Israel in the Book of Acts
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Most Christians think the Book of Acts is about the spread of Christianity; the story of how the gospel broke free from the confines of Israel and became a universal non-Jewish religion. When Christians read about the church in the Book of Acts they think of their own denominational loyalty: the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This is anachronistic. We shouldn’t be translating the Greek word ekklesia in the Apostolic Writings as “church.” We should be translating it as “congregation,” which is exactly what ekklesia in the pre-Christian translation of the Hebrew Bible means. By anachronistic translation we give the impression that our current denominationalism somehow go back to the 1st century. This is totally misleading.
But there was once a time, a time so long ago nobody can tell us about it first-hand any more, when God’s people were one. There was once a time when to accept Jesus as mashiach meant to join hands with the Jewish people. Everybody who loved Jesus worshipped in synagogue. People who accepted Jesus prayed the exact same prayers as Jews who hadn’t. They huddled together on Shabbat and listened to the Torah being read in the same sing-songy chant. They listened to the same preachers for words of encouragement. They learned how to walk with God from the same teachers. They sang the same spiritual songs. They ate the same kosher food. At their journey’s end they were buried in the same cemetery. Archaeologists tell us in many instances they can’t clearly distinguish between Christian burials and Jewish burials until the 4th century. In life and in death, nobody could tell Jews and Christians apart, because God’s people were one.
Nobody living today has experienced anything like this. Today Judaism is the religion for Jews and Christianity is the religion for Christians. Today Jews go to synagogue and Christians go to church. We’ve developed separate institutional identities. This is the way it’s been for centuries and we’re happy to keep things separate: you in your corner and I in mine.
Furthermore, it’s hard for us to image when God’s people were one, because we’ve all been indoctrinated with a skewered version of the Book of Acts. What I’d like to begin to demonstrate this evening is that the Book of Acts is actually about Israel rather than about Christianity. What’s going on the Book of Acts doesn’t represent something separate from Israel or a movement where non-Jewish norms of behavior predominate. It’s true that in the Book of Acts the gospel goes to the Gentiles, but the gospel doesn’t go indiscriminately to the Gentiles. In the Book of Acts the gospel goes to Gentiles who already worship the true and living God and are already practicing a Jewish lifestyle to various degrees. In the Book of Acts the Gentiles are being introduced to Jesus, but it’s not like they’re strangers to the God of Israel.
In the Book of Acts every reported instance of someone accepting Jesus takes place in the temple or in synagogue or within the framework of synagogue authority! There’s not a single report in the Book of Acts of a mass conversion of persons who don’t already participate in synagogue worship. In the Book of Acts Gentiles attach themselves to Israel, because that’s where the promises are being fulfilled. Gentiles attach themselves to Israel, because that’s where God has poured out his Spirit and that’s where the miracles are all taking place. You want to worship the God who raised Jesus from the dead? Synagogue was your only option. This has profound implications for the lessons we draw from the stories in the Book of Acts.
Luke applies the term “the people” only to the people of Israel. Exactly as in the Hebrew Bible, other ethnic groups are not so designated. Grammatically, the word is in the singular; in the Bible there’s only one “people.” The Bible employs other terminology to refer to non-Jewish members of the human race. I realize how odd this sounds in our culture, which values diversity, but this is the biblical terminology. In the Book of Luke and Acts, Jesus is for “the people” and “the people” are naturally for Jesus. Some examples. Luke 2:9-11.
“The angel of the L-rd stood before them, and the glory of the L-rd surrounded them, and they were frightened with great fright. The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I am announcing good news to you of great joy, which shall be for all the people. Because this day a savior is born to you, who is Mashiach the Lord in the city of David.”
Luke 7:14-16.
“And he came and touched the bier and the bearers stood still. He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’ The corpse sat up and started to talk. And he gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has been raised up among us,’ and, ‘God has visited his people.’”
Luke 19:47-48.
“And he was teaching every day in the temple. But the chiefpriests and the scribes attempted to destroy him and the leaders of the people. But they did not discover what they might do, for all the people hung on listening to him.”
In the Books of Luke and Acts, the Jewish leaders do not represent the people. The leaders are illegitimate. The leaders are collaborators with Rome. Because the leaders side with Israel’s enemies instead of with the people, the leaders are pitted against Jesus. Luke 20:19.
“And the scribes and the chiefpriests attempted to lay hands on him that hour, but they feared the people. For they realized that he had spoken this parable against them.”
Luke 22:1-2
“And the festival of matza, what is called pesach, drew near. The chiefpriests and the scribes sought how they might destroy him, for they feared the people.”
Luke 24:19-21.
“And he said to them, ‘What things?’ And they replied to him, ‘The things concerning Jesus from Natzeret, who was a prophetic man, powerful in deed and in word before God and all the people. But the chiefpriests and our rulers handed him over to a death sentence and crucified him. We had hoped that he would be the one about to redeem Israel.”
The attitude of “the people” doesn’t change after their rulers kill Jesus or after God raises him from the dead. In Acts 2:46-47 we read,
“Daily they continued with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house they received food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added daily to those being saving together.”
