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Tag: gentiles

Truth for Gentiles who turn to God
How will the Jerusalem Council judge Gentiles according to the Jewish Law of Moses?

Acts 15

6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

Simon Peter has testified.

“Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
Acts of the Apostles 15:7b ESV

And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
Acts of the Apostles 15:12 ESV

Response of Jerusalem’s Pastor James

¹³After they finished speaking, James replied,

“Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.

Leaders and Witnesses of the Jerusalem council

Let’s be clear who is speaking and which leaders have witnessed the truth of events leading to a church meeting about the gentiles.

Simon Peter.

In verse 14 the King James and English Standard versions translate Συμεών from the Greek as Simeon; however the NKJV, NIV and other versions use “Simon” while the NLT uses the most familiar identification of the Apostle, “Peter.”

Barnabas and Paul

Their mission journey has brought about this council and clearly both are leaders in their testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles and leadership of the church at Antioch Syria.

James

And let’s not miss who now speaks a the representative pastor and leader of the local church at Jerusalem where the council meets.

It is none other than James brother of Jesus who was raised with the Lord, yet did not believe that his half-brother was the Christ, the prophesied Son of God until after Jesus’ resurrection at which time James became a faithful disciple called to lead the Jerusalem Church.

Witness of the Prophets

James refers to the Prophet Amos from ~760 BC and Samuel Prophet of David three hundred years before that.

“Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. ¹⁵And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

¹⁶“‘After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins,
     and I will restore it,
¹⁷that the remnant^[a] of mankind may seek the Lord,
    and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
     says the Lord, who makes these things ¹⁸known from of old.’

In A.D. 49, James witnesses the promises of God to David a thousand years before. Now it seems that the kingdom promised to David is all but defeated.

The Temple of Solomon was destroyed, the Jews were captured and taken to Babylon and Persia. The distant hope witnessed by Amos and the Prophets seems near to slipping away once more at the hand of Rome (which will again destroy Jerusalem and Herod’s temple in A.D. 70).

Yet Scripture is true and God’s word comforting to those faithful few who wait for the Lord to save — for the Lord to redeem the captives who hold to His Name — saving them from God’s judgment of sin and eternal punishment and granting His true worshipers the glory of the kingdom of the root and the son of David. Yes, even the Nations of the world beyond the hills of Jerusalem.

Amos 9:

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
“Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people;
and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away;
not one of them shall escape.

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,
except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
declares the LORD.

“For behold, I will command,
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes with a sieve,
but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

This was just one judgment of Jerusalem!

Amos had prophesied it.

Twenty years earlier, the Sanhedrin of Herod which meets in this same Jerusalem as today’s council had crucified Jesus Christ, brother of James and Son of David. The leaders of a semi-captive Israel disregarded the revealed will and written word of the Lord God.

The Jewish council of Herod’s Temple had also slain the Apostle James by the sword, another politically expedient death which it thought would prevent the sword of Rome from overtaking their city of sin.

It didn’t. (For as most of us know Rome would destroy Jerusalem just twenty-one years from this time of the Christian Council in Jerusalem.)

Amos 9:11-12 (to which James refers)

“In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,

that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,”
declares the LORD who does this.

It is a remnant of Edom. Yes even a remnant of Judah and Israel after these many centuries — only a remnant who remember the Lord their God and look for the redemption paid on the Cross for “all the nations who are called by my name, says the LORD.”

Judgment for the Gentiles

You have probably never thought of James, brother of Jesus, pastor of the Jerusalem church and author of a New Testament letter to the church as a Judge.

But this is his role here with the Council at Jerusalem.

The accusations (concerning circumcision) have been presented. Several witnesses have presented evidence about the truth of events where gentiles have interacted with Jewish witnesses (including the Apostles).

A defense of the truth by Barnabas and Paul recounts incidents for which some Jews have accused them of breaking the Law of Moses.

