The Questor The Wild Gospel..… …..Managing change If you think Mark Zuckerberg has problems managing the growth of Facebook in the 21st century, try managing a spiritual movement that is growing exponentially and internationally in the 1st century – without the use of social media, phones, internet, TV...... It’s interesting that all the talk at present is of whether it will be necessary to regulate social media platforms as they experience explosive growth. The same was necessary for the early church. As a result of the rate of growth and the geographic spread, different interpretations emerged of how the church should operate and what its doctrine was. The big issues were resolved at ‘Ecumenical Councils’ which were conferences of church leaders and theological experts brought together to settle matters of teaching and practice. These Councils took place from time to time and were a big deal because it involved many people coming together from all over the known world. The first of these Councils is described in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament and took place in Jerusalem. It wasn’t such a big affair as later ones but was extremely important to the future of the church. The big issue it considered was whether all male members of the church should be circumcised. This issue came about because the church in Palestine was mainly made up of people who had originally been brought up as Jews. They still felt a strong allegiance to the Law of Moses and believed that all members of the 12
new church should do the same. So they sent some of their people to Antioch where there was a large non Jewish church membership and told them that all males should be circumcised. Paul and Barnabas were horrified because, not surprisingly, this was a major stumbling block for people who would otherwise have joined the church. They argued with the people from Jerusalem and the leaders of the local church decided to send them to Jerusalem to resolve the issue with the church leaders there. Those for circumcision and those against each made their case and then the Leaders and Apostles withdrew to consider the arguments. After much discussion, Peter addressed them. He reminded them that at one time they had thought that the Message was only meant for the Jews; but God had shown them that it was also meant for the non Jews. What’s more, the non Jews had received the gift of the Holy Spirit in exactly the same way as the Jews. He went on to remind them God had purified the hearts of both Jews and non Jews by faith alone and that they were all saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. Then the whole assembly listened in silence as Paul and Barnabas told them of the wonderful things that had been done among the non Jews. Finally, James, the brother of Jesus, gave his verdict. He said that they shouldn’t make it difficult for non Jews to become Christians. So they should write a letter to them making this clear while at the same time telling them that they shouldn’t eat food that had been offered to idols, they should refrain from sexual immorality The Dever - April 2021
