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Acts 2-11 – Transforming the Conscience
Baby steps. When Peter said, (CSB’17) Acts 2:39: “For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call”, it was evident he didn’t quite understand the ramifications as seen later (Acts 10). It is curious God allowed the first Christians to take small, incremental steps. Maybe this is a lesson for us. While in some ways the first Christians were zealously strong; in other ways they still needed to adjust their views. Notice the progression:
1. Acts 2 – Very religious Jews from all over the world were converted to the long awaited Messiah.
2. Acts 6 – These Jews were divided into Hebraic and Hellenistic Jewish camps. The latter were considered to be defiled Jews by the purer Judean Jews because they lived in Gentile areas. This caused a riff in taking care of the needy widows.
3. Acts 8 – Not just culturally defiled, we next have the Samaritans who were racially mixed and religiously defiled in their Judaism. They too will be accepted by Jesus in fulfillment of John 4.
4. Acts 8 – A Gentile from Ethiopia who became a Proselyte Jew is the next progression. By birth he was excluded from the covenant; and by his physical condition not allowed in the temple area (Deuteronomy 23:1). And yet he leaves rejoicing.
5. Acts 10 – Gentiles, namely Cornelius and his household, represent the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) racially. Peter learns not to consider anything unclean that God has cleansed.
God has slowly expanded the minds of the original Jewish believers to accept those unimaginable. The lesson for us is that we need to be patient with others as they grow; and we need to make sure that we ourselves keep growing. Our conscience needs to be trained to accept what is acceptable by God.
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