Acts 4:18-21.
“And when had summoned them they told not to speak at all neither to teach in the name of Jesus. But Kefa and Yochanan answered them, ‘Whether it is right before God to listen to you or rather to God, you be the judge. For we are unable not to speak what we have seen and heard.’ So after further threatening they released them, neither did they discover how to punish them, due to the people. Because they were all glorifying God for what had happened.”
Acts 5:12-13.
“And by the hand of the apostles there were many signs and wonders among the people. They were all of them together at the portico of Shlomo. But the rest didn’t dare join them, but the people magnified them greatly.”
Acts 5:25-26.
“But somebody came and reported to them, ‘Behold, the men who you put in prison are in the temple standing and teaching the people. Then when the security chief came with the officers they brought them, not with violence, for they feared the people, that they might stone them.”
Acts 10:1-2
“There was a certain man in Caesarea by the name of Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment, devote and God-fearing with all his household, who performed many acts of charity for the people and prayed to God always.”
Acts 13:14-17.
“And when they had come from Perga they arrived in Pisidian Antioch. And entering the synagogue on the day of Shabbat, they sat down. After the reading of the Torah and of the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, ‘Brothers, if you have a word of consolation for the people, speak up.’ Shaul rose and motioning with his hand, said, ‘Men of Israel and those who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel choose our fathers and exalted the people when they were aliens in the land of Egypt, and brought them out from it with an uplifted arm.”
Acts 13:31-33.
“Who was seen for many days by those who came up with him from the Galil to Jerusalem, these are his witnesses to the people. And we bring you glad tidings – that promise made to the fathers. This God made good on to their children when he resurrected Jesus.”
In the Books of Luke and Acts salvation belongs to Israel. Salvation is for the people; and salvation means deliverance from Gentile oppression. Luke 1:68-75.
“Blessed be the L-rd, God of Israel, for he has visited and performed redemption for his people, and raised the horn of our salvation in the house of David his servant, exactly as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets ages ago: Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. To perform mercy with our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the vow which he swore to our Father Avraham. To grant us without fear, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, to serve him in devotion and righteousness before him all our days.”
So according to Mr. Luke, what is Israel’s place in the plan of salvation? For Luke salvation is simply the restoration of Israel, the realization of all God’s promises. Anybody who excludes Jesus, excludes himself or herself from Israel. Rulers are no exception. Any soul who refuses to listen to the prophet like Moshe is cut off from “the people.” Today, of course, we think of it the other way around. We think what excludes Jews from the people of Israel is Jesus. To us, Luke’s whole idea sounds absurd. Acts 3:17-23.
“And now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers. But God has thus fulfilled what he foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that Mashiach should suffer. Repent therefore and turn, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of breathing space may come from before the L-rd, and he sends you the one who was pre-appointed Mashiach – Jesus, whom it is necessary for heaven to receive until the times of restoration of all things which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets ages ago. Moshe said, ‘The L-rd your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me. Him you shall listen to according to everything he shall say to you. But any soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be cut off from the people.’”
In the Book of Acts there’s not a word about a new religion or a new identity. The Book doesn’t present itself as the story of Christian beginnings; it presents itself as the story of Israel’s restoration. There’s no thought of discontinuity with what God has done before. Just because the thrilling days God makes good on his ancient promises have finally arrived, doesn’t mean God up and discards his people or reassigns their mission to somebody else.
On the contrary, Israel’s restoration makes Israel’s part in the plan of salvation all the more important. Israel is now positioned to bless the world as never before. Israel’s repentance and restoration is what makes Israel’s expansion possible. In the Book of Acts Israel expands by the inclusion of the Gentiles. Some examples of inclusion of the Gentiles.
Luke 2:29-32. This is what Shimon says at Jesus’ circumcision.
“Now, O Lord, you release your servant, according to your word in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the face of all the peoples. A light for the disclosure of the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
More on the inclusion of the Gentiles. Luke 24:46-47.
“He said to them, ‘Thus it is written that Mashaich must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. And to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all the Gentiles, beginning from Jerusalem.’”
More on the inclusion of the Gentiles. Acts 11:17-18.
“Consequently if God gave them the same gift as also to us believing on the Lord, Jesus the Mashiach, who was I to resist the power of God?’ When they heard these things they were silenced and glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also given the Gentiles repentance toward life!’”
More on the inclusion of the Gentiles. Acts 13:46-48.
“Emboldened, Shaul and Bar Nabba said, ‘It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. Since you have refused it and judged yourselves not worthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For thus the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have set you for a light of the Gentiles in order that you might be for salvation to the end of the earth.’ When the Gentiles heard they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed for eternal life believed.”
More on the inclusion of the Gentiles. Acts 26:15-20.
“And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you persecute. But get up and stand on your feet. For to this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you attendant and witness both of what you have seen and of what I will show you. Delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. To open their eyes, to turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those sanctified by faithfulness in me.’ Therefore, O King Agrippa, I have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision. Rather, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, all the territory of Yhuda, and to the Gentiles I have announced repentance and turning to God, that they should perform deeds worthy of repentance.”
