“The Mystery of Christ”



BIBLE READING: Galatians 2

One of the most important aspects of the peace that God brought into the world through Christ is the previously hidden fact that the old separation of His chosen people Israel from all other nations had now been removed in Christ.  The "mystery" meant there would be a new situation between Jew and Gentile. The Bible is full of mysteries, but this one is so significant that Paul devoted considerable space to it in Eph. 3:4-11.
His major thought is that in the 1,500 years when God was dealing with the Israelites under the old covenant, they were not, as they came to believe, His entire focus.  They were a kind of object lesson, part of a "mystery" that God had in mind from the beginning of time.  The once-hidden truth is that Christ was to be the Savior of the entire lost world.  This was at odds with what the Jews had come to believe.  He had indeed chosen them for His purpose, but His love, as was revealed by Jesus, was directed toward the whole "world" (John 3:16).
The crisis at Antioch, because of the presence of these "certain men from James", revolved around the matter of eating with Gentiles.  These "certain men" were brethren, members of the Jerusalem church.  They were believing Jews.  Although a great deal of the persecution that Paul, Barnabas, and others suffered during their missionary journeys was incited by unbelieving Jews, the problem at Antioch was purely "intracongregational" in nature.
For some time after the day of Pentecost, the gospel was proclaimed only to the Jews.  Even after the conversion of Cornelius, this was still the case as evidenced from Acts 11:19.  However, after the martyrdom of Stephen and the scattering of the disciples resulting from persecution, some "made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except the Jews alone" (Acts 11:19).  For nearly 1,500 years, the Jews had experienced the privilege of being God's exclusive people (Ex 19:1-8).    No wonder it was difficult for them to grasp God’s love for other nations.  The Jews also had to accept the fact that the Gentile converts didn't have to become Jews before being saved in Christ.  The integration of Jews and Gentiles into the one body of Christ was a chief problem facing the early church.






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