Jew and Gentile

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LESSON 2

*July 3 - 9

Jew and Gentile

SABBATH AFTERNOON

Read for This Week's Study:

Leviticus 23, Matt. 19:17, Acts 15:1–29, Gal. 1:1–12, Heb. 8:6, Rev. 12:17.

Memory Text:

“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17, NKJV).

The first converts to Christianity were all Jews, and the New Testament gives no indication that they were asked to drop the practice of circumcision or to ignore the Jewish festivals. But when the Gentiles began to accept Christianity, important questions arose. Should the Gentiles submit to circumcision? To what extent should they keep other Jewish laws? Finally, a council was called at Jerusalem to settle the matter (see Acts 15). Despite a firm decision by the council not to trouble the Gentiles with a host of regulations and laws, some teachers continued to plague the churches by insisting that Gentile converts to the faith were required to keep these rules and laws, including circumcision. In some ways, these issues exist today, only in a different form. How often are we, as Adventists, accused of being Judaizers, or legalists, because of our adherence to the Ten Commandments (or, in actuality, our adherence to the Sabbath commandment)? How often do we hear that we are now under the New Covenant, and so the law (the Sabbath commandment) has been done away with? On the other side, at times as a church we are confronted with those who would like to impose more Old Testament rules and regulations on us, as well. Hence, Romans certainly has an important message for us today, as it did for the Roman church back then.

*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 10.