LESSON 28
A GREAT CONTROVERSY
Texts: Acts 15:1-35
"The union of Christians to Christ, their common head, and by means of the influence they derive from Him, one to another, may be illustrated by the loadstone. It not only attaches the particles of iron to itself by the magnetic virtue, but by this virtue it unites them one to the other."
Jews Scattered Over Empire.
As we followed Paul and Barnabas in their first missionary journey, we noticed that in nearly every city they visited, they found Jews, and that their preaching was frequently first done in a synagogue. The fact is, that the Jews were scattered over nearly all of the Roman Empire. They were on the coasts and islands of Western Asia, on the borders of the Caspian Sea, and some were even as far as China.
Jews Kept to Their Religion.
But no matter where the Jew was living, he always kept his own religion, and studied carefully the Law of Moses. That is what James meant when he said, "Moses of old time, hath in every city, them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Their religion taught them not to mingle with the Gentiles in marriage or in social intercourse.
Gentiles Would Not Worship With Jews.
The Gentiles, on the other hand, looked with contempt upon the Jews; while the "gay and licentious festivities of the Greek and Roman worship" made the Jews look with contempt upon Gentiles. They would trade with each other, and mingle together in daily vocations, but as a rule, that is as far as their intercourse went. They said with Shylock: "I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you."[[1]]
Of course, there were Gentiles who sometimes became converted to the Jewish religion, and there were some who married Jewish women, but the line of dislike and suspicion was none the less sharply drawn.
Peter's Prejudices.
You remember how difficult it was for the Lord to convince Peter that the Gentiles were worthy to be baptized into the Church of Christ. Peter saw in a vision a vast sheet descending from heaven in which there were unclean animals, and he heard a voice saying, "Arise, Peter, kill and eat." But Peter said, "Not so, Lord: for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean."[[2]]
Peter's Revelation.
When Peter realized the meaning of the vision, his whole Jewish nature was shocked; for to obey was to break the Law of his forefathers by associating with Gentiles. The Jewish Christians who were with Peter from Joppa to Caesarea were "astonished" when they saw "the gift of the Holy Ghost poured out" on the "unclean" Gentiles. When Peter reached Jerusalem, he was accused of having not only associated but eaten with Gentiles, but Peter had learned by revelation that "what God has made clean" no one should "call common or unclean," that the Lord is "no respecter of persons," and that "every nation" that accepts Him, and "feareth Him and worketh righteousness," may receive His blessings.