God’s Wise Plan for the Early Church
The way God works is never haphazard even if may seem so to us on the surface. Let’s see if we can better understand God’s plan in working with the Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire. His plan was quite genius, really. God’s first step was to have Jews spread throughout the Roman Empire. This is why he stated that salvation was first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles (Ro 1:16). The Jews were the ones who brought God’s teachings of morality and right living to the known world. Let’s think about the Gentile culture, whether that be Greek or Roman. The Greeks sought knowledge. We see in Athens the Areopagus (or Mars Hill) was dedicated to the art of debate so that the citizens could understand important knowledge taught by the very best minds (Ac 17:22). Romans were more about might and strength. The gods of both cultures typified physical beauty, strength, virility, allurement, and seduction. The people’s worship of these gods was that as well.
Paul dealt with this issue with the Corinthians as well as they were simultaneously living in sexual immorality and trying to live as Christians (1Co 5:1). They had a difficult time in understanding that their ways prior to becoming a Christian were wrong because they grew up with this being the standard way of worship. For example, Corinth had a separate temple for each of ten different gods (including one to Caesar) with each temple in interconnecting lush foliage looking beautiful but hiding much darkness.
This was also where the temple to Aphrodite resided high on the outcropping of the city with other temples below it, all within a beautiful garden-type area for people to enjoy. The temple for Aphrodite housed both female and male shrine prostitutes, considered sacred, allowing one to indulge in one’s physical lusts as a sacred act which pleased the gods, gave the people favor, and the gods would bless their families and crops through their offerings of animals and their offering of themselves in such acts. Becoming a temple prostitute was looked on with favor, one who was blessed by the gods. This was a lot for Christianity to overcome. Yet, some were conducting sexual practices that were considered wrong by even their pre-conversion societal standards (1Co 5:1). Yet, the Gnostics taught that this was okay because the physical had no bearing on the spiritual. Paul made several counter arguments against this teaching (1Co 5:9-12; 6:18-20). On his third missionary journey, Paul visited Corinth several times and wrote to them about this issue and other issues, like unity within Christ (1Co 1:10), required by being a bride of Christ (2Co 11:2).
The same is true today. Many people, supposedly believers in Christ, don’t know that living together before marriage, or sex outside of marriage is wrong. Sexual impurity is again not relevant in their minds. Plus, unity is even further apart than in Paul’s day. Not only do we have disunity between Jew and non-Jew Christians, but between Christian denominations as well. Are we really behaving like a true bride? Does a bridegroom want a schizophrenic bride to love and cherish? We need a mind and worldview renewal in order to be Christ’s pure bride (Ep 4:11-13).
We also need to appreciate the two main false doctrines that Paul and those with him had to constantly contend with. Throughout Paul’s evangelistic missionary journeys, he had a battle with both sides of the morality issue teaching their beliefs after he left a region. On one side, Judaizers traveled behind Paul and taught one must become a Jewish proselyte by being circumcised and obey all the Laws of Moses before one could accept Christ as Savior. In their eyes, living morally was a necessary first step before believing in Jesus and his sacrifice for sins. To them, physical works were important and necessary. This was the problem that Christ tried to deal with the Jews when he was among them. One cannot become righteous by one’s own efforts (Ep 2:8-9). Christ’s death liberated them from this misconception, but many taught otherwise. Paul fought hard to teach against such a man-made requirement and wanted to let the Gentile believers know of their Christian liberty, which had been validated by the Jerusalem Council, did not require such things. Paul stated he even had to reprimand Peter in this regard (Ga 2:11-14). This was a hard lesson for many Jews to comprehend.
On the other hand, Gnostics also traveled behind Paul and taught their philosophy of how to explain the nature of God, creation, good and evil, man, and the purpose of life. Their teachings were deceptive because Gnosticism was able to be combined with Paul’s teachings of Christianity to make it sound similar to what Paul taught but be off enough to be something completely different (1Co 2:6-8; Ep 2:8-9; Cl 2:8; 1Ti 6:20). This took the focus from Christ and his redemptive work and made it more about man and how to uncover the good from within and discover the secret mysteries about the essence of God. To them, spiritual works were important. Gnosticism taught Jesus Christ was a step in the process of understanding universal mysteries but did not teach the necessity of Christ’s transforming power or the receipt of the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul stated to the Colossians that he wished for them to understand the knowledge of God’s will and his wisdom and spiritual understanding (Cl 1:9). They didn’t need to look within themselves but to Jesus Christ who was the one who reveals who God really is. Salvation comes by Jesus and his blood. Not from ourselves (Cl 1:13-14).
How does one ensure they are not succumbed by a false belief or doctrine? As Paul taught, God’s truth is not complicated. Anyone who teaches any doctrine other than the belief in Jesus Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection should be avoided (Ga 1:8; 1Ti 6:3-5; Tt 1:9). His death paid our sin debt (1Jn 2:2), his burial settled our punishment (Hb 2:9; 1Pt 3:18), and his resurrection makes us entirely new (Ep 2:4-7). We are declared righteous because of our belief in his righteousness and not by anything we can do (Ro 3:24).
We are transformed by first realizing our plight. We are born into Satan’s kingdom and need to be transferred into God’s kingdom. We don’t, and can’t, decide which kingdom to be in. As Christ stated, we are already condemned because we are born into Satan’s kingdom (Jn 3:18). We can only get out of his kingdom by submitting to Christ’s death burial and resurrection realizing that his payment alone for our sin is what can save us out of our plight (2Co 5:17). The Holy Spirit then indwells us and transfers us from Satan’s kingdom to Christ’s kingdom (Ep 1:13-14) and empowers us to be victors over Satan’s schemes with the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Ep 1:19-20). This is what the true church is all about. This is what the Holy Spirit desires us to focus on. This is what changes lives. Ask yourself: Are you focusing on the right thing? The Holy Spirit is asking us to follow his leading. May we continue to do so.
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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens