A Precedent for Controversy

Christianity has never truly been a monolithic religion. Even as near as twenty years (or so) after Christ's death, there were disagreements and controversies which required church councils to be formed to work out what exactly the church was supposed to believe. The earliest recorded controversy was between the Apostle Paul and a group known as the Judaizers.

The Apostle Paul was no doubt a charismatic and radical leader for his day. Imagine a six-figure earning CEO giving his money to the poor and becoming a militant Communist. That's easily the same sort of shock people in the first century would have felt upon learning that Saul, a rabidly zealous Pharisee who sought to put all Christians to death, had now become not just a Christian, but a proselytizer and ardent missionary who devoted his life to spreading the faith he once tried to destroy.

Paul preached a Gospel of radical grace – where all of our sins were cast upon the crucified Christ, and all we must do to receive salvation and eternal life is believe in Jesus and serve God as a redeemed people. However, as often happens, people raised their eyebrows at this notion of a free offer and many could not shake the old idea that we have to do something to save ourselves. Enter the Judaizers, a group of former Pharisees who encouraged newly converted Gentiles to become circumcised and obey the Hebrew food laws.

The Judaizers were scoring points for Christianity with the old guard Jewish leaders, and they resented Paul for making this new faith something that not only included Gentiles, but failed to give them the adequate requirements of the law which they viewed as necessary for communion with God. Paul accused them of denying Christ's sacrifice and making God's work void by placing their faith in good works, as if they could truly outweigh sin.

The two groups met at Jerusalem, where the book of Acts records the Council of Jerusalem, led by James, the brother of Jesus. Both sides were heard, and the decision was handed down after much deliberation amongst the Apostles: Gentile believers were to continue in sanctification (the process by which people on earth are made holy during the course of their lives) and to avoid food that was used in Pagan sacrifices. The food requirement was definitely an attempt to appease the Judaizers, but if the rest of the book can be believed, it failed to mollify the Pharisees who hounded Paul and sought to destroy him at every turn.

The Judaizers separated themselves from the Christian community at this point, and seemed to return to the Jewish faction which was seeking to destroy this troublesome sect. They were the first of many groups who would reject the authority of church councils and go their own way, and this precedent of calling the church leaders together to discuss, pray over, and decide various points of doctrine continues in Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christianity today, and to a lesser degree, in Protestant circles as well.

Pax vobiscum.