The Acts of the Apostles - sectarianism and relevance today

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The Acts of the Apostles - sectarianism and relevance today

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(a) Explore Peter’s contribution to the issue of prejudice and sectarianism.

Although many of us may think that the issues of prejudice and sectarianism are new, the Acts of the Apostles shows clearly religious intolerance over two thousand years ago. In this respect, it is comparable and instructive for moral life in the twenty-first century. One of the most influential characters in Acts, who is closely linked to the issues of bigotry, is Peter. However, before I look at his role, two key words must be defined. Firstly, prejudice is defined by the Oxford Concise Dictionary (10th edition) as:

A pre-conceived idea held about someone or some group that is not based on reason, knowledge or actual experience 1; while Cecilia Clegg and Joseph Liechty define sectarianism as: a system of attitudes, actions, beliefs and structures that is expressed in destructive patterns of relating 2

It is also important to realise that: Sectarianism always involves religion. The involvement may be an historic one that has long been forgotten, but it is this origin that distinguishes it from purely political discrimination.3

It is impossible to argue that Peter was not involved in the issue of prejudice but what was his exact role? What persecution did he himself suffer, or even worse, what discrimination did he himself perpetrate? And most importantly, what sectarianism did Peter help the Church overcome?

Peter, we already know, had been given the “the keys to the gates of heaven” in Matthew 16v19 and in Acts 2 the reader sees him first use them to open the Gospel to his fellow Jews at Pentecost. In this passage, we see Peter’s first realisation that the Gospel is open, not only to Jews, but to all those who believe, repent and are baptised. In verse 38, this realisation is made apparent when he notes:

This promise is for you and your children and all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call. 4

As F. F. Bruce noted, God’s gift of grace had been extended “not only to the people of Jerusalem but to those of distant lands [i.e. Gentiles]” 5. This is the first sign that Peter’s prejudice is being broken down although, I believe that Peter is still not fully sure of the position of Gentiles in the church. Later, one can see much more definite evidence for this when, at the end of Acts 9, Peter stays with Simon the tanner. James D. G. Dunn notes that this is important because tanning made, “its practitioners unacceptable among those who regarded ritual purity as something to be maintained as far as possible” 6. This clearly shows that Peter “was already in a state of mind which would fit him for the further revelation of the next chapter” 7 (R.J. Knowling). For Acts 10 contains perhaps one of the most important turning points in Christian doctrine and also reveals something about how we should treat those outside our own religion.

In Acts 9, the reader sees the conversion of Saul as a result of divine intervention on the road to Damascus; Acts 10 sees the conversion of Cornelius by Peter. These two events are connected because they were the essential foundations on which the Gentile mission would be built. Yet why was the first Gentile conversion so important and what was Peter’s purpose? In order to find the answer to this, one must look at the history of Jewish-Gentile relations, for, as often is the case, this sectarianism has its roots in history.

In Genesis 12, God told Abraham that He would bless him and his descendants and that, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you [i.e. Abraham and his descendants].” 8 The Jews were therefore messengers, carrying the Word of God to other nations – this they did not do. Instead, as John Stott explains:

Israel twisted the doctrine of election into one of favouritism, became filled with moral pride and hatred and developed traditions that kept them [Jews and gentiles] apart. 9

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Gentiles were seen as unclean, even ‘sub-human’ and were often referred to as dogs. Jews could not marry Gentiles, eat with them or even enter the home of a Gentile. Therefore, when Jesus gave the Great Commission in Acts 1v8:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 10

: they would have known, or perhaps guessed, that this would involve Gentiles. This was the barrier that had to be overcome before Gentiles ...

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