Hi, thanks for the input. I agree that the Messiah is the center of our faith. My journey started with Him and continues with Him. I look to how He lived His life, how He walked, and I aim to do the same. Here are some things to consider, friend...
The Messiah righteously accused the Law teachers and Pharisees of setting aside commands of God found in the Torah-Law, now some of us stand on the side of those He accused.
And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! -- Mark 7:9 (NIV)
They falsely accused Him of breaking the Law (in many places in the gospels) or seeking to change it, now some of us stand on the side of the Messiah's accusers in agreement with them.
For we have heard him [Stephen] say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” -- Acts 6:14 (NIV)
They falsely accused Stephen of speaking against the Torah-Law, now some of us stand on the side of Stephen's accusers in agreement with them.
They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow [Stephen] never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law." -- Acts 6:13 (NIV)
They falsely accused Paul of teaching Jews to turn away from Moses and of living in disobedience to the Torah-Law, now some of us stand on the side of Paul's accusers in agreement with them.
They [Jewish believers in Jerusalem] have been informed that you [Paul] 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." -- Acts 21:21 (NIV)
They [some Jews at the Temple] stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place." -- Acts 21:27b-28a (NIV)
And what was Paul's response to these false accusations? At the request of James, Paul makes a public display of his obedience to the Torah-Law.
"What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 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.” The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them. -- Acts 21:22-26 (NIV)
He defends himself to Felix against the false accusations.
"And they [Paul's accusers] cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me. However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. -- Acts 24:13-15 (NIV)
He defends himself to Festus against the false accusations.
Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.” -- Acts 25:8
He defends himself to local Jewish leaders in Rome against the false charges.
Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: “My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. -- Acts 28:17 (NIV)
As for the Scriptures you brought, I've seen these discussed in detail in previous posts on this board, so I'll keep my response short and we can go into further detail, if you like.
Acts 2 -- Sorry, I'm not sure what you want me to look at here. Can you please clarify?
Acts 10 -- Peter's vision is in regards to people only. Specifically, he was to understand from the vision that the Gentiles with the Holy Spirit were to be regarded as clean. There is no lesson about eating unclean meats here. When Peter retells the story twice on different occasions in the following chapters, he never mentions anything about unclean meats. He interprets the vision only with regards to Gentiles, so I'm going to stick with Peter's interpretation and not insert an interpretation that is not presented in the text. A revelation of this magnitude regarding unclean meats would have been monumentally life-changing in the Jewish community, but there's absolute silence on the matter, no one says a peep about it because no one understood any change having occurred.
Acts 15 -- The four commands to the Gentiles are simply a starting point. No one agrees that these are the only four things Christians must keep. The expectation is they would learn more as they grew. The lesson here is that ritual conversion by circumcision is not a requirement for salvation for Gentiles. After their confession of faith, the Holy Spirit cleanses them and they begin their journey from there. There are no works, such as circumcision, that come before salvation. Salvation comes first, obedience comes after.
therefore I can also read this verse and understand that I will be part of the bride.
