Messiah for Both the Jew and the Gentile (The Epistles)

In the Acts of the Apostles and the resulting Epistles, the Jewish followers of Jesus saw this entire worldview tipped on its head. They were, after all, God’s chosen people, and up to this point, the only believers in Jesus were of Jewish descent. The idea that their God would ever save a pagan outsider was unthinkable. But, in a shocking turn of events, God saved an entire household of Gentiles. Peter, ever the good Jew, had zero intention of setting foot in a Roman soldier’s house. Still, after some divine intervention, he found himself preaching inside the home of the commander of the Italian Regiment. Before he knew what was happening, the Holy Spirit indwelt these Gentiles just as he did Peter and his friends at Pentecost! Perplexed as to what to do next, and since God had already baptized them in fire, Peter did the only rational thing and baptized them in water. Needless to say, that went over like a lead balloon back home, and Peter had some explaining to do. After hearing his testimony, the leaders of the Jerusalem church saw that God was doing something, but that something turned their world upside down.

As time passed, the floodgates burst open as pagans from other cultures poured into the faith. For some Jewish believers, the growing numbers of Gentiles threatened their cultural identity. Debates arose about how these non-Jewish believers should live. Since Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, many argued these Gentile believers should live according to Jewish customs and religious traditions. Conversion to Judaism would qualify them for Messiah’s gift of eternal life. Others, like the Apostle Paul, argued that all humans are saved by grace through faith, not by obeying the Mosaic Law. Eventually, the church leaders in Jerusalem sent a letter to the Gentile believers explaining that they did not need to follow Jewish religious traditions but should abstain from sexual immorality and eating food offered to pagan idols.

With this, the Apostle Paul expanded his mission, preaching the Messiah’s call for all people to repent and believe in Him. This Messiah was the long-promised “Light to the Gentiles,” and in Him, there is neither Jew nor Greek and those who were once outsiders are now one with those who were the chosen.