This week's lesson was called "The Controversy".
What controversy was it talking about?
The controversy was basically about "control". Who controls the church?
When we really stop to think about, we realize the very identity of the Jewish people was being challenged. They considered themselves a special people -- the chosen nation of God, and they signified this with circumcision. What was more -- this was all confirmed by "scripture". They lived in a society that combined religion and state -- their leaders being the priests who made all sorts of laws (working policies) to "help" them keep God's law better, and keep them a distinct nation.
Those priests had a lot of control, even under Roman rule, the priests still held considerable power over the people. Control through religion is obtained by placing a human or a group of humans between the sinner and God. In other words -- divine grace must flow though a human channel in order to reach the repentant sinner.
This is true of the papal church, as it is taught that grace is confirmed through the seven sacraments which the priest must administer. A person out of favor with the church is cut off from receiving the sacraments, and thinks he is thereby cut off from God.
The Jewish church also held similar control over the people and were using it to make a profit for themselves and to control the people. People were dependent upon the rituals, sacrifices and ceremonies connected to the temple, for their forgiveness, cleansing, and salvation.
The majority of the first converts to Christianity were Jews. They didn't think they were leaving Judaism, they were simply accepting the Messiah prophesied to come to them.
But then -- they faced a troubling question: how does the church relate to a huge influx of Gentiles who considered themselves Christians yet disregarded the "working policies" of the church? What was even more troubling, was that these policies had good scripture bases.
These "policies" gave the Jewish leadership considerable control over the people. They pursued the enforcement of those policies in every church that Paul established.
It was a constant, and often life threatening, controversy in the early church.
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