Pastor James, head of this Christian Sanhedrin gathering of Apostles and other leaders has even preceded his decision as Judge with Scriptural prophesy of their very actions concerning the gentiles. So here is his verdict speaking on behalf of this council at Jerusalem as its leader:

19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God
Acts of the Apostles 15:19 ESV – Verdict of the Council of Jerusalem pronounced by James

The verdict pronounced by James on behalf of the Council at Jerusalem, however, is conditional. Addressing the concerns of which Gentiles have turned to God by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, he continues with clarification of what the Council must do to go into the Gentile world with the Gospel.
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NEXT, God-willing, we will join James and the Council of Jerusalem as they take action by way of a letter and messengers sent on another mission trip to the Gentile Nations.
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January 9, 2023
According to the Custom of Moses
Paul and Barnabas have returned from Cypress and the mountain cities of nearby Asia minor after nearly two years of an amazing first missionary journey from Antioch.

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Acts of the Apostles 15:1 ESV

TRADITION, TRADITION, TRADITION, some preach. — We all know the type (and EACH of us in our own way have danced the dance).
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. – Acts 15:2 ESV

ἔθος – Ethos of Μωϋσῆς

Controversies of the Custom of Moses Continue

ethos – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1485 – ethos
- custom
- usage prescribed by law, institute, prescription, rite
ἔθος – Ethos from the Greek of Paul, Barnabas, the local language of the church at Antioch Syria from where these apostles had been sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit and the church — Ethos from the common Greek Jesus preached to the crowds of Galilee and Judea nearly two decades earlier

ἔθνος – Ethnos NOT of Μωϋσῆς

— ethos, so similar and applicable to ethnos, that is, ἔθνος, used for ‘the nations’ or gentiles.

ἔθνος – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1484 – ethnos
- a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together
  - a company, troop, swarm
- a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus
  - the human family
- a tribe, nation, people group
- in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
- Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians
Circumcision (and other Mosaic traditions)

~ A.D. 60-62 – Luke’s two accounts of the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles are published for a church suffering severe persecution throughout the Empire, including Jerusalem which is about to be destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70.

~ A.D. 49 – Luke’s records this encounter between some men of Judea and Gentile Christians of Antioch Syria. This takes place after their first missionary journey, leads to a council at Jerusalem and consequently to a second missionary journey (into the world of the gentiles).

So my first reaction to such opposition is WHY is circumcision such a BIG DEAL with these men?

~ A.D. 32 [Jerusalem]

Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. .. and they set up false witnesses who said, “..we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”
Acts of the Apostles 6:9-14 ESV – excerpt from Jewish accusation of Stephen

The issue of the LAW, covenants and traditions is NOT who has broken with tradition but who the LORD now separates to HIMSELF by the Sacrifice of Christ.

The Testimony of Christ by Stephen
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Timeline: Moses *uncertain *(~15th or 13th c. B.C.); (Precise timeline of Joshua & the Judges of Israel uncertain.):
David *~1000 B.C. (dates differ between various sources); Solomon ~900's B.C. - First Temple of the United Kingdom of Israel (Judah in the south & Israel in the north) ended in 931 B.C. at Solomon's death.

Stephen's testimony before Jerusalem's leaders takes place about ten centuries (1000 years) after David, 
but just two years after these judges of Herod's temple reject their Messiah Jesus.
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Acts of the Apostles

Paul and Barnabas have prevailed over such opposition by the power of the Holy Spirit throughout their first missionary Journey already.

Opposed to the Gospel at the Gate: Bar-Jesus

Acts 13:9But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
Acts of the Apostles 13:47 ESV

The issue of salvation of the Gentiles NOT the traditions of Moses, Israel, Abraham or David.

Unworthy of Eternal Life

But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. – Acts of the Apostles 13:50 ESV

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

Act of the Apostles 14:1-2 ESV

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds [at Lystra], they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
Acts of the Apostles 14:19 ESV

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. – Acts 14:23 ESV

Acts 15 of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas

So several months back before this year of our Lord 49, the Holy Spirit anointed these apostles to be sent out from the church at Antioch. Their mission was first to the Jews, but also to Romans in the Roman cities and Greeks in the Greek cities — men NOT of the circumcision AND women as well – the ethos of the ethnos as it were — the uncustomary customs of the gentiles accepted into the Church by its Apostles and Elders as new traditions of grace in Jesus Christ.

2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

Journey from Antioch to Jerusalem via Roman roads to Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia, Caesarea on the Samarian coast and Joppa on the Judean coast to Jerusalem is approximately 350 miles.

So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.

NEXT: The Council at Jerusalem

Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem (by the church at Antioch Syria) from where the Holy Spirit had sent them into the lands of the Gentiles.

