We Are All The Children Of God …
...by faith in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:26-29)
This is the Eighth post from Chapter 8 of Friends With God: God’s Friendship With Israel And The Church, which is exploring the similarities and differences between the Old and New Covenants.
As discussed in previous posts in this series, scripture shows that love is the foundation of both covenants. Yet, as also previously discussed, it seems that circumcision was required for Jews, but not for gentiles.
This was highlighted when Paul was given the task to tour around all the gentile churches to clarify, yet again, that they were not required to be circumcised. Even so, at the very beginning of this tour Paul required a Christian by the name of Timothy, to be circumcised, because Timothy was actually a Jew. (Acts 16:1-5)
Paul must have had a very strong argument to convince Timothy that circumcision was absolutely necessary, or he would not have agreed to it. Yet no such debate or reasoning is provided by Paul. It therefore must have been self-evident to Timothy that he needed to be circumcised, due to the fact that he was considered a Jew by God, as his mother was a Jew.
In contrast, Titus, who was a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised when he went to Jerusalem with Paul a few years later. (Gal 2:3)
All The Children Of God…
So, here is a clear distinction being made between Jew and gentile in the Church. Jews were required to be circumcised, whereas gentiles were not. Yet we are told:
For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (of eternal life as children of God) (Gal 3:26-29)
If we have put on Christ, such that we follow his example, then we are also the spiritual children of Abraham, and will inherit the promise of eternal life as we are also the Children of God. Men don’t need to become physical children of Abraham, by being adopted into Israel by circumcision, in order to become the Children of God.
Therefore, given that there is neither Jew nor Greek how is it that circumcision is NOT a distinction between Jew and gentile? The answer is very simple: the same way there is NOT a distinction between male and female, bond and free.
A man or a woman obviously does not need to stop being a man or a woman when they follow Christ, similarly a Jew does not need to stop being a Jew in order to follow Christ.
A Jew/Israelite is a person who is a physical descendant of Abraham. God made a covenant with Abraham that all his males would be circumcised as a sign of Abraham’s faith in God, as explained in this previous post. The New Covenant does not change the relationship that Abraham had with God, nor the agreement that God made with him about his descendants.
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All Are One In Christ, And One With The Father
If you read all of Galatians chapter 3, you will see that Paul is talking figuratively not literally. In Christ (that is in our beliefs and actions toward one another), there are no higher expectations of a male as opposed to a female, or of a Jew as opposed to a Greek, or of a slave as opposed to a non-slave.
Similarly, those men who are circumcised have no higher expectation on them in their Christian calling than those men who are not circumcised.
We are all to fulfil the way of love to God, and to love our fellow man, no matter if they are of the same genetic background, social standing, gender etc. as we are, or not. Why? For the simple reason that you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
So, to be circumcised is of no importance in keeping the law of love, for if we follow Christ then we are all one in Christ Jesus. Which means we are one with the Father, and with each other-
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You,
that they also may be one in Us. (John 17:21)
All people in the New Covenant are aiming for the same stupendous achievement of being one with God.
However, Christian Jews, who are in both the Old and New Covenants, are required to be circumcised, whereas Christian gentiles who are in the New Covenant only, are not required to be circumcised.
Even so, this requirement is for men only. Israelite women are not expected to have any perpetual sign in their bodies to remind them of the covenant of Abraham, yet they are also in covenant with God in the Old Covenant.
It is therefore patently obvious that circumcision is of no importance to a woman, because it, or something equivalent to it, is not required of them.
And if they become converted Christians, then they have the same expectations of following the example of Christ. So, there is no difference between male or female in their obligation to obey God in either covenant.
As will be discussed in later posts from this chapter of Friends With God, it is circumcision of the heart that is the critical factor for men and women, be they gentile or Jew, rich or poor, bond or free.
The goal of being one with God and receiving eternal life is also for those in the Old Covenant, as is clear from Hebrews 11, where the righteous people in Israel are seen as not only having faith in God, but also as being examples for us in the New Covenant to emulate.
God Is One
The fact that God is one is attested to by Moses (Deut 6:4), and was confirmed by Jesus who quoted Moses:
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel;
The Lord our God is one Lord: (Matt 12:29)
“Lord” is often translated “Jehovah” in modern versions, and it means self-existent or eternal. So, it could read “The self-existent God is one self-existent”.
God is one eternal being, and we are to be one with him, and one with those of faith in both the Old and New Covenants.
