Lesson Three
The Break Point: Including Gentiles
Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us?...” And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
Luke 2:46-49
When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”
John 2:14:17
“And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing G-d. Amen.
Luke 24:52-53
Introduction
- Acts 6:11-15; 7:51-54: Would the ‘Hebrews’ who received the epistle have listened to the false accusation against Stephen?
- Would they have continued to read this epistle, if the argument being made was the same as the one against Stephen?
- Acts 17:10-12: Is it possible that the pious and observant Jews of Berea would have accepted this letter if it had been sent to them… if it was being used to overthrow the Temple system?
- If the author of Hebrews wanted the recipients to leave the ‘Judaic system’ as some commentators think why does he never actually say that? The book is written in a highly technical and ‘rabbinic’ style, or kal v’chomer [light to heavy]. Always remember that.
- Our recipients, the ‘Hebrews’, were an observant, Temple sect of Judaism. Our modern aversion to the things of G-d; the Temple and sacrificial system would seem foreign and to the early believers.
Compare Sects
Issue |
The Way |
Pharisees |
Sadducees |
Belief that Yeshua is Messiah |
Absolutely |
Maybe |
Unlikely |
Resurrection from the Dead |
Absolutely |
Absolutely |
No |
Worshipped in the Temple |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Had leaders in the Sanhedrin |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Enjoyed the approval of the people |
Yes |
? |
? |
Made up of Jews only (including Proselytes) |
Absolutely |
Absolutely |
Absolutely |
Acts: Historical and Cultural Context
- Acts 9:4: What does Yeshua call Paul?
- Acts 9:10; Acts 22:12: How would Ananias be categorized today?
- Acts 9:19-22: What is Paul called, and what/where does he preach>
- Acts 9:26-31: Where did Paul go, and why?
- Did G-d rename Saul [Sha’ul] to Paul because of a conversion to the new ‘Christian religion’?
- Acts 10:1-6: Cornelius is not Jewish, but he is called ‘devout’. How does Luke define ‘devout’?
- Feared G-d
- Gave alms
- Prayed always
- Acts 10:3: What hour did Cornelius see the vision. Why does that matter?
- Acts 10:12-14: What was Peter commanded to do, and did he obey?
- Peter says, “Not so, L-rd…”
- Ezekiel 4:9-15: G-d commands Ezekiel to bake bread over human dung.
- Ezekiel answers, “Ah L-rd G-D, I have never defiled myself…”
- The command to Ezekiel was to picture defilement of Jews among Gentiles.
- Gal 1:8; Deut 13:2-5: Anyone (including a ‘voice from heaven’) that commands a violation of a previous command is to not be obeyed.
- Is 20:1-6: Since G-d commanded Isaiah to go naked, does that lower the biblical standard of modesty?
- Bottom line: Almost all theologians admit that Acts 10 is about inclusion of Gentiles.
- Acts 10:15: What was Peter’s vision about?
- Acts 10:45-48; 11:18: What did Peter and the Jerusalem elders conclude the vision was about?
- Acts 10:23; 11:3: Why was this a big deal? Because G-d had never commanded separation between believing Gentile and Jew.
- The inclusion of Gentiles in Acts 10 and 11 is a significant turning point for the rest of the book of Acts.
- Acts 13:14-15; 42-45; 17:1-4; 18:4: Believers remained in the synagogue system, and continued to treat the Sabbath as holy. It was their ‘meeting’ day.
- 19:9; 24:5; 24:14; 24:22: Believers were called: ‘The Way’, ‘the sect of the Nazarenes’, and ‘Christians’. Those descriptions were never meant as distinct from ‘Judaism’.
Summary
- We continue to see that although there are cultural changes that the believers are having to undergo, their ‘religion,’ ritual, and lifestyle remains the same.
- The early believers were an observant, Temple sect within ‘Judaism’.
- What set them apart from the Sadducees (the rulers of the Temple system) was their belief in the resurrection of the dead.
- What set them apart from some Pharisees and from the Sadducees was their belief that Yeshua was the Messiah.
- After Acts 10 and 11, the most significant issue that the believers in ‘the Way’ differed with some Pharisees and the Sadducees was: inclusion of Gentiles. This is where the other Judaic sects ‘tolerance’ of ‘the Way’ reached a limit.