The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

99 mentioned in verse 3. " 127 The charge which is brought against Peter is also significant. Interestingly, the Jerusalem leadership objects neither to the salvation of the Gentiles , nor to their baptism, but once again, to Peter's association with them, "'You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them,"' (11 :2). This was, of course, Peter's main objection to the whole affair as well as Luke has conveyed the story. 128 Once again, Luke retells the salient points of the story , not only for emphasis but also to demonstrate that the eventual acceptance of the mission to the Gentiles was not merely initiated by God and approved by Peter but also confirmed by the entire mother church at Jerusalem as well. Their response is instructive: they "quieted down," that is , dropped their objections to Jewish associations with Gentiles and recognized that "God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life" ( 11: 18) . Conclusion We have found that the abrogation of the Law was not a prerequisite to the Gentile mission . The abrogation of something was necessary however to launch the Gentile mission and that was the misplaced xenophobia of Judaism which had developed in the intertestamental period and was a fundamental misunderstanding of the Law. However traditional it may be to see the end of the food laws in the Peter 's vision, Peter and Luke have not interpreted the vi ion in this way. What is stated in the narrative i that no man i n unclean. hi is the es ence of the tory a Luke ha recounted it for hi reader. Dib liu ummarize the incident from a literary tandpoint. 127 Ha nchen, A t , 354 . 128 H ncl en ' u e h in fr m h in th hur h prot t in man agam t th bapt1 m ju t effe t d , thou h th t i h t i r 11 m nt. In t d h r pr nt th a ·u auon I 11 d a in t t 1 11 w hip ith th un ir um i d," Ha n h n, 4 t ,