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Jews at the time of Christ did not
understand that salvation and eternal life were for an individual
and not a nation. People in the Old Testament were saved by faith
just like we are today; the only difference was that they put their
faith in the coming Messiah, whereas we look back to the cross.
Jesus initiated a radical shift away from Judaism when he
commissioned the disciples to preach the Gospel to all nations, but
we find in Acts chapter ten, the rabbinical teachings from the
Talmud were so ingrained in the apostles, that after the Day of
Pentecost, they still only preached to the Jews and God had to show
them that He was not a respecter of persons. It would take some time
before the Christian Jewish leadership fully understood Jesus’
command to preach to Jew and Gentile alike and the historical event
in Joppa set the apostles on the right track. The apostle Paul would
later sum it up this way: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye
are all one in Christ Jesus.” |
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