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When Apostle Paul and Barnabas were about 300 miles north of Jerusalem in the Gentile city of Antioch, they were telling people there that God had done something in the world, and for the world. And these Gentiles began embracing Jesus and the Gospel. The message they were being given by Paul and Barnabas was simply that God had done something in the world, He sent His son to pay for their sins, embrace Him as your Savior, and follow Him.

And that message was way better to them…and made much more sense to them…than the paganism that they’d grown up with. Meanwhile back in Jerusalem, the mix and match Jewish Christians heard what was goin’ on in Antioch and they weren’t havin’ it. They didn’t like Paul tellin’ these Gentiles that they don’t need to keep the Mosaic Law…that Moses was out and Jesus was in…so they sent their own missionaries to Antioch behind Paul to correct what they considered to be his horrible theology.

And they told these brand new Gentile Christians in Antioch that keeping the Law of Moses was necessary for their salvation and inclusion in the early church. They told em’ if they were gonna follow Jesus, if they were gonna be saved from their sin, if they were gonna get the full benefit of Jesus’ death on the cross, and if they were gonna be included in the church, then they had to keep the Law of Moses.

There was a lotta drama. These mix and match Jewish Christians were even telling them that unless they were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, that they could not be saved…! Circumcision was the mark of the old covenant for Jewish men. And they were telling these brand new Gentile Christians that not only did they need to get in on the Mosaic Law to be saved, but they also had to have a surgical procedure done…! Down there…! That likely didn’t sit well with the Gentile men. Understandably so.