THE LEGALIST HERITAGE IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH

When a person understands the gospel and receives it as truth, by converting to Christ, they immediately free themselves from various sinful practices and the way of thinking on various subjects. Certain attitudes, however, persist as waste of the old man and will only be transformed over time and with the action of the Spirit, stimulated by prayer and the life of devotion. This is what happened to many Jews who received Christ in their hearts but who thought they had to keep fulfilling certain items of the Law.

According to the account of Acts of the Apostles, Peter himself had to be dealt with in this area. Before announcing the gospel to a Roman centurion, the Holy Spirit revealed to the Apostle the nullity of the laws concerning pure and unclean foods, as well as the error in discriminating the Gentiles, that is, the non-Jews (Acts 10: 9-23). Peter discerned this experience and did not hesitate to stay in the house of Cornelius whom he preached to Christ, and he and his family were converted. Then the Apostle still spent a few days with them, something totally contrary to Judaism.

In Jerusalem, however, he had to explain himself, for "the circumcised believers criticized him and said, You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” (Acts 11: 2, 3). But after the Apostle spoke of the vision he had and told that as he preached the Spirit came upon those of the house of that Gentile, the likeness of what happened at Pentecost, they were astonished. This shows that the early Jewish Christians did not understand that the gospel was to the Gentiles as much as to them and that they partake of the benefits of redemption.

Although this testimony of Peter, the leader of the Church, that God makes no distinction between Jews and Gentiles, there was rather a certain prejudice against them. And the pressure was not small, for in Galatians there is recorded an episode in which Paul publicly rebukes Peter, " For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group"(2:12). This question needs to be viewed with some understanding, for salvation through faith in Christ represents a radical change from a millenarian paradigm: justification by means of the Law.

Even with the gospel expanding among the Gentiles, this question lasted for a long time in the early church. Acts 15 tells that some Jews went to the city of Antioch and taught, "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved" (1.1). This provoked a great discussion that was only resolved in the first council of the Church in Jerusalem (Acts 15). After the apostles assembled, Peter addressed the word saying that they should not put over the Gentiles a yoke that neither they endured (the Law). Then he said: "We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (Acts 15:11).

Antonio Maia – M. Div.

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