Contrary to the Law (Acts 18:12-17)^a

Context

1. Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke on what will become known as Paul’s 2nd Missionary Journey

2. Travelled through Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey)

3. Crossed the Aegean Sea to Thessalonica in Greece

4. Then South through Berea, Athens, and on to Corinth

5. An extended period teaching in Corinth for 18 months

Passage (Acts 18:12-17)

[12] When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, [13] saying, “This [fellow] persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” [14] And when Paul was about to open [his] mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you.” [15] “But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look [to it] yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such [matters].” [16] And he drove them from the judgment seat. [17] Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat [him] before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things.¹

Historical accuracy - Gallio as proconsul of Achaia

1. F.F. Bruce

   Gallio was a son of the elder Seneca, the rhetorician (c. 50 B.C. - c. A.D. 40), and brother of the younger Seneca, the Stoic philosopher (c. 3 BC - A.D. 65). . . . His contemporaries speak of him as a man of great personal charm. . . . From an inscription at Delphi in Central Greece, it can be inferred rather precisely that he entered on his proconsulship in the summer of A.D. 51.²

1. Dates the passage to A.D. 51, about 18 years since the Day of Pentecost

2. Subtleties provide evidence of Luke’s historical accuracy

   That Luke distinguishes correctly between senatorial and imperial provinces and has the former governed by a proconsul on behalf of the senate and the latter governed by a propraetor representing the emperor says much for his accuracy, for the status of provinces changed with the times. Achaia was a senatorial province from 27 b.c. to a.d. 15 and then again from a.d. 44 onwards . . . It was therefore governed by a proconsul . . . Macedonia, however, was an imperial province, and therefore Luke rightly called the magistrates at Philippi praetors (. . . Acts 16:12, . . . 22–24) while he called those at Thessalonica by the special designation of politarchs (. . . Acts 17:6).³

The claim: Christianity is contrary to Judaism

1. This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law (Acts 18:12).

1. What is the meaning of the phrase, “the law” in this passage?

1. Does it refer to secular, Roman law — Paul’s teaching was illegal according to Roman law concerning proselytizing?

2. Does it refer to the law of Moses — Paul’s teaching was incompatible with the teaching of Moses, and therefore Judaism?

3. YES [both]!

2. Why the appeal to the secular authority of Rome?

1. As a religion, Judaism had a recognized legal status (and therefore a measure of protection) within the Roman Empire

2. By claiming that “The Way” was incompatible with Judaism, it would be outside the pale of Judaism and therefore, illegal

1. The Jews were referring to Roman law — this is why Paul was brought before the judgment seat, the secular court

2. However, to make their case—to get Christianity outlawed—they needed to establish that Christianity was incompatible with Judaism

3. Gallio’s judgment would have had considerable influence and established a legal precedent

3. Gallio wasn’t interested in subtle distinctions involving intricacies of Jewish law

1. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look [to it] yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such [matters] (Acts 18:15).

2. Paul had been teaching in Corinth for 18 months—there must have been general knowledge of his teachings and their close relationship to Judaism

1. He had begun teaching in Corinth, after all, in a synagogue

2. Paul had been a zealous Pharisee (Philippians 3:5)

3. From Gallio’s perspective, Paul was propagating a variety of Judaism which happened to be disliked by the leaders of the synagogue

4. Gallio’s pronouncement benefitted Christianity—establishing it as a sect within Judaism

5. The result: for the next 10-12 years—until imperial policy toward Christians underwent a complete reversal—the gospel could be proclaimed in the provinces of the empire without fear of coming into conflict with Roman law.⁴

4. Similarity to legal tactics in our era

1. Unable to dismiss an idea or worldview based on its merits or the facts

2. Appeal to secular authorities to rule that the opposing view is “off-limits” — and should be escorted off the playing field of public discourse

3. Like evolutionists in their effort to keep creationism and intelligent design out of the public eye and atheists who are out to expunge all references to God, especially in schools

4. J. Vernon McGee

   Gallio . . . separated church and state. He would not interfere with Paul preaching in the city of Corinth. . . . Now I want to say this: I wish the Supreme Court of the United States would adopt the same policy. I wish they would adopt a “hands off” policy when it comes to matters of religion. What right does a group of secular men have to come along and make a decision that you can’t have prayer in the schools? If a community wants prayer in their school, then they should have prayer in their school. If they are not having prayer in school, then the state should not force prayer in school. We claim to have freedom of speech and freedom of religion in our land. . . . Under the guise of separating church and state, the freedom of religion is actually curtailed. If we are going to separate church and state, then the state should keep its nose out of that which refers to the church.⁵

5. Is Christianity compatible with Old Testament Judaism . . . or not?

1. Is Christianity the fulfillment of the expectation and predictions of the Old Testament? “Completed Judaism”? Or . . .

