We sometimes get the idea that the early church was made up of perfect people. They certainly didn’t have the problems we have in our church life and in our personal lives. Right? On the contrary, they were every bit as human as we are.

The early Christians had their fights and disagreements just like we do. The fist century church was made up of Jews and Gentiles. Bringing those two groups together was an enormous task. The Jews, for the most part, held fast to their Jewishness. They still kept the Sabbath, circumcision, and the feasts and festivals. And that was alright. Paul never demanded that the Jews lose their Jewishness. In fact, when Paul was among them, he too kept the Jewish customs and even had Timothy circumcised. What he wanted them to understand was that all their traditions were not ends in themselves. Nor were they a means to God’s approval. Rather, they led to Christ. He was the Law’s purpose.

On the other hand, Paul did not want the gentile converts to embrace the Jewish traditions that their faith might be in Christ alone. Paul’s greatest opponent was the Judaizers who believed the gentiles must become Jewish and believe in Christ to be saved.

You can imagine the conflicts that arose as these two very different groups sought to follow Christ. The Jews thought God liked them better because they kept circumcision and Sabbath. The gentiles thought God liked them better because they did not keep such things. Paul answered that they were both wrong.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Gal. 5:6)

We might think that the early Christians did not face the temptations that we do, and if they did, they never failed a test. This is another myth. The Jews faced the temptation to fall back into the old covenant. It often seemed the safest thing to do especially when faith in the new covenant led to persecution. Then there was what they saw with their eyes. The old covenant world seemed to be firmly intact. The old covenant temple was still in full operation with all its traditions and rituals. Jesus said God was going to tear it down, but He certainly was taking His time about it. Those who held onto the old covenant seemed to prosper while those with faith in Christ often suffered.

Many of the gentiles came out of paganism. They faced a whole different type of temptation. Immorality and paganism went together. For example, there was the cult of Dionysus, who was the god of wine. You can imagine what worship of such a god would entail. To them drunkenness was part of worship. Other pagan cults incorporated immoral acts in their worship that are too lewd to talk about in this blog. The gentiles who came out of paganism faced the lure of the pagan temples and foreign gods. Some went back, just as some Jews went back to the old covenant.

How do you keep such people on track? Paul’s answer is again about seeing.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:14-19)

More on this in my next post.