Acts 6:7 “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
Before we look at the reasons why the Holy Spirit allows Jewish believers to keep the law, but does not allow gentile believers to do the same, let us look at some scriptural examples of Jewish believers keeping the law. In the above quoted passage of scripture we are told about Jewish priests who were born-again. They remained in the priesthood after they were saved and continued to serve in the temple, thus fulfilling their roles as priests under the old covenant. And so we see that even though they were now partakers of the new covenant, and God had sovereignly annulled the first covenant in their lives, the Holy Spirit had no problem with these new covenant saints observing the law of the old covenant. The reason for that is because He had given them grace in this area.
Acts 10:13-28 “And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." (14) But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean." (15) And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common." … (28) Then he said to them, "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
This next account in scripture quoted above, took place roughly six years after the church had started, and it involved the Lord’s chief apostle of the Lamb. We all know the account of the vision given to Peter on this occasion, which our Lord used to teach His apostle to preach the gospel to the gentiles for the first time. For the sake of this teaching however, I want to concentrate on Peter’s response to the Lord when he saw the vision. Our Lord had let down a sheet filled with unclean animals and told Peter to rise, kill and eat. Notice Peter’s response to the Lord. He argued with the Lord based on the law. Until that time, even six years after the church had begun; Peter had never eaten anything contrary to the law. Scripture reveals to us that our Lord managed to persuade Peter through this vision, to preach the gospel to the gentiles. Nevertheless I’m persuaded that Peter eventually learnt the truth about foods as well, for we have the account in scripture fourteen years later, when Peter did eat with the gentile believers (Galatians 2:11-12). However, the point remains that it took the Lord at least six years to educate His chief apostle about what the new covenant said about foods. And so if it took the Lord six years to educate His chief apostle, how much longer would it take to convince the other Jewish believers? But I also want you to note that the Holy Spirit had no problem with Peter strictly observing this law in the first six years of his Christian walk, for he had given Peter grace in this area. As an aside, there is one other aspect of this account that I want to mention. In verse twenty-eight we see that Peter’s understanding of the law was heavily influenced by Jewish tradition, because he stated that it was unlawful for Jews to keep company with gentiles. The law never forbade Jews from keeping company with gentiles however, Jewish tradition did. Later on we see that Peter was still vulnerable to being negatively influenced by the Jews in this area, when he withdrew from eating with the gentile believers in Antioch, because of which, the apostle Paul had to reprimand him in a rather harsh manner (Galatians 2).
Acts 21:20-26 “And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; … (23) Therefore, do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. (24) Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. … (26) Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.”
This next account quoted above is even more enlightening. This account in scripture took place roughly thirty years after the church had started. I want you to notice from this passage of scripture, that we see all the Jewish believers in Jerusalem being zealous for the law. That would have included James and all the other apostles of the Lord, who were there at the time. The apostle Paul himself was also included among them, for he never disputed their claim that he walked orderly and kept the law. And in this account we have a clear example of Paul, along with four other Jewish believers, going to the priests in the temple and offering the appropriate animal sacrifice to the Lord, according to the requirements of the law. And so if God did not allow Jewish believers to observe the law, then surely after thirty years He would have been able to get that message through to His church. And surely the apostle Paul, who preached so strongly against observing the law among the gentiles, would never have continued keeping the law himself. Clearly the Holy Spirit had no problem with His Jewish believers keeping the law, because He had given them grace in this area. And so I have highlighted only three examples, but there are numerous others in scripture. These however, are sufficient to demonstrate the principle of grace given to Jewish believers in this area i.e. in keeping the law.
The law produces bondage
Romans 14:1-14 “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. (2) For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. … (14) I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.”
To a degree, Jewish believers place themselves under bondage when they keep the law. In the above quoted example in scripture Paul is referring to Jewish believers, for the book of Romans was written to both Jewish and gentile believers. In this example, the believer who can eat all things is obviously at greater liberty than the one who can only eat vegetables. And so in a measure, the one who eats only vegetables has placed themselves in bondage. However, our adversary the devil cannot bring Jewish believers into bondage by tempting them to keep the law. Satan can only bring believers into bondage by tempting them to commit sin. Jewish believers do not sin when they keep the law. The reason for that is because they come into the kingdom as baby believers. All they know is the law, for that is what they have been taught. It takes time for baby believers to grow and mature. While they are babes in Christ their faith is weak. In the above passage of scripture, the apostle Paul is referring to Jewish believers. He lists the believer who is weak in faith as the one who only eats vegetables. This Jewish believer only eats vegetables when there is no kosher food available to them. You will recall that Daniel and his friends did the same thing when they were taken into captivity in Babylon. Paul goes on to say that the one who is stronger in their walk of faith has learnt that they can eat all things. Paul said that our Lord Jesus had to convince Paul on this same issue, and eventually He got Paul to see the light. You will recall earlier that we saw that after six years, Peter had not yet understood that revelation. The Holy Spirit gives the Jewish believers grace in their observance of the law, because He understands that it takes time for them to grow in the knowledge of the new covenant that they are now part of. Being weak in faith is not sinful, and so Jewish believers who observe the law because of their faith being weak, are not sinning.
Michael E.B. Maher
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