By Bob Myhan

 

¹And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

This is the first internal controversy of a doctrinal nature. To understand it, one must consider the fact that the covenant of circumcision was older than the Law of Moses. God made this covenant with Abraham.

And God said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant." (Gen. 17:9-15)

The covenant of circumcision was instituted, however, as a type or foreshadowing of forgiveness, with the cutting away of the foreskin of the flesh symbolizing a future cutting away of the sins of the flesh. Even when physical circumcision was still binding, it was irrelevant if one's heart was not right.

For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. (Rom. 2:25-29)

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Col. 2:11-12)

Though it had been necessary for Gentiles to be circumcised in the flesh to enjoy the blessings and benefits of being among the national people of God, such was not and is not necessary to enjoy the blessings and benefits of being among the spiritual people of God. But the Judaizers, whom Paul had to deal with in almost all his epistles, were trying to make of the Lord’s church nothing more than another Jewish sect.

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. (Gal. 1:6-7)

Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. (Gal. 5:2)

As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. (Gal. 6:12-13)

²Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.

The teachers of this doctrine had come from Jerusalem and, therefore, gave the impression that what they taught was apostolic doctrine or “the doctrine of Christ.” It is for this reason that the congregation in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to the congregation that served as a base of operations for the original twelve, just as Antioch was serving for Paul and Barnabas. This is not a general convention of churches with delegates from all over the Roman empire. There is not now and was not then any authority for such a delegation.
 

(To be continued)

By Bob Myhan

 

The conscience is the heart of man functioning in its ethical capacity (1 John 3:18-22). But the heart also has:

Since the truth—and only the truth—can make us free (John 8:32), we must know the truth, love the truth and allow the truth to influence our ethical decisions and volitional actions in order for the truth to set us free. For, after all, we will be judged by the word of God, the true standard of right and wrong— not merely by our belief of what is right and wrong (John 12:48) and we must obey the truth to have a good conscience (1 Peter 3:13-21).
 

(To be continued)

By Bob Myhan
 

 

The Holy Spirit indwells Christians. (Rom. 8:9-11) This is not the issue. The issue is how the Holy Spirit indwells Christians. Does He do so directly or indirectly? Those who defend a direct, immediate, personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit based on His omnipresence  fail—it seems to this writer—to adequately differentiate between His presence and His form. Whatever may be said of the nature of one member of the Godhead may equally be said of all three because each of the three possesses the same divine nature. What is the nature of God?

"God is Spirit." (John 4:24). Spirit does not have flesh, bones and blood.

Nevertheless, God has "form."

God's form is in heaven. "'Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, 'a land flowing with milk and honey.'"' (Deut. 26:15; see also Matt. 6:9; 1 John 5:6-7).

Just as there is a difference between the unity of the Godhead and the individuality of each member thereof, there is also a difference between the presence of God and the form of God. In the next issue, we will deal more thoroughly with the presence of God.
 

(To be continued)