As God is the self-existent ONE, then it is self-evident that this ONE is the source of all life. In addition, he has said he will give eternal life to those who have a relationship of love with him as their father.
Requirement For Circumcision Of Jews
The answer therefore to the question, “as there is neither Jew nor Greek, why was Timothy circumcised?”, is very simple: these two covenants are not mutually exclusive.
Just because one is called the Old and the other New does not mean Old is of no value. As discussed previously, the term “Old Covenant” is used only once in scripture. We need to look very carefully at the many different assumptions many people have made about the Israelite covenant in order to not be led astray, as warned by Christ:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:17-19)
As the heaven and earth are still here we must continue to teach the Law and the Prophets. Here Christ shows us that the Israelite covenant is completely compatible with the Christian covenant, as it is made up of the Law and the Prophets. And because these two covenants are compatible, what Paul told Timothy to do was quite logical.
Timothy was a converted Christian before Paul met him. (Act 16:1-2) He was well spoken of by the other members of this Christian gentile community, however because circumcision was not a requirement of the New Covenant, they had not required it of him. It was nothing they would have even considered, as they were gentiles and circumcision was not part of their customs.
However, because Timothy was a Jew, he was actually in both the New and the Israelite Covenant at the same time. While circumcision was not a requirement of the New Covenant, it was of the Israelite Covenant.
If Timothy was circumcised or not, it made no difference in the New Covenant. However, if he was not circumcised, it made a difference in the Israelite Covenant. Paul therefore required Timothy to be circumcised, which clearly showed that he was in fact in both covenants, without contradiction to either.
The Israelite Covenant Not Done Away
What did Paul think of the Israelite Covenant? By circumcising Timothy, we could assume that he thought it was still active and not done away with for Jews.
Yet this is not the only time that Paul, and the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem, supported circumcision for Jews and not for gentiles.
After Paul had been touring with Timothy, he came to Jerusalem and acted like any Jew of the time by offering sacrifices to God at the Temple. (Acts 21:19-26)
Please read these verses for you will see that Paul was first welcomed by the elders and Apostles in the Jerusalem Church, who rejoiced that he was preaching amongst the gentiles what he was told to preach in Acts 16:4 - the decree that it was not necessary for gentiles to be circumcised. Then the elders said to him that there were other Christian Jews who were told that Paul was teaching that Jews should not circumcise their own children.
Because of this confusion, the elders said unto Paul:
you see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe (in Jesus); and they are all zealous of the law (they strictly keep the Old Covenant): And they are informed regarding you, that you teach all the (Christian) Jews which are among the gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. (Acts 21:20-21)
The Pharisees told lies, claiming that Paul was teaching converted Jews to forsake the law given by Moses, including not to circumcise their own sons. This was an obvious lie, as Paul required Timothy to be circumcised.
The converted Jews were not complaining that Paul was teaching the gentiles that they did not need to be circumcised. They, however, needed to be reassured that he was not teaching that circumcision for Christian Jews and their children was unnecessary.
The Elders and Apostles continued to advise Paul by saying:
the multitude (of converted Jews) must needs come together: for they will hear that you have come (to Jerusalem).
Do therefore this that we say to you: We have four men which have a vow on them (these are four converted Christian Jews, who have taken a vow, as they would have done in the Old Covenant);
Them take, and purify yourself with them (take the same vow), and be at charges with them, (pay for their expenses) that they may shave their heads (which was part of the ritual vow): and (so that) all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning you (that you teach against the Law), are nothing (they are not true);
but that you yourself also walk orderly, and keep the law (of the Old Covenant). (Acts 21:23-24)
The Elders and Apostles were telling Paul to behave just like any other Jew of the day. They even required that he pay for the expenses of others keeping a vow to God. By doing this, nobody would be able to accuse him of teaching that the requirements of the Old Covenant were done away.
However, concerning the gentiles they clearly said:
As touching the gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, (meaning circumcision and keeping of the Oral Law) save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from (meat that has been killed by being) strangled, and from fornication. (Acts 21:25)
This is exactly the same words that were said to the gentiles previously in Acts 16:4 - the decree that it was not necessary for gentiles to be circumcised or to keep the oral law, as was explained in the third post in this series.
Pretending To Keep The Law???
Many years later the Christian theologian Jerome, in a letter to another Christian theologian Augustine (404A.D.), stated that Paul, after his conversion, was still keeping the law as any Jew of his day. (this and all letters between them are available at https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102075.htm and are explored in detail in Appendix 13 of Friends With God)
However, Jerome goes on to assume that Paul, and the Elders and Apostles were doing so in pretence, so as not to upset the converted Jews in Jerusalem. Many Christian teachers I have heard also teach this same view about what Paul was doing. But, was Paul pretending to “keep the law” as a Jew, in order to not cause trouble?
