This issue is partly resolved by understanding that the Torah and the Sinai covenant are not one in the same, but rather that the Sinai Covenant contains the Torah. The Torah predates the Sinai Covenant as well as continues beyond it.
The discussion of what aspects of the Sinai Covenant are the eternal Torah that are applicable to all people is helped by understanding that the non-Jewish people were never directed to keep the Torah as given the Jewish people. This was made clear through the decision made by the leaders at the Jerusalem council:
It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood (Acts 15:19,20).
Some people try to surmise that the intent of this decision was to ease non-Jews into Moses-style Torah observance, by referring to this statement which immediately follows the above:
For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath (Acts 15:19,20).
These people assert that as the Gentiles hear the Scriptures read, in particular the five books of Moses, they will follow God's directives therein even though that is contradictory to the discussion and decision made by the council. That James who worded the decision did not intend for the Gentiles to embrace the Sinai Covenant is clarified by his comment to Paul years later:
You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality (Acts 21:20-25).
James is clear that there was a distinction between how the Torah (at least as expressed through the Sinai Covenant) was to be applied to Jews and to Gentiles.
This is all to say that God didn't intend for all people to follow his directive as contained in the Sinai Covenant.
3 comments:
I have always wondered about the directives the Jerusalem council gave about not eating the meat of strangled animals or blood... these don't seem to me to be on par with idolatry and sexual immorality. I've often wondered if this a move to help Jews and Gentiles walk together without being offensive to one another.
This is most likely in reference to Genesis 9:4, which forbids all people to eat blood. The Jerusalem council was simply confirming some basic requirements that God has for all peoples.
These references have to do with non-native Israelites living within ancient Israel while the Sinai Covenant was in force.
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