WHAT was the attitude of the Church of God towards the Jew in the early days of Christianity? This is our present enquiry, and we turn to the Scriptures to find the answer to the interesting and important question, and to learn to govern our course today in accordance with that pursued by the apostles and the Church of old.
The precise number of Christ's disciples on the earth at the time of Pentecost is not told us. St. Paul speaks of about five hundred brethren at once seeing Christ when risen, of whom the greater number were alive when he wrote. (1 Cor. 15:66After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:6).) St. Peter tells us that the number of names of men and women together, who were in Jerusalem continuing in prayer and supplication, was about one hundred and twenty. (Acts 1:13-1513And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 14These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. 15And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) (Acts 1:13‑15).) It was upon these, who were together in prayer in the upper room, that the Holy Ghost fell early on the day of Pentecost. So marvelous was the result, that by nine in the morning, people, of all dialects, dwelling in Jerusalem, had assembled together to know what the wonder meant. To them, Peter declared, that Jesus, whom God had raised up to be King on David's throne, and whom they had crucified, was risen from the dead, and was exalted by God to His right hand in heaven, to sit there till God made His foes His footstool, and that He hath shed forth this" which ye now see and hear" (2: 33).
This solemn declaration, given in divine might, convicted the people of their sin in rejecting and crucifying the Christ of God. They turned to Peter and the rest of the apostles, saying, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Could there be hope for the murderers of God's Christ?—Him of whom the prophets had spoken, and for whom all the faithful had looked? Could mercy come to such men from Jehovah? Yes, such is the grace of God, and terms of mercy were offered by God even to them. They were to save themselves from their untoward generation, to repent and to be baptized; “Yes," said St. Peter, “every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins."
That same day there were added to the small company of Christ's disciples about three thousand souls.
Again, shortly after, when the call to repentance was further made in Jerusalem, St. Peter said, " Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord ; and that He may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus : whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began." (R.V., Acts 3:19-2119Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:19‑21).)
Our reader will note, on considering the scriptures quoted, that the individual Jew who repented had placed before him the forgiveness of sins through Christ; and, also, that upon the repentance of the Jews generally, the seasons of refreshing and the times of the restitution of all the things foretold by the prophets, should come from Jehovah. Such were the terms offered to the Jew individually and nationally by God; and His church in Jerusalem, filled as it then was by His Spirit, proclaimed this gospel in every tongue and dialect to the people.
Many individuals submitted to God, and convicted of their sins, repented; and by baptism in Christ's name, openly took their stand on the Lord's side. But the rulers and the mass of the people maintained their hardness of heart and their rejection of Christ; and they added to this sin, that of rejecting the testimony of God the Holy Ghost. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand, to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (ch. 5:30-32).
Now the lapse of years does not alter God's will, These things, declared in the earliest days of the Church Of God, stand fast; the Jew must repent or he cannot be saved; the times of refreshing are yet to come, the old prophecies of bliss upon the earth through the Messiah, are yet to be fulfilled; but since the Jewish people would not accept the gracious offers of those early days, the opportunity as a nation is for the present lost to them.
As the numbers of the disciples multiplied, and the testimony to Christ's exaltation and coming again grew in Jerusalem, so that even “a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (ch. 6:7), the elders and the scribes made a very great effort to destroy the truth. Laying hold of Stephen, whose wisdom and spirit were irresistible, they brought him before the council of the Temple, saying, “We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us "(v. 14). Stephen's face was as that of an angel, and caused the eyes of all the council to be fastened upon him. Did his countenance recall to their minds the face of Moses, when he had come down from the mount, after having been there with God? What heavenly beams were they that those proud rejecters of Jesus saw?
Then said Stephen, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One ; of whom ye have been now the be traders and murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it."
On hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, but so far from repenting, they gnashed on Stephen with their teeth. Then he, being filled with the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand; he cried, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God."
At this declaration the religious fury of the council was raised to its fiercest heat. Starting up and stopping their ears, they rushed on Stephen and swept him outside the city walls to die the blasphemer's death. As they stoned him, he cried, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," and praying for their forgiveness, fell asleep.
A violent persecution arose against the Church in Jerusalem on the occasion of the death of this great witness to Christ's exaltation. The disciples were driven out of Jerusalem, and scattered abroad, except, however, the apostles, who remained at the post of death, and whose labors led others to become the Disciples of Christ. But the offers of hope to the Jews for the return of their Messiah were closed; they had, as a people, definitely and finally rejected Him by slaying with the blasphemer's death His servant, who had declared His glory at the right hand of God.
