“The ugliest word in the English language is… exclusive”
Robert Frost

We don’t always appreciate that the Church, when it first came into being, was composed exclusively of Jews. The Messiah was to be their King, His coming was foretold by their prophets. The Church was so thoroughly Jewish from its earliest days that it struggled intensely with the problem of Gentiles. But it would be wrong to think that the Jews were unreceptive to others becoming converts. The first group of receptive people appear to have been the Samaritans, whose origins dated back to the times when many Israelite men were deported to Assyria, forcing intermarriage between pagans and the remainder of the population. However, because the Samaritans accepted the Old Testament and Jewish oral traditions, they were not quite regarded as Gentiles, just as people with a corrupted religious tradition. Moreover, John’s Gospel says:

“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did”. So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.
They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world”.
John 4:39-42

Acts 8 describes Philip’s journey to Samaria where he built on Jesus’ work and made many converts. In fact, so successful was Philip, that Peter and John joined him to assist in their integration.

From this “half-way house” position it was, perhaps, only a matter of time before Gentiles began to convert, causing friction within the fledgling Church. The Jewish Christians assumed that Christ was an extension of their traditional Jewish faith. These first Jewish Christians worshipped in the Temple and they still attended the synagogue. In many ways, Christ was simply added onto the faith of their fathers. They could not see the need to divest themselves of the Pharisaic “baggage”:

“But some from the religious party of the Pharisees who had believed stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise the Gentiles and to order them to observe the law of Moses.”
Acts 15:5

Even though the Old Testament had prophetically announced the cosmopolitan nature of the approaching kingdom of Christ:

“All the nations will hear about all the good things which I will do to them. And this city will bring me fame, honour, and praise before them for the joy that I bring it. The nations will tremble in awe at all the peace and prosperity that I will provide for it”.
Jeremiah 33:9

So, there was considerable Jewish resistance to accepting Gentiles into the church. In addition, Jesus had chosen his apostles from the Jewish population. This, then, was the background Peter had come from.

The story of Peter and Cornelius is the Holy Spirit’s way of guiding His Church through this difficult period. The conversion of Cornelius was a milestone in church history. The first thing we learn about him is that he was an officer in the Roman army – a fact that would make him hated by a patriotic Jew. Yet:

He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people and prayed to God regularly.
Acts 10:2

Cornelius was a God-fearer. These were Gentiles who loved God and were sympathetic to the Jewish faith, but who stopped short of becoming Jews in lifestyle and circumcision. While he obviously had a relationship with God, he was not part of mainstream Jewish life.

However, the main character in Acts 10 and 11 is neither of these two men; it is the Holy Spirit. Whilst at prayer , Cornelius has a “vision of an angel” which was so vivid, he would later say, “a man stood beside me in shining clothes”. The following day, Peter goes into a trance during prayer and is offered a vision of non-Kosher food, inviting him to eat. Unlike Cornelius “What is it Lord?”, Peter says, “certainly not Lord”. It seems that Cornelius is more obedient to God than Peter, even when God speaks directly to him! God responds clearly to Peter: “What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!” The significance of the fact that this happened three times would not be lost on Peter – he had denied Jesus three times and been restored by Jesus three times . While he was still trying to work this out, three messengers from Cornelius arrived. They were Gentiles, he was a Jew – the two didn’t mix. Worse still, these Gentiles had come with an invitation to visit the home of another Gentile, and one whom God had been speaking to!

The story isn’t really about the conversion of Cornelius; it’s about Peter’s. He needed to learn that nobody was outside God’s love. His prejudices had to be overcome before the Gospel could be preached to the Gentiles. But what was Peter to do once he met with Cornelius and his Gentile friends? They were certainly expecting something from him. However, the Holy Spirit again steps in and they began to speak in tongues and praise God – Pentecost all over again! A direct way to salvation had been opened for Gentiles, allowing them to come directly into the church without passing through Judaism first. The primary obstacles of kosher diet and circumcision that had kept many from being baptised had been overcome and Gentiles began coming into the church in ever increasing numbers. With Peter as their champion and not their accuser at the Council of Jerusalem where their admission into the church was confirmed:

“God who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are”.
Acts 15:8-11

How did Peter’s vision change the way the new Church went? The Holy Spirit made it clear to him that his task would be impossible as long as he regarded anything impure that God had made clean. Only by breaking the exclusive ideas from his heart would he be able to carry out the evangelism that God had planned for him. Moreover, the influence he held within the Church would help the others carry out Jesus’ plans for them:

“He said to them, ‘Go into the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned’”.
Mark 16:15-16

The Council of Jerusalem placed very few Mosaic Law restrictions on Gentile converts, removing the two main stumbling blocks to conversion – circumcision and the most strict food restrictions. Nevertheless, these issues were critical to the Jewish view of the Church and the divide between Jews and non-Jews continued. There was, however, one beneficial effect from this split – two missionary teams were sent out instead of one - “One to the Gentiles and one to the circumcised”. So, while the argument and divisiveness did not glorify God, maybe the result did?

