There were many in the early church who believed that new gentile believers had to effectively become Jews before they could become Christians. They insisted that these new believers had to, for example, observe Jewish food laws, holy days and be circumcised. These Mosaic laws had important symbolic value. They symbolised the uniqueness of God’s people. Now, however, God wanted all people to have what they had. It was time then to leave the symbols behind and embrace the reality so that the gospel could move outwards unhindered. This was a big call and not everyone agreed. Who said this should happen? Paul’s point here is that he received this mandate from Jesus himself. The basic content of Paul’s gospel was passed on to him by those who preceded him in the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 11:23–26; 15:3–11). But the mandate to call the gentiles to faith in Christ without them having to observe all the regulations of the Mosaic law came by direct revelation to him. It was, however, then recognised by the rest of the apostles. That’s what Paul is arguing here. From a historical perspective, in retrospect, this was a crucial change for the future of the Christian movement. Human religions are invariably all too human. They are too deeply rooted in one particular culture to move fluidly across cultural differences. But the gospel has, remarkably, moved unhindered across cultural lines since Paul’s time. This cross-cultural movement is a key feature of the Christian faith. There is still much to be done though in cross cultural mission, so it is important that we support and encourage this task.
What will your contribution be to advancing the cause of cross-cultural mission?
Read Galatians 1:11-2:10