Immediately after this, we find Samaria, with which the Jews had no dealings, believing the Word of God, and the believers there receiving the Holy Ghost (ch. 8:8-17) ; then the eunuch of the queen of the Ethiopians, on his return from Jerusalem, taking home with him the love of Christ in his heart to a Gentile land (v. 39); Paul commissioned by Christ to be the apostle to the Gentiles (ch. 26:17) ; and the apostle Peter preaching to the Gentiles, and " the Holy Ghost " falling " on all them which heard the word " (ch. 10: 44). God's hand henceforth was towards the Gentiles. True, that when the gospel of God was brought to a fresh town, the synagogue was first visited, but invariably the Jews became the chief opponents of God's
Christ, and, at length, though many individuals were added to the church, these solemn words were addressed to them, " Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it " (ch. 28:28).
The Scriptures teach that the attitude of the early church towards the Jewish people was in accordance with that which Jesus Himself in heaven had taken up, and, when we consider this, a light is thrown upon the spirit of the dark ages, when Jews were tortured and destroyed solely because they were Jews; also upon the spirit which prevails in parts of Christendom this very day, where thousands of God's ancient people are driven from house and home, and left to perish, merely because they are Jews ! No wonder they hate this perverted and corrupt Christianity, and scorn the notion that men guilty of such crimes can be of the church of God.
We will now enquire into the attitude of the early church towards the Jewish worship. We must remember that Jerusalem and the Temple maintained their glory for some forty years after the crucifixion of their King. The sacrifices were continued precisely as if the Lamb of God had never been offered; the holy place remained, even as if God had not rent the veil on the death of the true sin-offering, unveiling Himself to men; the high priest maintained his functions unconscious of the fact that God's High Priest had entered the true sanctuary in heaven in the power of His own blood; and the law and the prophets were expounded as if the Messiah had not fulfilled them. The whole system of the Jewish faith had become a vain show, an occupation with vanished shadows, a denial of Him of whom sacred types and holy service spoke.
In the earliest days of the church the temple was resorted to by the apostles—in its precincts Peter preached; Solomon's Porch was the great gathering-place for the company of the disciples (ch. 2:46; 5: 12, 25), and in the edifice was heard again and again the testimony, " Jesus is the Christ " (v. 42), while from its chambers priests and officers issued to intimidate or to arrest the disciples.
At the first the character of the constitution of God's church, in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, as such, but all are one in Christ, was a great difficulty to the Jewish disciples. An explanation from St. Peter of his behavior towards the Gentile centurion and his friends was demanded.—" Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them “(ch. 11:3), said they, but upon hearing how God had acted in grace towards the Gentiles “they held their peace, and glorified God" (v. 18). The question how the Gentile believers should regard circumcision was so momentous that a council was called to determine the matter, and it was decided that the Gentiles could not be called to practice Jewish rites (ch. 15:2-29). Thus Jewish and Gentile disciples were placed on a different footing regarding Moses. Indeed, there were two streams of teaching as to circumcision and the law prevailing in the church after the Gentiles received the Word of God.
Then we find God by His inspired Word determining the matter; Judaism and Christianity were not to be mixed, and the teachers who would do so were solemnly denounced. (Gal. 5:7-127Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 10I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. 11And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. 12I would they were even cut off which trouble you. (Galatians 5:7‑12).) To the Gentile believers it was said, "If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing " (5:2); "Whosoever of you are justified by the law ; ye are fallen from grace" (5:4) ; and to the Hebrew believers it was declared, that the way into the holiest was open to all (Heb. 10:19-2219Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19‑22)) ; that a further sacrifice for sins was a spiritual impossibility, the sins for which the sacrifice had been made being remitted (v. 18), that the law was unable to give the worshipper a perfect conscience (5:1, 2), and that the priesthood was weak and unprofitable (ch. 7:15-19).
Thus as God gave men His thoughts by His word, His church, energized by the Spirit, drew away from the Jewish worship, and exalted Christ as Sacrifice and Priest, worshipping God in the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:33For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3)). Jewish and Christian worship stood in contrast and separate the one from the other, as indeed the church of God to this day should testify.