Friday 15 May 2009

Background

The question of continuing Jewish traditions and practices wasnot easy to resolve and provoked an in-depth discussion for theleaders of the Church in Jerusalem. Finally, the issue was swayedby the testimony of first Peter, and then Paul and Barnabas, whodescribed how faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit had been givento the uncircumcised Gentiles (non-Jews). The matter was clinchedwhen James argued that the Scriptures speak of the day when theGentiles will also be God's people (Acts 15:14-21,quoting Amos9:11-12).

The final Council decision is an effective compromise. GentileChristians were not required to be circumcised and observe thespecific Jewish practices. However, so as to enable tablefellowship between Christians of Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds,the latter were required to avoid: food that had been sacrificed toidols, meat that had not been prepared according to the Jewishtradition (kosher) and sexual immorality. This matter was of vitalimportance, as otherwise, the two groups of Christians could nothave celebrated the Lord's Supper ('Agape' meal) together.

The guiding principle seems to have been to avoid making itdifficult for men and women to become disciples of Christ becauseof culturally significant but inessential matters. The decision wasseen to be consonant not only with biblical teaching, but also theapparent working of the Holy Spirit amongst the Gentiles. Thisdecision was to have long-lasting significance and to open the wayfor the Christian movement to be transformed from a controversialJewish sect to a universal faith not tied to any culture orrace.

Unfortunately, in the past, western missionaries often failed todistinguish between the essence of the life-giving Gospel (goodnews of Christ) and cultural traditions. The end result was aChristian faith that transformed the 'locals' into westerners,rather than expressing the Jesus message in terms of the indigenousculture.

To Ponder

What principles for Christian decision-making dowe see in this passage?

Are there traditions or practices that we holdprecious that alienate others? What can we do about this?

To what extent does our practise of the Christianfaith reflect culture rather than biblical principles?