get started. A man named Cornelius, who was a professional Roman soldier, would become the very first Gentile convert to Christianity. It is hard to exaggerate the significance of Cornelius’ conversion. There is a sense in which everything that had happened in Biblical history before this was leading up to and anticipating this event. It was Peter who was given the keys to the Kingdom and would unlock the door of faith to the Jews on Pentecost and now to the first Gentile convert. But Peter had to be prepared by God for this encounter. Unfortunately, there were some people in the Church who were not ready to see Gentile converts coming into the fellowship.

The Jews were taught by the Law to make a distinction between what was clean and what would make them unclean. To go into the house of a Gentile and eat with him would probably expose a Jewish person to many things that would make him unclean. Therefore, the Jews avoided all such intimate dealings with non-Jews and refused to go into their homes or eat with them.

But if this was the situation, how was God going to incorporate Gentile people into the Kingdom and into the fellowship of the Church? Would there be two separate Churches: one Jewish and one Gentile? The book of Acts gives a clear and a resounding answer to this question. There would be one Church made up of both Jews and Gentiles together in loving fellowship. That is what the Gospel is all about. In some sense the messengers of the Gospel had to be converted again and expand their understanding of the Gospel before they could start their mission to the Gentiles. The Church had to be ready to receive their new, Gentile brethren into fellowship.

Unfortunately, the early Christians did not yet grasp the full implications of the Gospel of Christ. God had to do something more to show them His will in the matter. These things are recorded for our benefit and learning. The Church must continue to learn these lessons in each generation or we will miss what God is doing in the world. There is a tendency for us to continue to operate within our personal comfort zones and even to maintain old ways of thinking rather than integrating the implications of the Gospel into our living. Even worse, we might begin to try to conform the Gospel to our way of thinking instead of being transformed by the Gospel! So we must constantly be revisiting the Gospel and what It means, even after our initial conversion.

The messengers of the Gospel must also be converted by the Gospel before they can be sent out into the world. Before the Church could reach out to Gentiles she had to be converted again, beginning with the Apostle Peter himself, from Law to Gospel, from prejudice to equality, and from being exclusive to inclusive.

From Law to Gospel

The Church, beginning with Peter, had to first move from Law to Gospel. Before Peter can get to Cornelius’ house to preach the Gospel to him, years of teaching and tradition had to be radically overhauled. Peter was a good Jew. Peter was not a Pharisee or one of the other religious professionals of that time and culture, but he was a good Jew. When Peter was commanded in a vision by a voice from heaven to eat an animal that the Law of Moses had forbidden, Peter was resilient: “Nothing unclean has ever entered my mouth!” Peter was referring to the ceremonial laws of clean and unclean. The Jews were taught to make distinctions and this way of thinking was designed to remind them of the holiness of God and their own separateness from the nations around them, all of whom worshiped false gods. As a good Jew Peter was being true to his religious training and refusing to eat something unclean.

The Jews were also commanded not to mingle with the pagan nations around them, especially through intermarriage. The goal of these commands was to avoid the ever-present trap of idolatry which would plague Israel throughout her early history and lead finally to the Babylonian captivity. After that the Jews did better. The Rabbis actually began to expand on the Law of Moses, which was called “hedging” the Law. That is, they built additional rules that would not let them come even close to breaking the actual Law of God. When Jesus came there were many such traditions that had been added to the Law. The Pharisees were particularly strict. Their very name means “separate” and they refused to have any kind of casual contact with a Gentile person, lest something make them unclean. It sounds noble. What is wrong with a desire for holiness? Unfortunately, in adding their rules and traditions to the Law they had distorted the Word of God.

Their separateness from other nations may have begun to make them think they were inherently superior to other men. And they ended up with scruples that went even farther than what God had commanded. In other words, the religious Jews had become even more separate than God had intended them to be! We must understand why it was so difficult for the early Christians, who were Jews, to bring themselves to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. There were years of religious traditions to overcome. And we all know that religious traditions can be the hardest kind to change.

When Jesus came He began to do things that made the religious leaders of the Jews suspicious and angry. Jesus broke their rules and their traditions. He walked through fields of grain on the Sabbath day and ate some. He healed people on the Sabbath too. And then Jesus did something that shocked even His disciples: Jesus physically went to Samaria, sat down by Jacob’s famous well, and actually talked to a Samaritan! Jesus even asked for a drink from her water jar, which would have made Him unclean! The Pharisees themselves would not even go into Samaria, but chose to walk around its borders if they needed to go that way. Jesus was setting the example for His disciples, who would eventually take the Gospel to Samaria and beyond.

Jesus did not do these things because of a disregard for the Law of Moses. On the contrary, Jesus was the only human being who has ever perfectly kept the Law of God. Jesus intention was not to sweep away the Law, as if it did not matter. But He did come to fulfill the Law. And He Himself is what the Law was preparing for all along. When the Lord of the Sabbath comes the Sabbath is fulfilled, completed, perfected. The Lawgiver has come in the flesh. Jesus’ own example and His command to the disciples was for them to take the Gospel to the nations.