2. Is Christianity an aberration, a “cult,” created by the teachings of an unconventional rabbi named Jesus which were embellished upon by a Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus?

Claim #1: Christianity is a “western religion”

1. Many people mistake Christianity as a western religion because it has had such profound influence upon the west

1. Yet Christianity is a world-wide phenomenon and much of its influence in other parts of the world predate its influence in the west

   The period in which Christianity appeared to be indissolubly linked to Western European identity was a relatively short one, lasting from the early 16th to the mid-20th centuries. The church in China, India, Ethiopia, and Iraq is older than the church in much of Northern Europe.⁶

2. Christianity is, in-fact, a middle-eastern religion — originating in Jerusalem and points further east and south

3. Christianity is a Jewish religion

1. All twelve Apostles, foundational to the Christian church, were Jewish

2. Christianity originated at Mt. Sinai and earlier—sharing its roots with Judaism, but subsequently development an evangelistic emphasis moving outward from Jerusalem

   As a famous Jewish rabbi said, . . . you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8)

3. The central figure of Christianity, Jesus Christ, was born a Jew

4. If Christianity is about anything, it’s all about “the way of salvation.” Jesus said, salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22).

Claim #2: The New Testament is not a Jewish book

1. About two-thirds of “the Bible,” the Old Testament, is made up of the inspired writings of Judaism - the Tanach⁷

2. With the possible exception of Luke, the entire New Testament was penned by Jewish hands⁹

3. The Greek of the book of Revelation contains grammatical irregularities which have been ascribed to the Hebrew background and mindset of its author

1. As one scholar put it, when writing the book of Revelation the Apostle John “thought in Hebrew or Aramaic . . . [but] wrote in Greek”¹¹

Claim #3: The teachings of Jesus are incompatible with those of Moses and the Law

1. Listen to a preeminent scholar of Judaism or recent times

   One of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books.¹²

2. Jacob Neusner - Jesus taught a different Torah

   Christian faith finds a legion of reasons for believing in Jesus. . . but not because he fulfilled the Torah or sustained the Torah or conformed to the Torah; not because he improved on the Torah. But, of course, Christian faith has never found troubling the fact of its own autonomy: not a mere continuation and reform of the prior faith, Judaism (always represented as corrupt and venal and hopeless anyhow), but a new beginning. . . . I believe God has given a different Torah from the one that Jesus teaches; and that Torah, the one Moses got at Sinai, stands in judgment of the torah of Jesus. . .¹³

Christianity is “completed Judaism”

It is Judaism itself, as embodied in the Jewish Old Testament, which predicts the events and personas recorded within the Christian New Testament

1. Judaism predicts a man who will defeat Satan, but at great personal cost

   In Genesis 3, God said to the serpent, And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel (Genesis 3:15).

1. A seed of the woman, an offspring of Eve, a man

2. Satan and the man will both inflict injuries upon one another

3. Satan’s injury will be greater (the head), the man’s less severe (the heel)

4. Question: how could a mere man — overcome a powerful angelic being?

1. The Man would need to be of greater power than the apex creature of the created order: He would need to be divine

5. The book of Hebrews explains how this prediction from the Jewish Torah came to be

   Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

1. Through the loss of His life, Jesus was victor over Satan, who had the power of death

2. The very passage in the Jewish Law which introduces death, Genesis 3, predicts the solution which played out in history in the central event of Christianity—the crucifixion of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus

2. Judaism predicts an offspring of Abraham, an individual through Whom the entire world will be blessed

   In Genesis 22, the Lord said to Abraham, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. (Genesis 22:17–18).