If he was pretending then he was a liar, and we should not listen to anything he says! Indeed, if the Elders and Apostles actually instigated this deception, (as we see in scripture they did) then we should not trust them either!
We are left with the situation where we either throw out everything Paul and the Apostles wrote, or we look for some other simple explanation. The simple explanation is that Paul was keeping the law, as was required in the Israelite Covenant, which included the requirement of circumcision for Jews, as there was no reason for him not to keep the law.
Clearly then, the Law, as taught in the Israelite Covenant, was certainly not done away with for a Jew who comes into the New Covenant.
This is emphatically reiterated a few chapters later in Acts, where Paul states that he keeps the Law of the Israelite Covenant, and the Jews could not contradict him:
... this I confess unto you, that after the way (of Christ) which they (the Jews) call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law (of the Old Covenant) and in the prophets. (Acts 24:13-14)
The solution to the problem of Timothy’s being circumcised, is simply that it was possible for a Jew to be in both the Old and New Covenant at the same time, without contravening the terms of either covenant.
This makes everything Paul and the elders in Jerusalem did understandable, including why he had previously circumcised Timothy, but did not circumcise Titus, who was a Greek. There is no need to accuse these righteous men of lying in order to promote the truth of God, or lying in order to not offend people. Such justification is foolishness in the extreme, and a slander against these righteous men, and blasphemy against God who inspired and motivated them.
Christians And Gentiles Together In The Synagogue
In the early years of the Church, at least until the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70AD, most converts to Christianity were Jews.
As we will see, the Old Covenant scriptures that spoke about Christ, were read every week in the Jewish Synagogue on the Sabbath Day, where both Christian Jews and non-Christian Jews worshiped the same God, in the same place, at the same time.
There was a natural relationship between those Jews in the New Covenant and those Jews in the Israelite Covenant, and there was no reason they should not worship God in the same place at the same time- the Jewish synagogue, on the Sabbath.
As Paul said “I worship the God of my fathers”, who is the same God that both Christians and unconverted Jews worship.
Paul also worshiped God in the synagogue. (Acts 13:14-15, 13:42, 17:1-17, 18:4-19) Ironically, it was because Christians worshiped in the synagogue with unconverted Jews, that the unconverted Paul (called Saul at the time) had been able to easily round them up to cast them into prison! (Acts 22:19, 26:11)
Later, as Paul and Barnabas travelled to the gentiles, they frequently preached on the Sabbath, in the synagogues, to both Jews and Greeks.
This meant that most gentile Christians were actually converted in the synagogue, and they continued to go to the synagogue after they were converted. (Acts 14:1, 19:8)
Most people did not have copies of the scriptures, as we do today, as before printing was invented they were very expensive. However, they could hear it being read in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
When James, in Acts 15, was summarizing the discussion of the decree to send to the gentile churches, it was expected that gentile Christians were able to go to the synagogue to hear the word of God every Sabbath. (Acts 15:21)
If there was a significant conflict, between those in the New and those in the Israelite Covenant, or any difference of opinion about how to worship God, then this regular meeting together at the same place and time would certainly not have been possible.
It was only after many years of meeting in synagogues on the Sabbath, that Paul eventually started regular meetings away from the Jews, because many of them had hardened their hearts to the truth. (Act 19:8-10)
But there is no indication that Christians did not meet on the Sabbath- it was not until many years later that the Roman Emperor Constantine changed the day of worship from the seventh day of the week to the first day, as it was the day of worshiping the Sun God, as is explained in this previous post.
So, in addition to keeping the weekly Sabbath, unconverted Jews and Jewish Christians, would have also kept the God’s Holy Days on the same days as the Jews, as there is nothing in the New Covenant scriptures that require changing the timing of when to keep God’s annual festivals .
If Christians kept these festivals and the Sabbath at a time different from the Jews, they would have had conflicts with them. Yet, there is never any mention of trouble regarding when people kept the Sabbath, Passover, or any of the Festivals of God. We must therefore assume that the unconverted Jews, and Christian Jews, kept the annual Festivals and the weekly Sabbath at the same time and at the same place, which, as we have seen, is what scripture demonstrates.
Why did the Jews persecute Paul and all Christians, when they were still keeping the Israelite covenant? We will explore this question in the next post in this series.