Ethical Issues In Early Christianity

It all began in the covenant with Abraham, God promised many things to him. God promised numerous descendants, land, and a relationship with him. God’s first blessing would provide Abraham with numerous descendants, which in turn would become a great nation. His second blessing would provide him and his family with a place to call home. His third blessing states that Abraham will have a relationship with God. This means that, anyone who blesses Abraham will be blessed by God, anyone that curses him will be cursed. In return for all of these promises, Abraham and all of his male members and descendants were circumcised to let God know that they belong to him.

He became an advocate for the inclusion of the Gentiles among the true followers of Christianity. Until Paul’s challenge, Jewish Christians believed that non-Jews had to convert to Judaism and follow the law, which included restrictions and circumcision. Gentiles who worship in the synagogue but did not become proselytes were called god-fearers and were only second-class citizens in the synagogue. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision_controversy_in_early_Christianity)

Paul became an advocate for the inclusion of the Gentiles among the ‘true’ followers of Christianity. Until this moment in history, Jewish Christians believed that non-Jews had to convert to Judaism and follow the law like them, which included many dietary restrictions and circumcision. Gentiles who worship in the synagogue but did not convert were only

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,” (Galatians 3:28-29). However, Paul’s mission wasn’t to spread Judaism, it was to spread the ways of Jesus’s life, so the Jewish people didn’t have direct power to shape other’s beliefs. In examining power from different angles, it can be determined that although the Jews showed small bursts of power between 1000 B.C.E and 100 C.E., they generally remained

Chapter six entails that circumcision signals a moral, as well as an ontological defect in men. For example, it can be an excess of lust, therefore, the cutting of the foreskin can be looked at as a cure. Furthermore, chapter 7 presents that it is faith, not circumcision, which is the determining sign for Judaism. In other words, both men and women, therefore, can be equally as Jewish. This stand was pushed forward by Maimonides. Maimonides

In 1Corinthians, Paul appeals to the lowest denominator in the group and abjures wisdom. “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent will I frustrate.” 1Cor18. He deals with incest, lawsuits, sexual immorality, and married life, food sacrificed to idols – matter which one readily answered by the Torah and the law. Yet Paul does no research and uses no knowledge he might have learned in his years as a practicing Jew. He relies only on his own intuition, and his personal revelation of Jesus’ death, resurrection and the imminence of his second coming. Unfortunately, this off-the-cuff memo of dealing with real life issues is open to prejudices, rationalizations, projections and a variety of defense mechanisms.

In Galatians 2:1-3, Paul describes going to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus. The chapter of Galatians describes an agreement, which states that the Gentiles, including Titus does not need to be circumcised. Paul, James, Peter and John agree that Gentiles should not need to be circumcised. However, people continue to disagree with them on this particular issue. In the ESV Study Bible, it says, “Paul regards the imposition of circumcision on Gentile Christians as a slavery producing betrayal of the freedom Christ has given.” With all of this being said, the chapter of Galatians proves that it is a completely different event than in Acts. There are undeniable similarities between the chapters, but it is proven that this specific event did not occur at the same time as the Jerusalem Council. In Galatians 2, this event takes place in 47

Throughout the early history of Christianity, disputes broke out over mosaic law, particularly in the mid first century when the issue of circumcision, cutting off the foreskin of a man’s penis, was a heavily debated and a recurring issue among different churches and members of the church. Many Christians believed that following the mosaic law, which included the act of circumcision, was no longer required for salvation as having faith and accepting Jesus as the messiah would be enough. Others, on the other hand, believed that requirements set forth in the mosaic law were still necessary to be saved. These people were negatively branded with the name Judaizers (those who believed that all Christians should follow the Law of Moses), and were often criticized for being discriminatory and elitist. A meeting was then held to discuss the whether the application of the mosaic law to new members of the Christian community, particularly focusing on if those trying to convert, were obliged undergo circumcision to be accepted into, and become part of, the Christian community. The apostolic decree of the council of Jerusalem moved away from its

To understand the meaning of Galatians 5: 16-18 we must understand the purpose of the letter. Galatians is an occasional letter (Duvall, Hayes 2008, 100) meant to address a congregation who is faced with the dilemma of Judaizers. The Judaizers were teaching that in order for a Gentile to be truly saved he must convert to Judaism; he must be circumcised. They preached salvation by works of the flesh, putting the Gentiles under the law (5: 9-15). But the flesh; circumcision or no circumcision, following the Judaic laws or not following the Judaic laws, makes no difference in salvation. Righteousness is found through faith and shown in love (5:6). Insistence that Gentiles convert to Judaism “distorts salvation by grace alone” and causes dissension in the body of Christ (Wilson 2013, Gal. 5:15). Paul argues that Christians should rely on the Holy Spirit for the power to overcome the flesh and walk in love and faith (5:16– 18). There is clearly a distinction between the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit (5:19-26). Paul