These apostles of Antioch continue to proclaim the Gospel as previously on this next journey of more than three-hundred miles to Jerusalem.

The Samaritans and certainly Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon are NOT of an ethos like the Judeans either (but Jesus had brought the Gospel to these towns too).

The church has also added Romans in Caesarea when Peter previously visited, as had Samaritans witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit in Joppa.

In Jerusalem Peter, Paul, Barnabas, the Apostles and many others will sort it all out as the Holy Spirit continues to bring both Jew and Gentile together in the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be continued…
December 29, 2022
Iconium – A Pattern of Persecution
But having shaken off the dust of their feet against them, they went to Iconium.
Acts of the Apostles 13:51 LSB
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Their journey of about 90 miles on a Roman road connecting these two capital cities of Asia Minor through the mountains would typically take about a week on horseback or on foot.
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Paul and Barnabas have just been run out of Pisidian Antioch continuing on a mission from Cypress where the Church in Antioch of Syria had initially sent them to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus to all the world.

An Antioch Blueprint of Church Evangelism

Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.
– ACTS of the Apostles 11:19-20 LSB

Observe a developing pattern of reactions and consequent acts when the Good News of Christ Jesus is proclaimed to ALL sinners in a city.

Acts of Apostles on Mission
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In case you missed their last stop in Antioch of Pisidia:
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Who has believed our message?

So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. – ACTS 13:42 NKJV

And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region..
And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Acts of Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch 13:49,52 LSB

Iconium Lycaonia
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Lycaonia - background: 160 B.C. - After defeat of the Hellenistic King Antiochus Rome gave it to the king of Pergamum after which it became part of Galatia then to Cappadocia.
64 BC -Pompey gave the northern part of the tetrarchy to Galatia and the eastern part of the eleventh strategia to Cappadocia. The remainder was attached to Cilicia. Its administration and grouping changed often under the Romans.

Iconium Ἰκόνιον (Ikónion) in Greek (with regular Medieval Greek apheresis Kónio(n)) and as Iconium in Latin. Ikónion is the Hellenisation of an older Luwian name Ikkuwaniya.

Some claim that the name Ikónion was derived from εἰκών (icon), referring to an ancient Greek legend according to which the hero Perseus had vanquished the native population with an image of the "Gorgon Medusa's head" before founding the city.

The Konya region.. at different times under the rule of the Hittites, the Phrygians, the Classical Greeks, the Persians and the Romans.  - source: Wikipedia
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Acts 14

Now it happened that in Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.

2 But the unbelieving Jews instigated and embittered the [souls] of the Gentiles against the brothers.

3 Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that [miracles] signs and wonders be done through their hands.

4 But the multitude of the city was divided;
- and some sided with the Jews,
- and some with the apostles.
The familiar pattern:
- Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together
  - Pisidian Antioch. And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. Acts 13:14
  - Salamis, Cypress. they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews Acts 13:5
- and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.
  - Pisidian Antioch. Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas.. And the next Sabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. Acts 13:43a,44
- 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews instigated and embittered the minds of the Gentiles against the brothers.
  - Pisidian Antioch. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, blaspheming. Acts 13:45
  - Paphos Cypress. they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus.. opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. – Acts 13:6b,8b
- 14:3 Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that [miracles] signs and wonders be done through their hands.
  - Pisidian Antioch. “Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through [Christ] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.. Therefore watch out, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you Acts 13:38,40
  - Paphos Cypress. “..will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him.. Acts 13:10b-11a
- 14:4 But the multitude of the city was divided; and some were with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
  - Pisidian Antioch.
  - And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48
  - But the Jews incited the worshipping women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their boundaries. Acts 13:50
  - Paphos Cypress. And when they had gone through the whole island .. they found .. a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus.. with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus..[who] summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. Acts 13:6-7 excerpt
  - Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on [Bar-Jesus].. “Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind..” Then the [Roman] proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Acts 13:9b-10a,12
- 14:5 And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled..
  - Pisidian Antioch. [they] instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas..
  - Paphos Cypress. Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos..
And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled..

Paul, Barnabas and disciples who believed fled from persecution in Iconium to Lycaonia and the surrounding region

ACTS of these disciples of the risen Christ called Christians — To be continued…
November 12, 2022