1. The word “seed” here can used in a collective sense, as in “descendants”

2. It can also be used in a singular sense: with a specific individual in view

3. Genesis 22 is teaching

1. God will greatly bless the descendants of Abraham (later we see: through Isaac and Jacob = Israel)

2. God will also bless those who are not physical descendants — through an individual descendant

4. Somehow, those who are not physical descendants will participate in the blessing bestowed upon Abraham by way of a special descendant—one who effectively makes them “sons of Abraham” but not by physical descent (Rom. 4:11-12; Gal. 3:7,29).

5. Notice again that the blessing is by way of a human offspring—a seed of the woman—a man

6. Paul explains the fulfillment of this promise in the man Jesus Christ

   Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ (Galatians 3:16).

3. Judaism predicts a Prophet with an authority matching or exceeding that of Moses

1. A prophet like Moses

   The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die. . . . I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him (Deuteronomy 18:15–19).

2. The law, the Torah, of Judaism predicts . . .

1. . . . a coming Jewish prophet with stature on a par or exceeding that of Moses

2. . . . like Moses, He will be an intermediary Who somehow represents God in a more approachable, human-palatable way

   And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)

3. . . . those who refuse to heed His words face dire consequences from God Himself

1. I myself will call him to account (Deu. 18:19, NIV)¹⁴

2. I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention (Deu. 18:19, NET)

3. I will exact from him (Deu. 18:19, TNK¹⁵

4. Not even Joshua, understudy of Moses, could fulfill these shoes

   Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face (Deuteronomy 34:9–10).

3. So, we would ask those Jews who reject Christianity: Who is this prophet? When did he arrive in history? If yet future, how could he possibly surpass the historical record and impact of the most famous Jew of all history: Jesus Christ?

4. Expectations of Jews recorded in the NT

   Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask [John the Baptist], “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” (John 1:19-21)

1. Where did these expectations come from? The holy book of Judaism: the Jewish Old Testament!

2. Notice the question, “Are you the Prophet?”

3. Which prophet? The Deuteronomy 18:19 prophet!

4. The questions from the Jews of Jesus’ day betray the unfinished business of Judaism

1. Notice that they did not believe any Old Testament prophet had met the predictions of the Deutoronomy 18:19 prophet — not Joshua, not Jeremiah, not Isaiah, not any of the numerous OT prophets

5. Like Moses, this prophet like Moses will be uniquely associated with the law

1. We might expect, like Moses, He would expound upon the law

   And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain . . . Then He opened His mouth and taught them (Mat. 5:1-2) - an intentional allusion to Deuteronomy, I . . . will put My words in His mouth . . . (Deu. 18:18).

   He went on to say, Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Mat. 5:17-18)

2. Moses predicted the prophet would speak with God’s full authority.

   You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. (Mat. 5:21)

   You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Mat. 5:27-28)

   Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; . . . (Mat. 5:31-32)

1. Neusner - Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5)

   Yes, I would have been astonished. Here is a Torah-teacher who says in his own name what the Torah says in God’s name. It is one thing to say on one’s own how a basic teaching of the Torah shapes the everyday. . . It is quite another to say that the Torah says one thing, but I say . . . then to announce in one’s own name what God set forth at Sinai. . . The prophet, Moses, speaks not in his own name but in God’s name, saying what God has told him to say. Jesus speaks not as a sage nor as a prophet. . . . {u At Sinai, God spoke through Moses, On this Galilean hill, Jesus speaks for himself.¹⁶

3. Jesus is not changing or overthrowing the law. He is expounding the law: piercing beyond external observance to the deeper matters of the heart

4. Like the Divine Rabbi He is, He is exposing the heart of the law—that even when we externally keep the law we are often in violation of its intent within

4. Judaism predicts a ruler in the line of Judah whom all the nations will obey

   In Genesis 49, Jacob prophesies over his sons, the twelve tribes of Israel: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his (Genesis 49:10, NASU}

   . . . and his will be an assemblage of nations (Genesis. 49:10, TNK¹⁷)

1. But the holy books of Judaism record Zedekiah as the king last to rule on the throne of David at the time of the Babylonian captivity

1. He was deposed from the throne of David at the destruction of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 587 B.C.