Paul and the Law: I read the article, "Paul's Letter To The Romans, The Ten Commandments, And Pagan 'Justification By Faith'", by Paula Fredriksen. Growing up I always wondered how the Jews, as well as other scholars, believed if not the same as the Apostle Paul. Paula Fredriksen dives in and brings us into a rigorous talk on the book the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, his theology on the Law, as well as the views of the Jewish fathers. What she offered in her article gives enough information to appreciate the perspective of Paul (a protestant view), the Fathers or others faiths.

In this passage, Paul stated that “those who believe are the descendants of Abraham,” which connected the Gentiles to a Jewish context. Paul told the Gentiles that they do not need circumcision to become Jewish but instead need to have faith. Paul placed them into a Jewish context by saying that they only needed faith to be a descendant of Abraham, or a Jew. Like Abraham, if the Gentiles believed, they would be righteous, which also illustrates the promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis 14 and why the law of circumcision was unnecessary for the Gentiles to be redeemed by Christ’s

In Galatians 1-6 we start off by learning that Paul the apostle was sent through Jesus christ and God the father to the churches of Galatians. Paul returns to Jerusalem and seks help to tell the converts that they don’t need to follow every Jewish law. Then he calls the Galatians foolish, then tells them that Jesus was crucified and now everyone can live for God and not worry about anything. The Galatians begin to question and all Paul wants is for them to stop worrying about Jewish holidays and to start living the way God wants them too. Now we learn that the Galatians are free and if they go and get circumcised, they will be forced to obey Jewish law. Paul then gives them advice about everyone's imperfections and how they

The Jewish community rejected the lax attitude concerning Mosaic Law. The Galatians, who were brought up in an area of the world dominated by a polytheistic, law-based religion, sought comfort in the more disciplined Jewish approach. “Paul: Appealing or Appalling?” is the surprising title of the first chapter in a book about the differing opinions, written by Christian scholars, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan. Their account of Paul’s controversial stance on a variety of “major issues” like gender roles and slavery helps to understand the historical significance of Paul’s evangelism. Jews were easier to reach than Gentiles, because of their sacred education, therefore the issue of circumcision was definitely an issue among the first converts to Christianity. The question on everyone’s mind was, “Do you have to be a Jew to be a Christian?” Judeans were taught that salvation would only come to those circumcised according to the custom. Once in Jerusalem, Paul went to the elders to announce God’s grace in the lives of the Gentiles. They rejoiced in his message, but took notice of his advice against Jewish law,

Dunn suggests as a path for inquiry the way in which, “scripture is actually handled by and within scripture.” Also Luke Timothy Johnson says that Scripture “authorizes” its own reinterpretation, by analyzing how the early church and the authors of the New Testament reinterpreted the Old Testament at the light of the crucified and risen Christ. In retrospect the early church of first century abandoned important elements from the Old Testament such as: the Sabbath law and the distinction between clean and unclean foods, just to mention several. Moreover, Paul’s restriction to Gentiles keeping them from becoming circumcised as a sign of their inclusion in pact made between the Lord and Abraham hits the mark. This abandonment of the OT law was by no means refuses its authority and inspiration, but proposes the principle of reinterpretation now through the light of the risen Christ asserting its historical relativity and its authority as the word of God in that particular time. In addition the abrogation of OT laws in the early church is surprising; the reason behind this is because most of those laws were relative to ancient-Israelite culture. This apparent relativity God’s word for a specific culture and time was recognized by the early church, and enabled them to embark in the process of reinterpretation.

A similar conflict between the Gentiles and Jews took place during the early establishment of the Church. The Jews demanded that the Gentiles adhere to their laws as established by Moses, wherein they were forbidden from eating certain foods and required that all males be circumcised. McRay states, “During that time some men came from Jerusalem and tried to lay upon the Gentiles an even more stringent requirement than the earlier Jerusalem emissaries had done. It was no longer simply a matter of requiring the Gentiles to observe Jewish food laws in order to maintain fellowship with Jewish Christians. They were now demanding that Gentiles males be circumcised in order to be saved” (McRay, 2003, p. 127). Similar to today, these disagreements are presented to the Church Leadership conflict for resolution. In advising the leadership council of Saint Elizabeth Catholic church on how to resolve and maintain the fellowship between these believers, I will use Romans 14 as the fundamental basis for handling conflict resolutions.