The Results of a New Life in ChristNäide

RECONCILIATION BETWEEN ENEMIES

Acts 10:14-15 - The gospel of Jesus Christ not only reconciles humans to God but also provides the basis for reconciliation between people who are natural enemies. In New Testament times, the natural enemies who heard the gospel were Jews and Gentiles. Jews, whose faith rested on the Old Testament, comprised all of the earliest converts to faith in Christ (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 11:19). The Jewish Christians did not want to consider Gentiles as Christians until they first became Jewish converts (Acts 15:1). One of the triumphs of the New Testament church was recognizing that all humans stand on level ground before the Cross of Christ—equally needy, equally redeemed by His death, equally worthwhile in His body (Eph. 2:11–18).

It is a scandal in the church of Jesus Christ when centuries later, majority-culture Christians exclude minority groups. That Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups are despised and excluded from various Christian congregations is sin. One of the most powerful witnesses to the reality of the work of God in the modern world is interracial reconciliation (John 17:20–23). Hatred and suspicion cannot be solved by education and legislation. Only regeneration can change the fearful human heart (2 Cor. 5:16–20). Only the church has a compelling reason to reject natural racial hostility in favor of the supernatural love of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:19–22).

This Bible study is an excerpt fromThe OPEN Bible, Published by Thomas Nelson Bibles