Before the conversion of Cornelius, the Church was based in Jerusalem. As it is today, everyone prefers to stay in his safe headquarters to give orders, rather than going to the front-line to engage the enemy. The conversion of Gentiles forced the Church to go out beyond the walls to fulfil God’s “Great Commission”. God had already posted his intentions with the scattering of the Church triggered by Stephen’s stoning. Perhaps one of the major differences between Jews and Christians throughout the centuries is that Jews tend to set up “safe havens” when they have been forced to migrate whereas Christians tend to assimilate into the population and spread their ideas.

The early church first ministered to people of the same culture in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. However, Gentile conversion meant that the Church had to develop a cross-cultural emphasis. The first fruit of this new approach was the Ethiopian eunuch who was baptised by Philip on the road to Gaza.

Gentiles had been considered “unclean” because they failed to obey the laws of Moses by eating animals, fish and birds considered unclean in Leviticus. But, if Gentiles were now clean by faith and the grace of God, becoming the people of God by the blood of Jesus; it became increasingly difficult for Jewish Christians to maintain that the law of Moses still applied to them. This important doctrine of salvation through grace almost guaranteed there would be a final split between Jews and Christians. Daniel Gruber says:

“In the first century, the most heated, controversial, doctrinal issue of all that the Church faced was: ‘How do the Gentiles fit into all this?’…. Today, the most heated, controversial, doctrinal issue that the church faces is: ‘How do the Jews fit into all this?’”

It was only a matter of time before the Church “centre” moved away from Jerusalem. Even without the destruction of the Temple and breakdown of Jewish administration following the Bar Kochba Revolt, this move would probably have been inevitable. Newly planted churches needed help, and drew the best members away from Jerusalem. Initially, the scattered disciples ministered wherever they went, but by Acts 13, formal missions began to replace these ad-hoc ministries.

As Gentile converts increased, the use of Synagogues as the primary place of teaching began to decline. There were simply too many people, even if the Jews had dropped their insistence on accepting Judaism. Thus, it became customary to plant “churches” in each area, further separating Jewish and Christian lifestyles and customs.

One barrier which fell almost immediately was the one between priests and laity. Jewish Old Testament tradition drew a very clear distinction between the priests that served the Temple (Levites) and the rest of the population. Ordinary Israelites would suffer severe consequences for performing “priestly” functions:

“Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar, on the Lord’s Temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead”.
2 Chronicles 19-20

However, this had changed by the time Peter wrote:

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”.
1 Peter 2:9

God had made every Christian His worker – responsible for leading people to Christ.

Peter’s actions and beliefs placed a much greater emphasis on baptism as a “replacement” for circumcision. It is first mentioned in by John the Baptist:

“I have baptised you with water; but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit”.
Mark 1:8

This was not only said to Jews, but to “the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem”. By baptising Gentiles, the Holy Spirit “signalled a new age where all the obedient are accepted” .

Bringing the story up-to-date. The primary character in the story of Peter, Cornelius and the early church is the Holy Spirit. The similarities between Pentecost and the events in Cornelius’ house should not be overlooked. Pentecost was not a “one-off” – it can happen each and every day. The Holy Spirit is just as active as it was in the first century. It is just a matter of following the example of Peter and Cornelius – by beginning each day with an attitude of submission and commitment to God.

Conx - Copyright (c)2006 Conway Billington

Bibliography

The Church In The New Testament
H A Guy
Publisher: McMillan Education Ltd

The History Of The Church From Christ To Constantine
Eusebius (Translated by G A Williamson)
Publisher: Penguin Classics
ISBN 0-140-44138-7

A Bible Commentary For Today
Various
Publisher: Pickering & Inglis
ISBN 0-7209-0440-X

Tell My People I Love Them
Clifford Hill
Publisher: Fount Paperbacks
ISBN 0-00-626605-3

The New Century Bible Commentary
William Neil
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans
ISBN 0-8028-1904-4

Peter Surprised! Acts 10
Rev. Tony Street
Sermon (04/06/06)
St John The Evangelist Church, Warley

God Made No Distinction
Wayne Jackson
Christian Courier - July 1996 edition

The Church – God’s Program For Ministry
Gil Rugh
From the series “Systematically Teaching The Word”Publisher: Indian Hills Community Church

Does God Play Favourites OR How Did A Nice Jewish Church Become Gentile?
Daniel Gruber
Publisher: General Council of the Assemblies of Christ

The Origin And Destiny Of The Gentile Church
Jack Kelley
http://gracethrufaith.com

The Confirming & Unifying Role of the Spirit
Cecil Hook
http://www.freedomsring.org

• Topic: Bible Study

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