So what’s the place of Torah in this restored Israel? Since Israel’s restoration is based on the realization of Torah promises, to deny Torah would be to deny what God is doing. Without Torah Israel isn’t Israel. Torah is a matter of Israel’s identity. Torah isn’t a matter of salvation, but Torah is a matter of creation. Sometimes creation is just as important as salvation. I think this here is one of those times. Some references to Torah in the Books of Luke and Acts.
Luke 16:17.
“It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one curlicue of the Torah to fall.”
Acts 7:37-38. Even though the events reported in the Book of Acts take place after the resurrection, the Torah doesn’t get nailed to the cross. Torah is described as “living oracles.”
“This is the Moshe who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me.’ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mt Sinai and our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us.”
That is why questions about Gentile respect for Jewish ritual purity come up in the Book of Acts. This is an area where Torah for Jews and Torah for non-Jews is different. Gentiles who God calls to repentance need to respect synagogue rules, even in cases where they have special exemptions from certain aspects of Torah observance. Synagogue is no place to be parading your freedom from Torah. Let me read what Jesus’ brother Yaakov recommends in Acts 15:19-21.
“Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who are turning to God. But rather, command them to keep away from pollutions of idols, from immorality, from strangled meat, and from blood. For Moshe from ancient generations has had in every city those who preach him in the synagogues each Shabbat when he is read out loud.”
It was very important that Gentiles who’ve acknowledged Mashiach should still be in synagogue. Synagogue is the place where they’re going to internalize God’s Word and learn how to walk with him and become prayer warriors. Their growth into the fullness of the stature of Mashiach will progress as they rub shoulders with Israel.
What Jesus’ brother recommends was for the apostles to entrust the sacred responsibility of discipling the new Gentile worshipers with the local synagogue! Yaakov’s recommendation sounds preposterous in today’s terms, but it goes back to the time when God’s people were one.
When in later history, Christians severed themselves from the Jewish people, Christians and Jews were both the losers. By rejecting their Jewish connection, Christians lost the ability to reach out to Jewish people with the gospel. How could a Jewish person agree to renounce the precious gift given at Sinai in order to join a foreign religion? How could a Jewish person abandon the blessed Shabbat to worship on a different day, a day with no rest and no holiness? How could a Jewish person agree to accept Jesus at the price of denying the Torah of Moshe and the truth of all the prophets? When the followers of Jesus rejected their own Jewish roots, they forfeited opportunity for further evangelism among Jewish people.
Jewish people have come to think of Jesus as a minor hiccup in Jewish history; that the vast majority of his contemporaries rejected him; that from the start Christianity has been a non-Jewish religion. Jewish people think Jesus never had much of anything to offer Jews in his own day and he has nothing much to offer Jews today. For their part, Christians like to think that God started all over again with a blank page; that on the day of Pentecost God ditched his bride of fifteen-hundred years, and traded her in for with a younger woman.
Both Jews and Christians have become too brand-loyal, too conscious of labels. We want to worship only with people like us, people who come from the same stream of tradition, people who share the same doctrines. We think God’s other children belong somewhere else. We’re afraid that if we fellowship with those who disagree with us over theological matters we will somehow be contaminated and our worship will not be acceptable. This attitude is simply unbiblical. I’m not talking here about compromising the behaviors which define us. I’m talking about restoring a community where Christians fellowship with Jews and cooperate with Jews whether those Jews accept Jesus or not. This must be restored.
Both Judaism and Christianity are forms of institutionalized disobedience. Instead of correcting the tragic separation of true worshipers into mutually antagonistic parties, we’ve built doctrines around our sins to justify them. Judaism has defined itself as rejecting Jesus and Christianity has defined itself as rejecting Torah. While God has graciously continued to make himself known to those within both religions, neither Judaism or Christianity by itself today carries on the biblical revelation. We’re both missing something major.
Are we prepared to admit that we ourselves may be part of the problem why so few Jewish people have embraced the gospel to date? Are we prepared to admit that to the extent that we content ourselves with the consequences, we share responsibility for past wrongs? Are we prepared to admit to ourselves that who we are today, our precious separateness, our boasted independence, our denominationalism, is the outcome of sheer disobedience?
We need a change, both in theory and in practice. We cannot mend historical damage; of ourselves we cannot undo past wrongs. Since the time Jesus’ followers rejected their brothers and sisters, the synagogue has gone its own separate way. During that long separation the synagogue has made some bad choices, just as the church has made some bad choices. We can’t escape history, but our destiny needn’t be determined by other people’s choices. God can heal wounds.
Before our relationship went sour, back in the Book of Acts, we read that God gave repentance to Israel [Acts 5:31]. We further read that God gave repentance to the Gentiles [Acts 11:18]. Today God again extends us that same gift. Repentance is for both Israel and the Gentiles. God has graciously opened a way for us both to come back to him. Let’s take him up on his gracious offer and go on from there