The Gospel simply eclipses anything that had previously been revealed just as the rising of the sun puts the moon and the stars out of sight. Now that the Gospel has come we do everything in its glorious light, even if that means breaking years of religious tradition. The Gospel changes our view of everything else, including the Law, and becomes the standard under which the Church marches forward. Jesus did not come to bring us a new law or morality but to introduce an entirely new order, even a New Creation.

From Prejudice to Equality

The early Christians also had to be moved from prejudice to equality. Having preferences is a normal human trait. We consider one thing better than another thing. We choose what we believe is best. And this even includes people! We consider some people to be better than other people. Is it even possible to avoid this kind of distinction? Most of the time we make distinctions between people based on their behavior. A bad person is bad because they do bad things and we would prefer a person who does not do bad things. But what about when we use other criteria to make distinctions between people? What if we go beyond mere behavior to qualities like looks, mannerisms, personality, politeness, culture, wealth, education, popularity, ethnicity/race, or nationality? Now we have become prejudice and unfair.

First of all, we must consider the fact that many of these distinctions are superficial. For example, just looking at a handsome face or an attractive figure gives you no indication of character. A man’s net worth could change overnight. Secondly, we base distinctions on things that are not under the control of the person. Who had any control over where they were born or to what ethnic group they belong?

But some of the distinctions we make in this way amount to broad, sweeping generalizations that are called stereotypes. We create a category and place people there for convenience. We have applied the label and think we know the person underneath it. This is how racism is born.

The Jews had a broad brush with which to paint all the rest of the nations: Gentiles were unclean and unacceptable to God. This distinction created in the Jewish people a natural feeling of pride and superiority. The Jews were the people of God. The other nations were not. Privilege can easily lead to pride. The Jews really were a special people whom God had chosen. There is no denying this Biblical and historical fact. And the Jews were not always so prideful of their position. Much of that developed during the time of the restoration from the Babylonian captivity and a legitimate concern for the purity of the nation (See the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). But by the time of Christ the Jews had developed a national pride and a hatred of other nations that went far beyond anything legitimately commanded in the Law of Moses. It is one thing to acknowledge a special privilege or even a special purpose. It is another thing to consider yourself inherently better than other people. The privilege God had given the nation of Israel had turned into pride and then into prejudice.

Everyone is capable of prejudice and the Jews themselves have often been the brunt of it. Religious-based prejudice begins when a person has a false security in his relationship with God. When you are absolutely sure you are in the right and that your position is perfectly secure with God, then you can begin to make distinctions between yourself and others: “I am alright, but these other people are surely in need of improvement!”

It is no wonder the message of John the Baptist was so radical and forceful for the Jews: “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). Why would you need to repent if you were already God’s chosen people? Why would you need to be cleansed when it is clearly the Gentiles who are the unclean ones? Prophets like John the Baptist have a way of destroying all the neat categories that have been constructed. We know who is in and who is out until the Word of God comes and shatters our presumption. Actually, everyone is out, which is the great message of the Law of Moses, and the only way anyone gets in with God is by grace. Grace is the great equalizer of humanity. If everyone needs grace, then that means everyone is basically the same from God’s perspective. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The Gospel has nothing to say to someone who thinks he is already an insider. But to those who are outsiders, and who know it, the Gospel is truly good news. The door to the Kingdom of God has swung wide open. The only people excluded are those who exclude themselves.

From Exclusive to Inclusive

Finally, the early Church had to move from a position of exclusivity to that of inclusivity. The Christians, who were Jews, had to be prepared to fully except into the fellowship of the Church, the Gentiles who were coming to God through faith in Jesus. In spite of what we hear about the virtues of tolerance these days, the fact is that every group practices exclusivity. That is what makes a group a group. We must be able to define who is in the group and who is out of the group or the group ceases to be, like a country that has no clear border is probably not really a nation at all. But who has the power to exclude from the group? The issue is not just who gets excluded but who gets to decide who gets excluded. The power is the issue. The people who can exclude have the power.

The early Church was at a critical juncture. The Lord had already commanded them to preach to the nations. But when these Gentiles became believers, would they be received into the fellowship of the Church or would they be excluded? Clearly there were some Jewish Christians who were quite ready to exclude the Gentile believers and were willing to draw the lines where that exclusion could be made. If the Lord had not been working with Peter, the Church might have taken a serious detour away from its mission. But men are not in control of the Kingdom of God. The Lord was providing direction for His Church and showing them which way to go. We are really not in control of this enterprise and when men think they are in control this gives birth to something Babylonian. For the Christians to exclude the Gentiles would have been tantamount to rebellion against the Lord.

God was holding out His hands to the Gentiles. God was ready and willing to receive them through faith in Jesus. Anyone who believed in Jesus was accepted by God, both Jews and Gentiles were being accepted in the same way. There is only one Door, one Way, into the embrace of God and both Jews and Gentiles come in the same way. The Church is not free to close herself off from those whom God is opening His arms to embrace. If God has accepted them, then we must also accept them. And God made it clear to Peter and some of the other Jewish brethren that He had indeed accepted these Gentiles who believed the Gospel.

