Throughout the history of the world there have been numerous battles and wars over the fight for freedom. Often times the ones being oppressed, treated unfairly, or bullied need someone to stand up for them and fight for them and with them. We as Americans should understand this fight for freedom as it is woven into the history of our country.
This fight for freedom is not just ours and not just for this time in history. Throughout the Bible there were numerous battles and fights. Our thoughts may go to war, with swords and chariots or a young boy, David, and his sling. If you look in the New Testament, recorded in the account called “The Acts of the Apostles” you will find a battle in the 15th Chapter. Some of our ancient historians have labeled it “The Council at Jerusalem”.
Barnabas and Paul were some of the first missionaries and they traveled through Galatia (modern day Turkey) to proclaim that you are “saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ”. It is only because of God’s grace, which means “underserved favor”, that we are considered to be in God’s family and our names recorded in the Book of (Eternal) Life. Paul tells the Church is Ephesus this same thing, “God saved you - by His grace - when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it (salvation) is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it”. They spent approximately 14 years preaching this Good News in the city of Antioch.
Then came the battle. Some men from Judea (Jews) arrived and began to teach, “Unless you are circumcised (the symbol of becoming a Jew) as required by the law of Moses - you cannot be saved”. Their message was that salvation was only for a specific group, a specific tribe, a specific nation. They also were teaching that in order for God to accept you all the laws of Moses and the Jewish regulations (Galatians 2:1-5). Paul said they were trying to enslave the non-Jewish people.
The Bible records that Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing “vehemently”. Other translations say, “with great dissention and debate”; the Greek word means “great uproar”. This was not a quiet conversation. I can imagine there were fists raised, wide eyes, loud statements, maybe even pointing fingers. Paul was as passionate as he had even been, even more than when we was zealous for persecuting the Church that he was now defending (Acts 9).
If time travel was possible, I would love to go to that scene. Men, fully knowing the truth, standing up with conviction and purpose. Paul knew he had been saved by God’s underserved favor. Paul knew this message was for everyone, every tribe and every nation. Paul also knew what Jesus the Christ had said when He first started His ministry,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come” - Luke 4:18-19
Paul understood the truth of the statement of Jesus, “If the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:36). He also understood that this freedom was “underserved”, a “free gift” from God, and only through “faith in Jesus the Christ”. One of my favorite passages in the whole Bible is written in Pauls’ letter to the Church in Ephesus. It says,
“Even before He made the world, God loved us, and chose us in Christ, to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him great pleasure” – Ephesians 1:4-5
To anyone reading this article, God sees you, God knows you, God hears you, and God wants you in His own family. So much so that He is willing to sacrifice His one and only Son – for you. He wants to do it, He is looking forward to you accepting this gift, and when you do, He says you are “without fault” in His eyes. You are free to choose. How will you use your freedom?
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