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asked, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:1-2). It is likely that the wise men who followed the star to the stable where Jesus was born were followers of Zarathustra, and thus, obviously Gentiles.


Gentiles in the Kingdom Even though the Gentile Magi came to


honor Yeshua’s birth, His ministry while on earth was directed solely to the People of Israel. And for the first thirty years of what later came to be known as Christianity, the community of faith was limited to Jews and proselytes to Judaism. In addition, the Jews who followed Jesus had no idea that this New Covenant faith would include Gentiles. Yes, it was prophesied. Yes, it was part of God’s plan. But it was still not clear to the early believers. Acts 9 and 10 tell us how God began to carry out His plan to reach the Gentiles with the message of salvation through His Messi- ah. First, a flash of light so bright that it knocked a man to the ground and left him blind for three days. That man was a zealot named Saul who was on his way to Damas- cus to arrest Jews who dared to profess belief in Yeshua. Saul arose from the ground a changed man, and from that day forward he was called Paul. He quit persecuting believers and began proclaiming boldly that Yeshua was the Messiah. God revealed His plans for Paul in Acts 9:15: “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gen- tiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” Known as “the apostle to the Gen- tiles,” Paul went on to preach about Jesus throughout the known world and wrote thir- teen of the New Testament’s 27 books. About this time the apostle Peter was


praying on the roof of a house when he had a vision of something like a sheet full of animals being let down from heaven. Among them were reptiles and other crea- tures that no law-abiding Jewish person would eat. As he saw this vision, Peter heard a voice tell him to eat this food and not to call anything impure that God has made clean. The vision repeated itself three times. While Peter was wondering what it meant, the Spirit told him to go downstairs to greet men who were looking for him. God said, “Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them” (Acts 10:20). Peter obeyed, and the three men explained that they had been sent by their


8 | Jewish Voice Today JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011


master, a Roman centurion named Corne- lius. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people,” they said. “A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say” (Acts 10:22). Peter went with the men and heard Cornelius’ story for himself. When he did, he said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35). The Bible says that while Peter was tell- ing them the Good News of forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus, “the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The cir- cumcised believers [Jewish believers] who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles” (verses 44-45). And that is how Cornelius and the mem- bers of his family became the first Gentile followers of Yeshua. Controversy Begins


Back in Jerusalem, the news of this event caused no small controversy. Acts


I want to be perfectly clear that the conflict between the Church and Synagogue has nothing to do with Yeshua (Jesus) or His teach- ings. Rather, the division came about due to a gross misinterpre- tation of the New Testament.


11:2-3 says, “So when Peter went up to Jeru- salem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, ‘You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.’ ” But after Peter told them what had hap- pened, “they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life’ ” (Acts 11:18). Sadly, this was not the end of the con-


troversy between Jewish and Gentile believ- ers. Acts 15:1-2 says some men were teach- ing that unless a man was circumcised he could not be saved, a teaching that Paul and Barnabas sharply disputed. The Jewish fol- lowers of Jesus simply did not know what to do with the Gentiles. Their confusion shows that they did not think of themselves as members of a new religion; they consid- ered themselves to be faithful, obedient


Jews who accepted Yeshua as their Messiah and believed that they had forgiveness of their sins through faith in Him. Acts 15 tells of a council that took place in Jerusalem to determine what should be done with the Gentile converts. Some argued that they must be circumcised and obey all the laws of Moses. Others, includ- ing Peter, thought differently.


After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the Gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for He purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the dis- ciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”


—Acts 15: 7-11


Ultimately, the council decided to send a letter to the Gentile believers, saying in part:


It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.


—Acts 15:28-29


Unfortunately, this was not the end of the tension between Jewish and Gentile Believers, or between believing and unbe- lieving Jews. In Galatians 2, Paul writes about a confrontation he had with Peter because Peter had begun to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of “those who belonged to the circumcision group” (verse 12). Other Jew- ish People were joining Peter in this hypoc- risy. Paul said to Peter:


“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is


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