3But not even Titus, who [was] with me, being Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4But [it was] because of the false brothers stealthily introduced, who snuck in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order that they might enslave us, 5to whom we did not yield in submission not even an hour that the truth of the Gospel might remain with you.
Paul was presenting his ministry to the elders at Jerusalem. Jews had gone to Antioch and told the Gentile believers, “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). Then at some point in Paul’s presentation, “… some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the Law of Moses’” (Acts 15:5).
Paul of course resisted them and holds up Titus as an example of a Gentile believer who in fact was not compelled to be circumcised. The very apostles themselves in Jerusalem did not require Titus, being a Gentile, to be circumcised. Peter responded to the Judaizers, “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are”(Acts 15:10).
You’d think that would have ended the whole discussion.
But it clearly did not.
Why not?
Here is something I definitely do not understand: What about the Jewish Christians? The case is clearly made that the Gentile believers were not bound to keep the Law. And theologically I would think the same was true of the Jews. But note some things:
Following Peter’s response and further discussion, the Apostles and elders, sent a message, “To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings, We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said” (v24). Notice it is specifically written to “the Gentile believers in Antioch, …” What about the Jewish believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, … and everywhere else for that matter? Were they required to keep the Law or not? Why is the letter only addressed to the Gentile believers? Why wasn’t it simply addressed to the church? What if I was a Jewish Christian sitting in the church at Antioch, listening to the letter as it was read to the congregation? What would it be telling me? I would be thinking, “It sounds like the Gentiles are getting off easy, but apparently the message doesn’t apply to me, since I’m a Jew.” That doesn’t make sense to me.
Later in Acts 21, when Paul returned to Jerusalem, the Apostles and elders told him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the Law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs … so do what we tell you … then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the Law. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision …” (vv20-25).
First of all, I thought that was exactly what Paul did teach … that Christ is “the end of the Law to all who believe,” that there is now “neither Jew, nor Greek … but Christ is all in all.” And why again, did the Apostles and elders specifically distinguish, “As for the Gentile believers …” It would seem to me that they clearly held different standards for the Gentiles as compared to Jews. Secondly, I read, “…and all of them are zealous for the Law” and I think to myself, “That was wrong. Rather than coddling the Judaizers, they should have been confronting the error. Then my mind goes on to think, “No wonder, the Judaizers maintained such a presence in the early church, if the distinction between Jewish and Gentile believers was actually made, if the Jewish Christians were living according to the Law and right beside them in the pew sat a Gentile who did not.
Hmmmmmmm. Clearly I don’t understand something. Based on my way of thinking, the Apostles and elders were wrong. (Which is a sure indication I’m wrong!) In my mind they were coddling the legalists when they should have been confronting them. Even in Galatians, in 2:11-14, we read Paul’s famous confrontation with Peter where it says,
“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”
“…he was clearly in the wrong,” “because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group,” “And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him …” Clearly there was some kind of ambivalence going on, where the Jewish Christians (including Peter) normally lived with an element of liberty and then, all of a sudden the legalists show up, and the Jewish believers (including Peter) suddenly have to abide by the Jewish laws and customs.
Which was it? Did they or did they not have to live by the law?
It seems to me, had the letters been written to the church in general (both Jews and Greeks), had the apostles and elders taken a very clear position that Jew and Gentile alike were no longer bound by the Law, it would have silenced the Judaizers. But because they did not make such a clear statement, it left the church in a state of confusion and easy prey to the Judaizers.
Let me say again obviously I’m wrong. Obviously there is something here I don’t understand. But, in my humble opinion, one of the best ways to uncover my error is to spell it out, state it as clearly as I know how, then sit back, pray, study some more, and hope the Lord opens my eyes. Whenever this happens, of course what I learn is usually monumental.
Finally let me say that these questions are not simply theological conundrums to me. I feel that legalism is one of the worst curses of the church still today. For years I have heard the Romans 14,15 argument that we need to “not offend” those people, that we need to deal gently with them in love, etc. However, the problem with that approach is the same confusion I think I see in the early church. Too much gets done and said because like Peter leaders are “afraid of those who belong to the circumcision group,” because they’re afraid of the rule-keepers. Like the Judaizers, the rule-keepers of today are very vocal and very demanding and very persuasive. Their “standards” and arguments unfortunately are very appealing to the legalistic twist in everyone’s heart. When the leadership doesn’t clearly renounce those errors, people in the pews are left confused as to what is really true. And so legalism continues to run rampant, sowing its toxic venom throughout the church.
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