It’s been an entertaining Saturday afternoon. I spent about an hour listening to one side of the great United Methodist Church Split. I ran out of popcorn!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCitClZNq-w
I kept hearing echoes reverberating through history for thousands of years. Ever wonder why there are so many different Christian churches, all claiming to be the correct one? Whenever there is a schism, it is a division between Traditionalists and Progressives.
This situation dates all the way back to around 35 CE, when Paul entered the story.
When Jesus was crucified and subsequently taken away to heaven, promising to return soon, he did not leave a unified Christian Church on the earth. There is no record that he ever told his disciples that they didn’t have to be Jews anymore.
He never said, “ You don’t have to keep the Law or the Sabbath anymore!”
In fact, Matthew’s Gospel says the opposite. “Not one jot or one tittle shall be changed until all is fulfilled.”
In the interest of showing my place in this argument, I was raised Seventh-day Adventist, and now attend the Unitarian Universalist Church. As a Buddhist! It was a long journey from one side to the other!
The believers that Jesus left in Jerusalem were all devout Jews. They believed in the Law, circumcision, kosher food, and keeping separate from Gentiles and infidels. Many, if not most of them, did not believe Jesus was The Son of God. That would have been anathema to any observant monotheistic Jew.
Some of them became known as Ebionites (Poor Ones), perhaps because they gave all their money and possessions to the church to be held in common. (Acts 4:34-37)
And then Paul showed up. At first he was known as Saul, and he took part in persecuting this new sect of Jesus worshippers, since he was a strict Pharisee, and did not appreciate these deviant offshoots of true Judaism.
Then he disappeared for awhile, before reappearing as a Jesus follower himself. He claimed to have had a vision from God and been converted to see the light of truth. He said he didn’t go to Jerusalem to see the apostles there at once, since he had gone to Arabia and Damascus first. (Gal. 1:17)
But when he showed up in Jerusalem to talk to the church leaders there, there was an immediate clash. He says he stayed with Peter fifteen days, and also met with James, the brother of Jesus. The argument was fierce, all about differences on keeping the Law, especially the rite of male circumcision.
Paul was converting non Jews in the lands north of Judea, and not requiring any of them to submit to having their foreskin cut off. I suspect he knew that would make evangelizing and converting men much more difficult.
I’m sure James and Peter brought out all the Traditionalist arguments. The Holy scriptures says,”Every man and child among you shall be circumcised.” (Gen. 17:10)
Genesis doesn’t allow any exceptions. Anyone born in a Jewish house, even the slaves, must be circumcised. (Gen. 17:12,13)
I’m sure James reiterated, “This wasn’t just a short time thing. God says this shall be a covenant in your flesh for an Everlasting Covenant.” (Gen. 17:13)
Age was not an excuse, either. The Holy Book says Abraham circumcised his son Ishmael and all the men in the house including himself. It says Abraham was ninety nine years old when he was circumcised. (Gen. 17:24)
“God is the same now and forever, unchangeable.”
“Paul, you are not being true to God’s Holy Scriptures.”
I imagine Paul tried all the Progressive arguments he could bring up.
“I had a vision and God spoke to me! He told me that we are no longer under The Law, since Jesus died to release us from the bondage of the law.”
“That old covenant no longer is in effect. We have a New Covenant.”
“We aren’t saved by circumcision or keeping kosher or observing the Sabbath. No man is justified by the Law in the sight of God. The Just shall live by faith!” (Gal. 3:11)
“That’s just not Biblical,” I’m sure James retorted. “Every man cannot make up his own rules. If every man decides for himself what is right, the result would be anarchy!” Judges (21:24)
“I preach the law of Love,” says Paul. “If everyone has love in their heart, then the law is fulfilled.” (Romans 13:8)
Paul repeated, “Love is the fulfilling of the law!” (Romans 13:10)
Paul said, “In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” (Gal. 5:6)
After many hours of argument, I’m sure, they came to a “One Church” agreement. Paul failed to convince James, Peter and Andrew of his beliefs, and they could not change Paul’s. So they agreed to extend the hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas, and the leaders of the Jerusalem church would continue to preach in Judea, and Paul would take the message to the non Jews in Asia Minor and Greece. (Gal. 2:9)
Evidently there were holdouts among the brethren in Jerusalem, because Paul relates that when he came to visit fourteen years later, he brought a Greek convert, (Titus) who was uncircumcised, and they were spied on by some of the brethren who seemed intent on forcing Titus to be circumcised. (Gal. 2:1-4)
The church continued on for years with two beliefs on the message of Jesus to the world: The Traditionalist view that they should be more faithful in keeping the Jewish religion and Law, and the Progressive view that Jesus came to preach love and compassion and to save us from the condemnation of the Law by his redemptive death on the cross.
Of course, now we know who won. But when Paul died, he probably thought he had lost. He had expected Jesus to come back in his lifetime. (1 Thess. 4:16,17)
He was martyred in Rome in the middle Sixties by Nero, the Roman emperor. The church of James and the apostles in Jerusalem was still dominant.
In 70 CE Jerusalem was attacked and destroyed by the Roman general Titus and all Jews found in the city were massacred, including any Jewish followers of Jesus. The Romans wouldn’t have known the difference, and they wouldn’t have cared anyway.
However there is archeological evidence that some of the Jewish Christians escaped east to Arabia and settled there. Centuries later a religion arose in Arabia which believed in Abraham and the covenant given to his descendants, and who still require circumcision, kosher (halal) foods, and a belief in just one God. They consider Jesus (Isa) second among all the prophets, with just Mohammed as the final prophet.
Paul’s writings were copied, distributed, and read aloud in his many churches in Asia Minor. His churches not only survived, but thrived, and the beliefs of the modern Christian church on Jesus’ redemptive sacrifice on the cross, grace, faith and love reflect Paul’s Progressive influence on the church.
Paul’s writings became the first books in the canon, written even before the Gospels. Almost half of all the books in the New Testament are reputed to have been written by Paul.
The present controversy in the United Methodist Church is following an old and predictable path. The Traditionalists don’t want any change in the old ways, and they base their views on the ancient scriptures being inviolate.
The Progressives see injustice in the old ways, and see ways to offer more love and acceptance to those who have been harmed by past bigotry. God’s love in their heart means more to them than words written thousands of years ago for a different world.
If the past is an indicator, the Progressives will eventually prevail. They usually do. Otherwise, we would still have slavery, (the Biblical default).
Hey, could I get some more popcorn over here?
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