Everyone is Welcome

Do I expect new Christians to act in a way that has more to do with the Christian culture I was brought up in and little to do with what the Bible says?

Acts 11:19-30

Do I put up barriers to new Christians?

Today we look at the church at Antioch. The Syrian one. You have to be specific because there were many cities called Antioch in the Roman world. This is the first church to welcome Gentile Christians in numbers.

This set into motion the first big theological divide in the church worldwide. Do Gentile Christians have to become Jews and obey the Old Testament law? There were those who said, “Yes! These new Christians need to obey the law, and the males need to be circumcised.” Then there were the likes of Peter and Paul who said, “No! The Holy Spirit has shown that they are acceptable just as they are.”

In Acts 15 we see the account of the first big council of the church. The decision was that Gentiles only had to obey the moral aspects of the law. They did add a cultural one about consuming blood because that would make Jews sick.

Was that the end of the disagreement? Sadly, no, it wasn’t. We see in the letter to Galatia that the issue continued to be a problem to Gentile and Jewish relationships. In Galatians Paul uses very strong language.

This set me to thinking. Do I put up barriers to new Christians? Do I expect new Christians to act in a way that has more to do with the Christian culture I was brought up in and little to do with what the Bible says? I have had the privilege of worshiping with Christians in other countries. They often do things differently.

Pastor Andy