Euro-Centric Christianity

One of the earliest groups to cause Paul trouble and challenge his gospel was a group of traditional-minded Jewish Christians.  We have labeled them Judaizers because this Christian faction preached that gentile converts needed to conform the Law of Moses making themselves Jews.

While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”  Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question.  The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them.  But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.” – Acts of the Apostles 15:1-5 (NLT)

With a closer examination of Acts we can see that a great many Jewish Christians had converted after hearing the good news and witnessing miracles.  “After hearing this, they praised God. And then they said, “You know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed, and they all follow the Law of Moses very seriously.” – Acts 21:20 (NLT)

This group caused so many problems among the gentile converts that the first Church Council was convened.  We read in Acts 15 that at this council in Jerusalem Council the “pillars of the faith” heard all sides.  The Jewish Christians, probably Pharisees, demanded that all new Christians follow the traditional laws and customs of the Jewish people.  They claimed that in addition to belief in Christ, it was necessary for non-Jews to become Jews by adhering to the strict Mosaic Law.   The Judaizers demanded this ethnic conversion.  This reaction was fueled by the friction with the Roman authorities and a growing sense of Jewish nationalism.  This issue was less about the value of the Mosaic Law and more about the definition of Christianity.  Paul spoke on behalf of the gentile community and was vindicated when James declared that the Judiazers were to stop troubling the gentile converts.  Paul was also given the charge to proclaim the gospel to the gentiles.

The term judiazer appears only once in the New Testament.  Paul uses the term in his letter to the Galatians.  In it, he condemned Peter for being a hypocrite because until James’ people from Jerusalem (the judiazers) pressured Peter, he had been living among, with, and like the Gentiles in Galatia.

“When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?” – Galatians 2:14 (NLT)

Paul remained true to the Gospel, the Council of Jerusalem, and encouraged the new believers to live morally according to their own customs.  He did not condemn the Law, but instead held it as a personal choice. We will examine more on the Law’s precepts and legalistic practices in the next section.

What bearing does this have on us today?  For starters, in February of 2014, Pope Francis called on Catholic educators, to “offer all of their students, "with full respect for everyone's liberty and in ways appropriate to the educational context, the Christian proposal -- that is, Jesus Christ as the meaning of life, the cosmos and history.”  This is in response to his acknowledgment of the very real situation that school, universities, communities where Christian Churches serve are increasingly multicultural and non-Christian. This is very similar to Paul’s situation in Galatia.  Paul, a Jewish Christian, evangelizes to the gentiles.  He speaks to them on their terms. He philosophizes in Athens; he lives and works in Corinth; adapting his message to their situation.

“Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view.”- 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NLT)

Christ came for all.  As believers, we are called to stop judging others according to human standards.  The Judiazers applied the Law to the new converts.  What are the human standards we use to judge others?  Are we closed to ethnic Christians?  Do we judge and condemn non-European cultural expressions of Christianity?

Parts in this Series
1. Paul’s Gospel is about Gospeling
2. Euro-Centric Christianity
3. Legalism
4. Lawlessness
5. Paul’s Gospel
6. The New Perspective on Paul is Catholic

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Sources

• Dunn, James D. G. The Gospel and the Gospels. Durham: University of Durham, 2013.
• Hensell, Eugene, O. S. B. The New Perspective on St. Paul. n.d. http://www.biblicalcourses.com/workshops/introduction-to-saint-paul/the-new-perspective-on-st-paul/ (accessed March 15, 2015).
• Longhenry, Ethan. A Study of Denominations. n.d. http://www.astudyofdenominations.com/history/judaizers/#sthash.U5aqE3tS.dpbs (accessed March 13, 2015).
• Puskas, Charles B., and Mark Reasoner. The Letters of Paul: An Introduction. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1993.
• Rocca, Francis X. "Pope: Catholic educators must share Gospel with multicultural society." Catholic News Servce/USCCB, February 2014.
• Russle, Walt. Who Were Paul's Opponents in Galatia? Dallas: Dallas Theological Seminary, 1990.
• "The New Living Translation Bible, Catholic Reference Edition." Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. , 2001.