Guest speaker: Kevin Dodge
“Unity in the Church” – Acts 15:2-21
According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, there are about 34,000 Christian denominations in the United States.
Kevin suggests that the Jews who were insisting on circumcision of gentile Christians in Antioch weren’t quite the bad guys they seemed to be but were acting according to the only scriptures they had at the time – the Hebrew scriptures.
Genesis 17:9-14
Salvation in the Old Testament was the same as in the New Testament – by grace through faith.
But the Jews understood that the covenant relationship had to be maintained by certain actions in the flesh.
Peter makes an experiential argument in favor of not requiring the gentiles to be circumcised or keep the rest of the law.
Editor’s note: