Transcript Document

Last week:
Jews and Christians
Road to Separation
This Week:
Jewish and Gentile Christians
In co-existence
Early Christianity and Judaism
Major Milestones
• AD 33 Martyrdom of Stephen
• AD 33 Conversion of Paul
• AD 44 (or before) Peter and Cornelius (Herod Agrippa
died AD 44)
• AD 49 Jerusalem Council
• AD 70 Destruction of Jerusalem (General Titus)
The Jerusalem Decree – AD 49
Acts 15: 23 The apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile
believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our
authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they
said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you
with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked
their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are
sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are
writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to
burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:
29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood,
from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.
You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
Acts 11:19-20
Now those who had been
scattered by the persecution in
connection with Stephen
traveled as far as Phoenicia,
Cyprus and Antioch, telling the
message only to Jews. Some of
them, however, men from
Cyprus and Cyrene, went to
Antioch and began to speak to
Greeks also, telling them the
good news about the Lord
Jesus.
Antioch, between two great Empires
Antioch – Commercial Significance
Missions at Antioch
13 1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and
teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,
Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch)
and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting,
the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for
the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had
fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent
them off.
Turmoil at Antioch
• Acts 15:1 ff - Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch
and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised,
according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be
saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute
and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed,
along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see
the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent
them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and
Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This
news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to
Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles
and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done
through them.
“Minutes” of the Jerusalem Council – Part 1
Acts 15:6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question.
7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them:
“Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice
among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message
of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed
that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as
he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for
he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to
test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither
we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it
is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as
they are.”
Peter’s Vision
For list of unclean and unclean animals see Lev 11
and Deut 14.
Clean and Unclean Food in the OT
Leviticus 11
General categories:
11:3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that
chews the cud.
11:9 Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the
streams you may eat any that have fins and scales.
11:13 These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat
because they are unclean: the eagle,[a] the vulture, the black
vulture, … bats …
11:20 All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be regarded
as unclean by you. 21 There are, however, some flying insects that
walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs
for hopping on the ground. 22 Of these you may eat any kind of
locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper.
Motivation for Food Laws in the OT
• ? Hygiene ? - Mk 7:19 (“Jesus declared all food clean”) makes
no sense if hygiene is the reason for the food laws.
• ? Avoidance of pagan practices ? the animals commonly used by
Israel’s pagan neighbors for sacrifice and worship (e.g. the bull)
were the very same animals commonly used by Israel.
• Separation from the nations by drawing a line for table
fellowship - Lev 20:25-26
• Sanctity of Life
Motivation for Food Laws – Separation of
Israel from Pagan Gentiles
You must therefore make a distinction between the clean and
the unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do
not defile yourself by any animal or bird or anything that moves
ִ ‫)הב ְַּדל‬
ִ as
along the ground—those which I have set apart ( ‫ְתי‬
unclean for you. You are to be holy to me because I the LORD
am holy, and I have set you apart ( ‫ ) ו ַָאב ְִדל‬from the nations to
be my own.
Motivation for Food Laws- Ethical Behavior
Gen 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be
fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread
of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the
sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish
in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and
moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants,
I now give you everything.
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And
for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand
an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I
will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
Lev 17:10 – 12 “I will set my face against that person who eats blood
and will cut him off from his people. …None of you may eat blood,
nor may an alien living among you eat blood … because the life of
any creature is its blood…”
17:13 prohibits eating of strangled animals
Motivation for Food Laws – Ethical Behavior
“…the blood prohibition (Gen 9:3–6) taught the Israelite
respect for animal life and remind them that it is only by
divine permission that animals may be killed for food. One
single prohibition reminds us “who prohibits” and “who
permits”, and that he holds us accountable for life of animals
and human beings.
If taking mere animal life is not trivial, how much more
serious is shedding human blood.
Thus the blood prohibition is an affirmation of the sanctity
of life, animal and human. It serves as a daily reminder (or
whenever meat is served.)
The 7 Laws of Noah (first 6 given to Adam)
– according to Judaism
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Practice justice
Abstain from blasphemy
Abstain from idolatry
Abstain from adultery
Abstain from bloodshed
Abstain from robbery
Abstain from eating flesh from a live animal, also not to
drink blood taken from a live animal (Sanhedrin 56a)
Minutes of the Jerusalem Council – Part II
• Acts 15: 12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to
Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had
done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished,
James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon[a]
has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people
for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are
in agreement with this, as it is written:
• 16 “‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things known from long ago.
James the Lord’s Brother
• Acts 12:17 “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about
this”.
• Gal 1:18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get
acquainted with Cephas[b] and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I
saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.
