Acts 22
Acts 22:22
Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he shall not be allowed to live.”
What was the word that set them off? “Gentiles.”
The Jews had no problem with Gentiles coming to God, for there was even a court of the Gentiles present at the temple. The Jews just had a problem with Gentiles coming to God without first becoming a Jew. Circumcision was the prescribed method, and Jerusalem was the assigned location. And the notion that all races and cultures were given direct access to God through Jesus was abhorrent.
We snicker at this attitude but as we look around the world today, we realize our attitudes haven’t changed that much. God’s love is not confined to any one race or culture, it stretches to each and every one of us because we bear the divine image.
Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he shall not be allowed to live.”
What was the word that set them off? “Gentiles.”
The Jews had no problem with Gentiles coming to God, for there was even a court of the Gentiles present at the temple. The Jews just had a problem with Gentiles coming to God without first becoming a Jew. Circumcision was the prescribed method, and Jerusalem was the assigned location. And the notion that all races and cultures were given direct access to God through Jesus was abhorrent.
We snicker at this attitude but as we look around the world today, we realize our attitudes haven’t changed that much. God’s love is not confined to any one race or culture, it stretches to each and every one of us because we bear the divine image.
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