Freedom day1

 THE BOOK OF ROMANS

 THE BOOK OF GALATIANS

THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS 

THE BOOK OF PHILIPPIANS 

THE BOOK OF COLOSSIANS

 

Christianity was no longer a branch of judaism. It was its own thing. It had roots in the Jewish faith, but it had begun the process of breaking with its past to form something new. Or perhaps Judaism broke with what had been God’s plan all along. Perhaps it was not Christianity that was the new thing, but Judaism without the leadership of YHWH. 

Regardless, what God was doing now in places like Antioch and Galatia and Ephesus and Rome would be a decidedly good thing for the vast majority of the world. However, it would prove to be a serious obstacle for law-abiding, Christ-following Jews. The Law of Moses, the Temple sacrifices and holy days — these had been objects of reverence for them, and they had paid dearly for their devotion throughout the centuries. Were they to just cast them aside now that Jesus Christ has come and rendered them obsolete? 

What was becoming clearer and clearer, at least among the leaders of early Christianity, is that true religion was never supposed to be about the rules and the rituals, it was always meant to be about relationships. God wanted a people who were rightly related to Him and rightly relating to others. The rules and the rituals were supposed to facilitate that. Somehow, the tail had begun to wag the dog. 

A simple letter from the Council in Jerusalem wasn’t enough to appease the consciences of some who felt compelled not only to maintain their own personal observance of Jewish law, but to bind it on others as well. These people came to be known as “Judaisers.” They plagued the apostle Paul everywhere he went by opposing his teaching that acceptance by God is available to people from all ethnic backgrounds by grace through faith in the completed work of Jesus. And they denied his status as an apostle. 

Sadly, many young believers fell prey to their message that God’s approval must be earned and maintained by rigid observance of the Jewish Law. They had to become Jewish in order to gain God’s favour. 

Needless to say, this infuriated Paul. Once, in something approaching a fit of rage, Paul wrote, “I can’t believe how easily you’ve been turned away from the true message about Jesus to this lie they’re telling about God!” (Gal 1.6-7). He continued, “You were running a good race,” and then asked rhetorically, “Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Gal 5.7).

For some reason, some folks in the first century apparently found grace unsettling. They felt as if they needed to do something more in order to be accepted by God. 

Aren’t you glad we finally got past that kind of thinking? Oh, wait … 

Prayer 

Lord, what You inaugurated through Your beloved Son is utterly unique in human history. Christianity is not a set of regulations and rituals that are intended to earn favour and merit with God, with the gods or with some other version of the Ultimate. That is the nature of humanly devised religions, and it only leads to bondage and uncertainty. But the Lord Jesus Christ opened up an entirely new way, through which we can have direct access to You, not by our merits, but by His grace. The heart of Christianity is not a set of rules and observances, but a living relationship with You. But Your Word clearly reveals the human inclination to add to grace, because we think we need to accomplish something to earn acceptance with You. Deliver us from the folly of putting ourselves on a treadmill by denying the all-sufficient work of Your Son. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen