Jesus or The Law

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

JESUS OR THE LAW

Acts 21:15-25

15 After this, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples. 17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 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. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 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. 25 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."

NIV

Paul finally reached Jerusalem and met with the elders, those whom Jesus had called to follow him. They praised God for all that Paul reported about how many Gentiles had turned away from their idols and turned to Jesus. However, the bothersome part of this narrative is what the elders told Paul about how many Jews had believed, all of them are zealous for the law. Although the law was given through Moses, God had given them Jesus. How then can they be zealous for both the law and Jesus? Because they were Jews, they would always be Jews who had received the law and lived under it from the time of their birth; they just added Jesus as their promised Messiah, but remained zealous for the law. Had they not heard from at least one of the apostles that the law was set aside because it was weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect? Had they not heard there is a better hope, Jesus, by whom we draw near to God? Did they not hear that Jesus had said that he set aside the first, the law, to establish the second covenant in his blood? Why did they insist on keeping the law, which included sacrifices, the blood of animals that could not wash away their sins once and for all, only the blood of Jesus does that? We wonder if some of the law has crept into the church. We Christians come from various backgrounds, some raised by parents who lived through the more puritanical period of the church, where the rules guided their behavior more than the grace of God. Some were raised in a sinful home, where religion, or anything about Jesus, other than to use his name in vain, was discussed. At some point in our lives, we must make a personal connection with Jesus and confess him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again to see the kingdom of God, or as we say, be saved and have eternal life. What is bothersome is that we wonder if we, or some, have held to the law or the rules of behavior as being holy and acceptable to God. If living in Jesus makes us perfect, or if we are declared by God to be holy and blameless in his sight, even if we are still imperfect in the flesh, then our holiness, or righteousness, is solely through the work of Jesus, not through our works of following rules and regulations. Of course, we want to live in a manner that pleases the Lord. Surely, we do not look for ways to sin. The walk is on a narrow path, but we have the Spirit to lead us, not the law or rules we may have established, thinking they make us holy. The Jews wanted Jesus and the law; they could not have both, and neither can we. Jesus and he alone is the only way.