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Believers with a Pharisee BS


The Book of Acts is loaded with fascinating information about the first generations of followers of Jesus after the crucifixion known as the Early Church.  The amazing thing about this is that you never hear much of it in discussed in church. So, I decided to write a series of blogs about some of the events from Acts so others can enjoy and learn from them too.

I first became of this goldmine of information about 20 years ago when Dr. Ike Tennison and I were invited to hold a Bible study by Vendyl Jones at meetings held at his place in Arlington, Texas. Ike and I were doing research at that time on the Jerusalem Council held about 50 CE, which is recorded in Acts 15. So we decided to focus on it. Now I want you to keep in mind that we are talking about only one chapter in Acts. For the next six weeks we discussed that one chapter. Every now and then I run into some of the people who attended that class and one thing they usually ask is – Have you found anything new in Acts 15 lately?

This first study is about one verse that really caught me by surprise the first I understood it. It is found in Acts 15:5 and below is a literal translation.

Some of the believing ones from the sect of the Pharisees stood forth, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them (Gentiles) and charge them to keep the law of Moses.”

The Greek word transliterated PEPISTEUKOTES is a nominative plural masculine perfect active participle and is translated “believing” above. The point made here is that the “Christians” were “believing ones” and who belonged to “the sect of the Pharisees.” F. F. Bruce addresses this translation in The Acts of the Apostles: Greek Text With Introduction and Commentary:

“These believing Pharisees would probably be foremost among the “zealots for the law” of 21:20. A Pharisee could add acceptance of Jesus as Messiah to his existing beliefs without ceasing to be a Pharisee.”[1]

Now here is the surprise! I know that most Christians and probably many Jews are surprised to find that a Pharisee could continue to be a Pharisee, while at the same time believe that Jesus is the Anointed One (Messiah, Christ). This caught me by surprise, too; but what was even a bigger surprise was that they were accepted by the apostles and other members of the Early Church at Jerusalem! In other words, they were “Christians with a Pharisee BS,” which means they continued to hold the Pharisee Belief System.

What do you think would happen at most churches if some members stood up and said that all new members of the church should be required to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses? I imagine that this would ignite an interesting conversation, don’t you?

Something else that caught my attention was that this event took place over a decade after Jesus was crucified. Think about you have been doing for the past 13 or 14 years. That is a long time, but even after that amount of time had passed, some members of the Jerusalem church were still Pharisees who observed the law of Moses. This means they continued to keep Shabbat (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset), observe the Jewish holidays, participate in Temple rituals, and circumcise their children – while they were also Christians!

How does that fit into your BS (belief system)? If it doesn’t, then maybe you need to find out why? Don’t you think the apostles and members of the Early Church might know a little more about what Jesus wanted? This made me want to find out where my BS came from and why it wasn’t like those of the Early Church -- I did and I encountered a lot of other surprises too!

If you enjoyed this study and would like to hear more about the Book of Acts in a series of studies like this one – let me know. Add a comment below or send me an email at jim@biblicalheritage.org

Since our work is completely funded by donations from individuals, please let me encourage you to contribute and help us. Your gifts make what we do possible. We have a tremendous amount of information that we want to get into your hands, and all we need are the funds to get it into this type of format, uploaded and published. To make a donation go to -- http://www.biblicalheritage.org/BHC/donate.htm

Please share this study with others. It is FREE. We want to help as many people as possible to learn about their biblical heritages and discover the surprises too.  Shalom!

[1] The Acts of the Apostles: Greek Text With Introduction and Commentary (3rd Edition), by F. F. Bruce © 1990 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, MI; p. 334.

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