The Jews continued to keep the law throughout the Acts period (see Acts 21: 20-26). Many people ask, since Paul was teaching the churches which he founded that they are no longer under the law, (Gal. 3: 23-25) then why did the Jews in the Jerusalem church continue to keep the law?
When Paul went to Jerusalem at Acts 21 he too kept the law, even going so far as to make offerings required under the law (Acts21:26). I believe the following words of Paul explain his actions at Acts 21: 26:
"And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law" (1 Cor. 9: 20).
I believe that it was of the will of God for the Jerusalem church to remain under the law, and His reason would be so that He might gain those who were under the law. But this did not remain in effect. In his role as the "apostle to the Gentiles" the Apostle Paul had gone throughout the Roman Empire preaching to the Gentiles, and when he arrived at a new town or city the first thing which he did was to go the the Jews and speak in their synagogues. He was also fulfilling the Lord’s commandment that he should also go to "the children of Israel" (Acts 9: 15).
His ministry to the Jews ended when he was carried as a prisoner to Rome and spoke before the Jews there. Sir Robert Anderson says,
"When these, the Jews of Rome, refused the proffered mercy, his mission to his nation was at an end; and for the first time separating himself from them, he exclaimed,’ Well spake the Holy Ghost through Isaiah the prophet unto your fathers’—and he went on to repeat the words which our Lord Himself had used at that kindred crisis of His ministry when the nation had openly rejected Him (Acts xxviii. 25 R.V.; Matt. xiii. 13, cf. xii. 14-16)" (Anderson,
The Silence of God, Appendix, Note # 3, p.175).
We can see that a change did come about after Paul’s ministry to the children of Israel had ended by the witness of the Jewish epistles (which were written after the Acts period had ended). During the Acts period the Jews continued to keep the law, and Peter described the law as a "yoke" which the Jews were not able to bear (Acts 15: 10). But by the time Peter wrote his first epistle we read that the Jews were "free" and at "liberty" from the law:
"As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God" (1 Pet.2:16).
Peter’s words there practically mirror Paul’s when he is speaking of the law:
"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal.5:13).
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal.5:1).
The author of Hebrews also says that the law has been annulled:
"For there is verily an annulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by which we draw nigh unto God…By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament" (Heb.7:18,19,22).
Very well, a rebuttal and a little satire, while I'm at it :chuckle:
Yep - yours is veey clearly the result not only of a failure at noting some rather basic things that differ, but of the waxing worse and worse in that kind of a thing over the years - to where you are now where you are...
At your set in long dried over concrete Acts 9 / Acts 13 / Acts 28...hybrid.
Here, I'll give ya just one clue why THEY actually remained under the Law - even AFTER the Cross.
One clue of others that why is merely a part of.
Deuteronomy 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 4:7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 4:8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
Because it IS their very IDENTITY in the sight of the Nations.
Aw, what do I know...
Exodus 19:3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Yep, clueless about this, Danoh is...
Never mind Isaiah's directive to and Prophetic description of the Twelve and their Israelite converts in the sight of their Unbelieving nation one day...
Isaiah 8:12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 8:13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 8:14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 8:15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. 8:16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 8:17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 8:18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
No wonder that Lord described there: Christ; said the following to those Disciples 31st al, Prophesied of by Isaiah...
Matthew 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
But what did Isaiah know - he was just some old Prophet who never read Anderson.
Isaiah 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 2:5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Of course, poor old Paul never read Anderson either.
Romans 2:17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 2:18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 2:19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 2:20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Yep, Paul himself had nothing on Jerry's books based error...
Romans 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Sorry, bro; think I'll pass on your hybrid.
Nevertheless, Romans 14:5 towards ya - til you are fully persuaded in your own mind otherwise.
Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
In memory of Romans 5:8 towards ya once more, then bro.