October 2025
I’m talking about the deep divisions in the 1st Century
between men and women, slave and free, and supremely between Jew and Gentile -
the temple in Jerusalem had walls and warnings to keep certain groups out of
the central areas.
But I could have been speaking about our 21st Century
world, where deep divisions still lead to disdain, angry messages, shouting and
threats, sticks or bullets.
If we despair of an end to all this we should remember the
remarkable reconciliation seen in the 1st Century in fledgling congregations of
believers in Jesus Christ. The tensions
didn’t disappear overnight; the New Testament records several disputes between
Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians – in one case fuelled by the hypocrisy
of the apostle Peter! And down the
centuries there have been many examples of Christians failing to treat each
other as brothers.
But the New Testament also shows the Gospel message itself
defusing the hostility. The Jewish
believers learnt that they were not rescued from God’s judgment by their
keeping of Old Testament laws but only by putting their trust in the death of
Christ on their behalf. And the Gentile
believers learnt that they were reconciled to God in exactly the same way. There could be no boasting from either. And so, standing together in prayer, sitting
under the authority of God’s Word preached, breaking bread and sharing the cup
on exactly the same terms, the great dividing wall of the day was torn down,
along with all other divisions that spring from human pride.
Today this can still be seen in local churches where fellow
servants of Christ kneel, sit and stand together with others from completely
different walks of life and parts of the world.
In the DNA of the church is hope for true peace. Christ’s ‘purpose was to create in himself
one new man out of the two, thus making peace’ (Ephesians 2:15)
Sincerely
Graham Burrows