• Acts 15
• Acts 21:20
• Epistle of James – 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord
Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations …”
James the Just
Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews, (xx.9):
• "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was
James" met his death after the death of the procurator Festus, yet
before Albinus took office. [AD 62]
• .The High Priest Hanan took advantage of this lack of imperial
oversight and managed to have James executed by stoning.
• Josephus reports that Hanan's act offended a number of "those who
were considered the most fair-minded people in the City, and strict in
their observance of the Law," who petitioned the new procurator
about the matter.
• High Priest Hana was removed from office.
Bishops in Jerusalem
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN BISHOPS OF JERUSALEM
1. Jame st +
11. Justus +
21. Gaius I
31. Dius
2. Symeon
12. Levi +
22. Symmachus 32. Germanio
3. Justus +
13. Ephres +
23. Gaius II
33. Gordius
4. Zacchaeus + 14. Joseph +
24. Julian II
34. Narcissus
(repeated)
5. Tobias +
15. Judas +
25. Capito
35. Alexander
6. Benjamin + 16. Marcus
26. Maximus II * 36. Mazabanes
7. John +
17. Cassianus
27. Antonius * 37. Hymenaeus
8. Matthias +
18. Publius
28. Valens
38. Zambdas
9. Phillip +
19. Maximus I
29. Dolichianus 39. Hermon
10. Seneca +
20. Julian I
30. Narcissus
+ Jewish descent
*These two names are omitted in Eusebius' Church History, but are listed in his Chronicles and are also listed by
the Church historian Epiphanius
Also see Church History, Book V, chapter 12 in which Eusebius lists the first thirty of the bishops, ending with
Narcissus, "the thirtieth in regular succession from the Apostles."
“Minutes” of the Jerusalem Council – Part 3
• Acts 15: 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not
make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from
food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat
of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses
has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is
read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
• F.F. Bruce on v. 21: “the decree is no loss to our Jewish
heritage since Moses is read all the time.”
Why only 4 prohibitions?
• The Decree addressed 3 major problems (blood and
strangled animal are one single issue) of Gentile
Christians. “Decree” may not be the right word.
“Pastoral Letter” may be more appropriate.
• Idolatry and immorality (Rev 2:12ff, 2:18ff, I Cor.)
• Why is “blood” becoming an issue? - because table
fellowship between Gentiles and Jews propel the problem to
the front.
The problem of food sacrifice to idols
• Apollonius asks you to dine at a table of the lord Sarapis on the
occasion of the coming of age of his brothers in the Thoerian
[temple] (P. Oxy. 1484).
• Diogenes asks you to dine at the first birthday of his daughter
in the Sarapian [temple] tomorrow … from the 9th hour (P.
Oxy. 2791).
• Sarapis asks you to dine at the sacred offering for the lady Isis
in her [or, his] house tomorrow, which is the 29th, from the 9th
hour (P. Fouad 76).
Dining Rooms in Temple to Asclepius in Corinth
The Decree after the First Century
• Minucius Felix, Latin Apologist, AD 150-270: refutes the claim
that Christians eat children by pointing out that they abstain
from drinking blood.
• Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 5.1.26 woman martyr (end of 2nd
century) 'How,' she said, 'could those eat children who do not
think it lawful to taste the blood even of irrational animals?' And
thenceforward she confessed herself a Christian…
Application
First, a question of how to interpret commandments in the Bible.
Westminster Larger Catechism:
Question 99: What rules are to be observed for the right
understanding of the ten commandments?
…where a duty is commanded, the contrary sin is forbidden;
…where a sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded:
Fair hermeneutics?
Application
Jesus’ Hermeneutics of The Ten Commandments
1 No other God
2 No idols
Do not take God's name in
3 vain
4 Keep the Sabbath
5 Honor parent
6 Do not kill
7 Do not committee adultery
8 Do not steal
9 Do not bear false witness
10 Do not covet
Jesus’ summary:
Do to others what you
want them to do to you.
This is the meaning of
the law of Moses and the
teaching of the prophets.
Mt 7:12
Question 135: What are the duties required in
the sixth commandment?
• all careful studies/lawful endeavors, to preserve life
• resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and
avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices, which tend to
the unjust taking away the life of any
• just defense against violence
• patience , quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit
• a sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreations
• charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness,
kindness; peaceable, mild and courteous speeches and behavior
• forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, forgiveness
• repaying good for evil
• comforting and succoring the distressed
• protecting and defending the innocent.
Question 136: What are the sins forbidden in
the sixth commandment?
• all taking away the life of ourselves, or of others, except in case
of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense
• the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of
preservation of life
• sinful anger, hatred, envy, desire of revenge
• all excessive passions
• distracting cares
• immoderate use of meat, drink, labor, and recreations
• provoking words, oppression, quarreling, striking, wounding
• whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any