Peter came to the right conclusions. If God has accepted them, then who are we to fight against God? You might just as easily try to fight back the waves of the sea! The Church is often in the position of getting out of the way and letting God work. When the Gospel is set free to work, it does have the power of God behind it. The Gentiles heard the Gospel, believed it, and were accepted. Period. Nothing further was needed. God had purified them by faith and they even received the Spirit as the Jewish believers had on Pentecost. The danger was that some would then try to add on additional requirements for the Gentiles. (And this is actually what happened! Just consider Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council, and Paul’s book of Galatians. The legalists in the Church tried to add circumcision and other requirements of the Law of Moses to the Gospel so that the Gentiles could be acceptable Christians.) This amounted to saying “God may have been willing to receive you, but we are not. You already have God’s approval, but now we will tell you what to do to win our approval.” But what is human approval compared to Divine acceptance? Why did the Gentiles need the approval of the Jews if God Himself had already accepted them? This would be like saying that the Gospel is insufficient to reconcile people to God or that being accepted by the Church is actually more difficult than being accepted by God Himself.

What could have happened, and what almost did happen if we consider the book of Galatians, is that the Jewish Christians could have refused to fellowship with the Gentile believers. The Gentiles are unclean, and therefore unworthy of being received into full fellowship with the kosher Jews. Faith in Jesus is not enough to make the Gentiles clean enough for the Jews to accept! This would have created a class of inferior believers and would have resulted in two separate Christian fellowships: one Jewish and one Gentile. But there is only one Body. And this spiritual reality must be worked out in fact in the actual life and practice of the Church, or the Gospel would be meaningless and powerless. The Gospel was far more radical and powerful than anyone supposed. Not only are Jews and Gentiles reconciled to God, they are also being reconciled to each other. God has accepted us. Now we must accept each other.

But it would take the Apostle Paul and his special calling and ministry to the Gentiles for the Church to fully realize that Jesus has broken down the dividing wall of hostility that divided Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:14-16). That means that any other wall that divides people must be humanly constructed and therefore ultimately superficial.

Summary and Conclusion

God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. This was something that God had always intended to do and was part of the promise that He made to Abraham. Unfortunately, the early Church was slower to accept the Gentiles. God was willing to accept Gentiles, but the first Christians, who were Jews, had been brought up to regard Gentiles as unclean. We should not think that the early Christians were rebellious and refusing to obey Jesus. They thought they were obeying Scripture! This was a blind spot for the Jewish believers. They were having trouble moving from the Old to the New. Religious traditions are the hardest things to get over. The early Church had to experience a fresh conversion through a more comprehensive understanding of the Gospel, which was more radical than they had thought. The early Christians had to move from thinking primarily about the Law to applying the Gospel, from being prejudice against Gentiles to regarding the Gentiles as equals, and from excluding Gentiles to including them in the fellowship of the Church. The Gospel not only reconciled man to God, it also reconciled men to other men and brought radically different people together into one fellowship. The Gentiles were not going to be second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God, but were to be accepted fully because there is only one Church incorporating all believers in Christ.

Destroying prejudice and bringing downs walls of separation between people will never happen by giving a law. Law does not change the heart, even if it constrains external behavior. The Jews had been under the Law all those years and this actually created a barrier instead of removing it. Teaching people to be tolerant may keep them from open conflict, but it will never create love and community. People can tolerate each other while they remain separate and silently hating each other. The only way for the Jews to love and accept the Gentiles was for both the Jews and the Gentiles to give their allegiance to the same Lord. When the Jews love Jesus, and the Gentiles love Jesus, then the Jews and the Gentiles will love each other. As we are drawn into Divine fellowship through Christ we will also find that we have fellowship with one another. In Christ all other differences between people fade into insignificance. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

We must continually go back to the Gospel and let it shape our thinking. The Gospel will change how we think about ourselves and others, if we let it do so. Let the Gospel form our doctrine and our practice. The Gospel is the Bible’s core message! If we refuse to really listen to the Gospel and choose to hang on to our old ways of thinking, our religious traditions, even our prejudices, then the Church will be no different from the world. Unfortunately, the same kinds of divisions and distinctions that exist in the world often exist in the Church. The Church is just as divided as the world and this fact is a serious hindrance to the credibility of the Gospel. Before the Church can even think about changing the world, she must look to her own shortcomings. The Gospel must be lived out by Christians in how they treat one another.

But it is not uncommon for Christians to be suspicious and hostile to one another. There are jealousies and factions in the Church, which cannot be a result of the work of the Spirit. These are works of the flesh. Sometimes our first response to someone who claims to be a Christian is to be judgmental, as if we are always looking first for a reason to determine that they are not really Christians at all. Rather than looking for a reason to condemn and exclude, we should be looking for ways to accept and to include. God has accepted us in Christ. Even a person who is outside right now might come in later and become our brother. We should see everyone as someone for whom Christ died who could potentially become a brother or a sister in Christ, even if they are far away right now, because it will often surprise us who those people are that God calls to Himself. After all, this is His Kingdom, not ours, and we had better not get in the way of His work being done. Better to become a conduit instead of building another wall.