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INDEX
Abiding in Our Calling (2)
May We Eat “Unclean” Food or
Blood?
Christ, the Image of the Invisible God (3)
I Corinthians 7:17-24
stresses that the effectual call comes to men and
women in their earthly calling or vocation. God not only determines whom He
calls but also when and in what circumstances He calls each elect sinner to
salvation. Thus God’s effectual call (grace) comes to the elect sinner in
his earthly vocation (providence). In both the heavenly call and our earthly
calling, Jehovah is absolutely sovereign (cf. "as God hath distributed
to every man" [17]).
Consider Paul’s coming to preach the gospel in
Paul cites as his first example circumcision, the sign of the greatest
distinction among the nations that between Jews and Gentiles (I Cor. 7:18-19). Circumcision, of course, is the removal of
the foreskin of Jewish boys (on the eighth day after birth) or male Gentile
converts. The gospel in
What does the apostle say? "Is any man called being circumcised?
let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not
be circumcised" (18). Why ought the saints not circumcise or uncircumcise themselves? "Circumcision is nothing, and
uncircumcision is nothing" (19). What then is
the important thing? "keeping … the
commandments of God" (19). In Christ, as Paul puts it in Galatians,
"neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision" but "a new creature" (6:15)
or "faith which worketh by love" (5:6).
Since circumcision is nothing—neither advantageous nor
sinful—"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was
[effectually] called" (I Cor. 7:20). Rev.
Stewart
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean
(Acts 10:14).
But that we write unto them, that they abstain
from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood
(Acts 15:20).
A reader asks, "In
Acts 10:14,
Peter still seems to be observing food
laws. Why is this? Jesus would have told him that that particular law was abrogated.
This puzzles me. Can you explain this? Was it optional for Jewish Christians? Also, in
Acts 15:20,
blood is forbidden to be eaten in food. Does this apply
today to all Gentile believers?"The first question, arising out of
Acts 10:14,
concerns Peter’s response to the
command from heaven to eat unclean animals and birds, which came before him in
a vision on the rooftop of Simon the tanner. Unknown to him, Peter was soon to
be summoned by messengers from Cornelius to come to the house of this Gentile proselyte
to bring the gospel to them. Peter was given this vision to prepare him for
going to Cornelius’ home.
Peter needed this vision, for to visit in the home of a Gentile and eat with
him was strictly forbidden by Jewish law. Further, to eat the animals, with
which Peter was confronted in his vision on the rooftop of Simon’s house, and which he was commanded to eat, was also forbidden by Jewish law (
Lev. 11).
Two things must be grasped in order to understand this passage. First, the
civil and ceremonial laws given to
Second, the early NT church had a very difficult time breaking away from the OT economy. The apostles still went to the temple to pray
(Acts 3:1),
even
though the temple was a part of the OT law. Present in the early NT church were
many who found it extremely hard to abandon completely the requirements of the old economy.
Acts 15:1-2
indicates that the problem was so severe that a special
synod had to be called to settle the issue.
Peter was having the same difficulty and had to be instructed in the truth
that God was saving Gentiles too and bringing them into the fellowship of the
church. The laws governing the life of the nation of
Jesus would not necessarily have explained these things in detail to His
disciples, because they would not have understood them in any case. They could
not even comprehend that Christ had not come to establish an earthly kingdom,
for, at the time of His ascension, they were still hoping and asking for such an earthly kingdom
(Acts 1:6),
even though Jesus had explicitly taught the disciples that His kingdom was heavenly
(Luke 17:20-21;
John 3:3).
Nevertheless, Christ did explain these things to them, although they did not
understand until the illuminating Spirit was poured out on the church. Christ
had told them that He had come to fulfill the law and the prophets
(Matt. 5:17).
He had explained to them that the food laws were not a requirement in the new dispensation
(Mark 7:14-23).
He had repeatedly told them that His
calling from His Father was to suffer and die at the hands of the Jewish
leaders, and rise again the third day. But the disciples were perplexed and
confused when these things actually took place, for they saw Jesus’ death
as the end of their dreams. Even the resurrection was an event which they did
not expect.
