by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n
Scripture shows that one of the earliest and potentially most devastating problems faced by God’s people in the first century concerns the question of how Jews and Gentiles should relate to one another. After Peter taught Cornelius and his household, some among the Jews demanded answers from Peter regarding why he would associate with Gentiles (Acts 10-11). Then came the Judaizing teachers who argued that the path of salvation for the Gentiles was for them to be circumcised according to the Law. In essence, they needed to accept the Law first, and then they could properly be Christians. This error led to the conference in Acts 15, which focused on Cornelius and his conversion, as it had significant implications for all Gentiles. This problem did not go away quickly. The division between Jew and Gentile was strong, but the answer was not to try to make Jews out of Gentiles. The answer was to show how all can be disciples of Jesus Christ by faith through God’s grace. What held true then holds true today. Salvation is available to all by faith through grace (Eph 2:1-10). Let’s consider one book in particular that is devoted to this point.<\/p>\n
The book of Romans is the leveling of the playing field for Jews and Gentiles. Think of how the argument flows. The letter starts by showing that all (Jew and Gentile) are sinners (chs. 1-3). Then, all who come to God do so through faith, not Law. The proof of this is that Abraham was justified by faith well before the giving of the Law (ch. 4). Justification, then, is not available just to the Jews because they had the Law (though they were blessed by receiving it as God’s chosen people to bring about the Messiah). Rather, Gentiles can also come to Christ, without the Law, by faith. Indeed, anyone who comes to Christ must do so by faith rather than works of the Law. Just as all are guilty of sin, so all who are saved are saved the same way: through faith. Thankfully, because it is not through the Law, but through faith, God’s grace is also available to all rather than limited to a small elite group (cf. Acts 10:34-35). Because of this, Paul argues that we are under grace rather than Law (chs. 5-6).<\/p>\n
Yet, the grace of God is no license to sin, but is incentive to recognize that we have died to sin and are alive to God (ch. 6). The old fleshly man, while constantly wanting to rear his ugly head, is to be put to death daily so that we may live by the Spirit. There is no life apart from the Spirit of Christ (chs. 6-8). Indeed, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ; these have been set free from the law of sin and death (ch. 8).<\/p>\n
The Jews needed to understand that though God granted them special favor as His people, they were supposed to be lights to the Gentiles. Yet by rejecting the Lord, the gospel went to the Gentiles, who began to see what many of the Jews did not: Christ was indeed Lord, and the essence of the gospel leads to this confession (chs. 9-11). This, in turn, would bring many Jews back to accepting Jesus as the Messiah. Then we see the practical effects of how God’s people are to behave toward one another. Chapters 12-15, in particular, show that Jews and Gentiles are not to despise one another, but are to see that Christ died for the same “all” who are guilty of sin. Consequently, they are to love one another as those for whom Christ died. They are to respect one another’s conscientious practices, be at peace with each other, and live in society not as rebels, but as obedient servants of the Lord who bought them. They are all living sacrifices to Him. Coming to the Lord by faith through grace entails a recognition of responsibilities to both God and one another.<\/p>\n
Romans levels the playing field in salvation by showing that everyone is not only guilty of sin, but they all share the same access to the Lord. Faith is the key, and this can only come through hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). This runs hand in hand with Galatians and is also, essentially, a grand commentary on the nature of the gospel as it is extended to all alike. For this, Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’<\/em>” (Romans 1:16-17). There is no justification through works of the Law; that was not to be an end in itself. There is no life apart from faith, and there is no salvation apart from grace. God’s word ties all of this together and weaves a beautiful picture of what it is to be God’s people in Christ. “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel…<\/em>” (Romans 16:25-27).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Doy Moyer Scripture shows that one of the earliest and potentially most devastating problems faced by God’s people in the first century concerns the question of how Jews and Gentiles should relate to one another. After Peter taught Cornelius and his household, some among the Jews demanded answers from Peter regarding why he would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[787,120,456],"class_list":["post-87285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-equality","tag-romans","tag-unity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-spirit-only-given-to-the-obedient\/","url_meta":{"origin":87285,"position":0},"title":"Is the Spirit only given to the obedient?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In your study on Cornelius, you indicated that receiving the Holy Spirit did not necessarily indicate that a person believed or was saved. You cited the examples of Saul and Balaam as proof, but doesn't\u00a0Acts 5:32\u00a0contradicts this? Answer: The study being referred to is \"Cornelius Received the Holy Spirit.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36008,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-gentiles-have-been-saved-prior-to-cornelius\/","url_meta":{"origin":87285,"position":1},"title":"Could Gentiles have been saved prior to Cornelius?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Acts 2, the Lord's church was established.\u00a0 It's my understanding that in Acts 10, the Gentiles were officially ushered into the church (with the conversion of Cornelius).\u00a0 My question is: if a Gentile wanted to be saved prior to Acts 10, what was his option?\u00a0 Could a Gentile\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28786,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-baptism-of-cornelius\/","url_meta":{"origin":87285,"position":2},"title":"The Baptism of Cornelius","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Acts 10:34-48 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Groups who believe in the direct operation of the Holy Spirit in their lives today will cite the conversion of Cornelius and his household as proof \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some will go so far as to state that a person is not really saved unless they experience the baptism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92363,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-baptism-only-for-the-jews-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":87285,"position":3},"title":"Was baptism only for the Jews? (3)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day. Does I Corinthians 12:13 refer to Holy Spirit baptism? Was water baptism only for the Jews? Did it stop when Paul got his assignment to the Gentiles? Thanks. Answer: I Corinthians 12:13 tells us who was behind the means by which we can be saved. The Holy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35119,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-passage-to-ponder-acts-151-29\/","url_meta":{"origin":87285,"position":4},"title":"A Passage to Ponder: Acts 15:1-29","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ken Weliever The Preacher's Word Have you heard the old joke about the fellow who studied the Bible by letting it fall open and putting his finger on a verse for instruction and inspiration? The first verse he turned to was Matthew 27:5. It said, \"Judas went out and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Chick-fil-a-300x221.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22011,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-receive-the-holy-spirit-without-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":87285,"position":5},"title":"Can one receive the Holy Spirit without baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can one receive the Holy Spirit without baptism? Answer: The clear answer to this is \"yes.\" Baptism is a command found in the New Testament, yet people had received the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. In addition: \"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}