Yesterday we read the letter James wrote to clarify that faith must work or it's not genuine. Today we see the respect he had gained in Jerusalem: he spoke and the discussion ended. It was Peter, though, who stated the truth about Jewish legalism clearly and concisely: So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? (Acts 15:10 NLT) It is the nature of legalism to want to attract others to itself, even though it chokes the life out of its practitioners.
Paul, the fiery leader, and Barnabas, the encourager, were destined to see things differently. Their disparate views culminated in the case of young John Mark (who later wrote Mark). Paul took Silas and went back to the churches previously started, planting others on the journey. Barnabas took John Mark and planted churches on the island of Cyprus. The Gospel continued to spread and the men (including Paul and Mark) later reconciled.
As Acts 16 begins, one of the focus points was the region of Galatia. Tomorrow we will read Paul's letter to the churches there.
It is fascinating that God kept preventing them from further work in the province called Asia. Then Paul had the Macedonian vision and they crossed the water to bring the Gospel (for the first time) to Europe.
No comments:
Post a Comment