When Jesus ascended to Heaven and very shortly thereafter the Holy Spirit descended onto the members of the early Church at Pentecost, the battle really heated up. And, truly, Satan's opposition to the Church, with its gospel message of "salvation by grace through faith" has never abated.
The best information we have in the New Testament about the Judaizers comes from the book of Galatians, where the battle for the soul of the Church ran especially hot. Note that Judaizers were also soundly renounced by early Church leaders in Acts 15 at the Council of Jerusalem, in the church of Colosse (Colossians 2:16-17), in the very carnal Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 7) and in the church at Rome (Romans 14:5).
The Galatians were a Gentile people who loved Jesus Christ and wanted to walk in obedience to Him. They had, however, been deceived by Judaizers who, I do honestly believe, were sincere (although sincerely wrong). Look at what Paul says (5:2-3) about the Galatians trusting in circumcision to make themselves right with God (that is, work to earn their own salvation).
2-3 I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law.
Galatians 5:2-3 The Message version
Yesterday, a customer called the pie shop and RAVED about our apple pie, declaring it to be the best double-crust pie he had ever tasted. He exclaimed that there was "no going back" for him.
What the Galatians were doing was submitting to, allowing themselves to be enslaved by, an old covenant. They had chosen to remove themselves from the path of grace through Christ and to pursue achieving their own holiness through enslaving themselves again to the Law (5:4).
Jesus Christ established a new covenant through His blood. He IS God's new covenant with His people! How do I know this? Where is the "proof"? Let's examine the Scriptures. You are expecting a NT reference, aren't you? No, we must go all the way back to Jeremiah 31:31-34 (ESV).
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
I can hear some of you now - - "This was meant just for the Jews, the chosen people, and will be fulfilled in the last days." Yes, while God WILL restore the Jews to Himself in the last days Jesus Christ made it clear that HE is the fulfillment of this scripture passage, and He did it at the last meal He shared with His disciples. Luke 22:20 (ESV) - - -
17And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Jesus Christ's blood, poured out for us, established and sealed God's new covenant relationship with people, those people willing to enter into covenant relationship with Him, the Father God, through the Son, Jesus Christ. This offer is for ALL people who are willing - - Jew or Gentile. If the Luke passage is not clear enough for you, consider Hebrews 9:15 (ESV), which is quite emphatic.
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Does this mean that circumcising our male children is wrong? Or, that observing Jewish feast days and customs is wrong? Only if you are depending on them to achieve your own righteousness with God. NO.GOING.BACK.
I have Christian friends and loved ones with Jewish heritage as well as those without it. Regardless of bloodline, they choose to honor Jesus Christ by observing the Jewish feast days, because they see Him so beautifully represented in Old Testament practices. But, they do NOT depend on their observances for their salvation. They submit to various parts of Jewish law out of love for their Savior, while serving God from a circumcised HEART: a heart which covenants with God through faith in Jesus Christ, a faith is expressed in love (Galatians 5:6, Romans 2:29).
So, that is what Paul had battled in Galatia. We are currently studying the book of Titus, where Paul had become aware of Judaizers similar to those in Galatia. Today's text is 1:10-16 - -
10For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.16They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
Titus 1:10-16 (NASB)
Judaizers professed to understand the heart of God revealed through the Old Testament, but in practice were entangled with all sorts of non-Mosaic "add-ons" - - Jewish traditions that had been tacked on through the centuries since salvation "by faith" was established with Abraham and from which they were seemingly unable to (or unwilling to) escape from. (You may recall Jesus debunked several of these during his earthly ministry; we find such in the gospel accounts.)
In summary, let's remind ourselves of this over-arching truth from Romans 7:
But now we have been exempted from The Written Law, and we are dead to that which had controlled us, so that we shall serve from now on in the newness of The Spirit and not in the Old Order Scriptures.
Romans 7:6 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)
No comments:
Post a Comment