2. Thereafter, no individual in the line of Judah ever became king or ruled on the throne of David

3. Matthew’s genealogy records the abrupt transition when the authority of the line of Judah was eclipsed

   Begat ... begot . . . begot . . . Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot ... begot, begot, ... and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot ... begot ... begot ... Hezekiah [a king] begot Manasseh [a king], Manasseh begot Amon [a king], and Amon begot Josiah [a king]. Josiah begot Jeconiah [a king] and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah [never a king] begot Shealtiel [never a king], and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel [never a king]. Zerubbabel begot Abiud [never a king], Abiud begot Eliakim [never a king], and Eliakim begot Azor [never a king]. Azor begot Zadok [never a king], Zadok begot Achim [never a king], and Achim begot Eliud [never a king]. Eliud begot Eleazar [never a king], Eleazar begot Matthan [never a king], and Matthan begot Jacob [never a king]. And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:2–16)

2. In the New Testament, we find Jesus purposefully arranging to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, in fulfillment of another prediction of one of the holy books of Judaism (Zechariah 9:9) at which time the crowd proclaimed

   . . . Hosanna! ‘Blessed [is] He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel! (John 12:13)

3. But this predicted king in the line of Judah was rejected by those He was to rule over

   Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And [Pilate] said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” But they cried out, “Away with [Him], away with [Him]! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19:14-15)

4. And to be sure we wouldn’t miss the true identity of the One being crucified

1. God arranged for a sign to be posted over His head at the time of His death

2. In the common languages of the day—so that men would be without excuse

   . . . an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS (Luke 23:38)

5. Again, we would ask those Jews who reject Christianity: Where is this Davidic king predicted in Genesis 49? Why does He remain absent? When will the nations recognized the authority of the throne of David? When they do, Who is the individual who will sit upon David’s throne?

5. Christianity “completes” the unfinished expectations of Judaism, it ties up the loose threads remaining at the end of the Old Testament

1. Far from being opposed to the law of Moses, Jesus is the matching foot which fits into the Cinderella’s slipper of the law

2. Why else would Paul make a bee-line for the synagogue whenever he entered a city?

1. In Damascus (Acts 9:20) Salamis (Acts 13:5), Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14), Iconium (Acts 14:1), Thessalonica (Acts 17:1), Berea (Acts 17:10), Athens (Acts 17:17), Corinth (Acts 18:4), and Ephesus (Acts 18:19)

3. Hear the words of the New Testament, spoken by Jesus on the road to Emmaus

   Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:25–27).

   In another post-resurrection appearance, Jesus said . . . These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me (Luke 24:44).

6. To disbelieve Jesus is to disbelieve Moses, for he wrote of Jesus

   Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’ (John 1:45)

7. Judaism is judged by the very one they claim to revere: Moses

   Jesus said, Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words? (John 5:45-47).

1. We can only imagine how grieved Moses is by today’s Judaism which rejects the Messiah of whom he wrote.

2. Claiming to revere Moses, while denying the fulfillment of the very predictions made within the books of Moses: the Torah¹⁸

A strategy of Satan: keep Judaism and Christianity apart

1. Prevent the mostly-Gentile Church from a greater understanding of the Jewish roots of the faith and God’s ongoing promises to Israel

1. Misunderstand and misinterpret aspects of the New Testament

2. Reject God’s ongoing election of Israel (Rom. 11:28)

3. Reject Israel’s claims to the land

4. Join in the end-time fulfillment of global opposition to Israel

2. Keep Judaism from recognizing the Jewishness of the New Testament and recognizing Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah

   Israel must, indeed, be dumb if one asks them today: Tell me, pray: How can it be that the Eternal sent the fathers out of their land into captivity in Babylon for only seventy years, on account of all the abominations and idolatry by which they for centuries defiled the Holy Land: — and now Israel has been dispersed among all peoples for over eighteen hundred years, and Jerusalem, the city of the great King, is trodden down by the nations until this day? What, then, is the great and terrible blood-guiltiness which perpetually prevents you from dwelling in peace in the land of your fathers? — But Israel is not willing to know! And yet it is precisely its sin against its Messiah that is indeed the root of Israel’s misery.¹⁹

   Sat Oct 13 19:44:29 2018

   

   
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