Lesson 7 November 10-16
When Conflicts AriseCommentary in Navy Inspiration in Maroon
Sabbath AfternoonRead for This Week’s Study: Acts 6:1-6; Acts 10:1-23; Matt. 5:17-20; Acts 11:3-24; Acts 15:1-22; Amos 9:11, 12.
Memory Text: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27, 28, NKJV).
One of the most difficult tasks of any Christian community is to maintain unity when differences of opinions arise on matters pertaining to the identity and mission of the church. These differences can lead to devastating consequences.
Today’s Christian communities are no different from those we see in the New Testament. People are people, and differences, even over important points, will come. Early Christians faced some conflicts arising from perceived interpersonal prejudices and from serious differences of interpretations of key Old Testament stories and practices. These conflicts could have destroyed the church in its infancy had it not been for thoughtful apostles and leaders who sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures to resolve these tensions.
A few weeks ago we studied how the early church experienced church unity. This week we look at how the early church solved the inner conflicts that undermined its unity and threatened its survival. What were these conflicts, how were they resolved, and what can we today learn from those experiences?
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 17.
Sunday ↥ November 11
Ethnic Prejudices
Read Acts 6:1. What issue in the early church caused people to complain about the fair and equitable distribution of food to widows?
Some early Christians appeared to be prejudiced against the widows of Greek heritage in their midst and provided them with less food than the widows of Hebrew heritage. This perceived favoritism caused a rift in the early community of believers. Whether or not the favoritism was real, the text does not say. It says only that some people believed that it was. This conflict threatened the church’s unity very early on. How fascinating that ethnic division was seen so quickly in the church.
Read Acts 6:2-6. What were the simple steps taken by the early church to solve this misunderstanding?
The early church was growing rapidly, and this growth brought increasingly heavy burdens on the apostles. The appointment of these seven men, traditionally called “deacons” (although the New Testament does not call them as such), relieved the tension in the Jerusalem church and allowed for the involvement of more people in the ministry of the church.
The apostles listened carefully to the complaints of Greek-speaking believers and asked them for a solution. The selection of the seven men to become associates of the apostles was left to this group, and they recommended seven disciples, all of them from Greek-speaking heritage. These men were said to be “of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3, NKJV). The ministry of the apostles, which until then had been both to preach the Word of God and to distribute food to widows, was divided into two groups, each doing an equally valuable ministry for the proclamation of the Gospel. Luke uses the same word, “ministry” or “service” (diakonia), to refer to both the ministry of the apostles in preaching the Word (Acts 6:4) and to the ministry of the deacons in distributing food (Acts 6:1).
What significance do you see in the fact that the leaders called many of the believers together (Acts 6:2) in order to try to work out a solution?
Monday ↥ November 12
The Conversion of Gentiles
The conversion of Gentiles to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is an event in the book of Acts that sets the stage for the greatest conflict in the life of the early church, one that would threaten its existence and mission.
Read Acts 10:1-23. What elements in this passage indicate that the Holy Spirit was at work in the hearts of many people to prepare the way for Gentiles to receive the Gospel?
The vision must have seemed so bizarre to Peter. He is shocked by it because, as a faithful Jew, he had never partaken of unclean or defiled foods, as the law required (see Leviticus 11, Ezek. 4:14, and Dan. 1:8 ). However, the intent of this vision was not about diet but about the barriers between Jews and Gentiles that were hindering the spread of the Gospel. Such barriers were at least as prevalent in the ancient world as they are today.
In the first decades, Christianity was basically made up of Jews who had accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament prophecies. These early believers in Jesus were faithful Jews who obeyed the law as they had been taught. They did not consider the Gospel of Jesus Christ as having erased or abolished the Old Testament prescriptions (see Matt. 5:17-20).
Read Acts 10:28, 29, 34, 35. How did Peter understand the meaning of the vision he received in Joppa? What led him to this interpretation?
What we see happening in Acts is that the Holy Spirit had prepared the way for Gentiles to be received into the fellowship of the Christian community. And they could do this without having to be circumcised and become Jews first. What convinced Peter and his friends that this was indeed God’s will is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his household in a similar way to what the disciples of Jesus had experienced on the day of Pentecost (Acts 10:44-47). If the Holy Spirit can be given to Gentiles in the same way as it was given to Jews, then it was evident that being circumcised was not a prerequisite to become a believer in Jesus as the Messiah. This conclusion set the stage for a major theological conflict among early Christians.