The second question, concerning the decision of the
Jerusalem Council, to admonish the Gentiles to abstain from eating anything
with blood is in the realm of Christian liberty. Christian liberty is
also involved in the last question the reader asks in connection with
Acts 10:14:
"Was it [i.e., eating unclean animals] optional for Jewish
Christians?"
We can only deal with the issue of Christian liberty very briefly in this
connection. Paul’s great epistle to the Galatians has sometimes been called "The Charter of Christian Liberty." (See also
Romans 14
and
I Corinthians 8;
10:19-33).
The church in the old dispensation was under the law, because the Israelites
were children and the law was a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ
(Gal. 3:23-4:
7). But Christ fulfilled the law so that all the ordinances and
requirements of the OT law are no longer binding on the NT church. Our freedom
from the law is a gift of Christ through the Spirit in our hearts.
The NT saint, who walks in the liberty of the gospel, is one who is able to
decide for himself what he may do and what he may not do with respect to those
many things which are not specifically mentioned in Scripture as right or
wrong.
We must remember, however, several things about Christian liberty. First,
the believer makes his decisions on what is right and what is wrong for him on
the basis of the abiding principles of the moral law of God, summed in the decalogue. He does not have
"freedom to do as he pleases." Second, he may not use his liberty as an occasion for the flesh
(Gal. 5:13),
that is, he may not appeal to Christian
liberty to satisfy his sinful pleasures. Third, our liberty is curtailed by our
calling not to offend our brother. If our conduct is the occasion for our
brother to sin against his own conscience, we are guilty of a heinous sin (I Cor. 8:11-13). Finally, the one standing in Christian
liberty decides for himself whether he may eat meat
from animals called unclean in the OT law (e.g., pork) and whether he may eat a
prime rib of beef which is cooked very rare. These principles apply to both
Jewish and Gentile converts, who are one in Christ. Prof. Hanko
In the last two issues of the News, we have seen that Jesus Christ is "the image of the invisible God"
(Col. 1:15).
However, Adam and Eve
were in the image of God before the fall and all of God’s regenerated children are also in the image of God
(Gen. 1:26-27;
Eph. 4:24;
Col. 3:10).
There are important differences though. Man is said to be created, either in
the beginning (Adam and Eve) or in regeneration (believers), "in" or
"after" the image of God, but Christ is the image of God. Godly men
and women, as mere creatures, bear God’s image in a partial and
creaturely way; Christ, as One who is God and man, is
the express image of God. Moreover, the elect bear God’s image only
through Him who is the image of God who was crucified for our sins and bestows
upon us His renewing Spirit.
The heavens "declare the glory of God" day and night to people of every language
(Ps. 19:1-3).
The creation proclaims God—His eternity, His power, His glory, His truth, His justice
(Rom. 1:20, 23, 25, 32).
But though
the universe declares the glory of God, only Christ is the glory of God,
as God manifest in the flesh.
The apostle’s purpose in extolling Christ as "the image of the
invisible God" is "that in all things he might have the preeminence"
(Col. 1:15, 18).
Jesus Christ is pre-eminent not only in creation
and in the church but also in revelation (15-18). As the image of God, He makes
known to us the Father in a far deeper and richer way than anything or anyone
in the creation or even the whole creation put together! Therefore, turning
aside to "philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (2:8) is turning from
the full blaze of the glory and knowledge of God in Christ to mere sparks and
less than sparks. It is turning from Him who is the light of the world to
follow darkness. For in Jesus Christ "all fulness"
dwells (1:19), and in Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge" (2:3). Outside Him, nothing is worth knowing.
As the One who is the image of God, Jesus Christ is the chief prophet and
teacher of His church. Not only does He teach us about the Father, but also He
personally is the revelation of the Father. Listen to and obey Him! Believe Him and follow Him! Search the Scriptures which testify of Him
(John 5:39).
For as we behold God through His living image, Jesus Christ, we
"are changed into the same image from glory to glory" (II Cor. 3:18). Rev. Stewart
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