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

122 the entire Law of Moses) is circumcision, which is purely ceremonial. If the occasion as described by Luke suggests anything about the outcome, one would expect a ceremonial rather than an ethical decision. A consistently ethical view understands dcw1i68uTa as a reference to idolatry, nopvda as sexual immorality and a'iµa as bloodshed or murder. 184 Wilson bases his view partly on a dissatisfaction with other alternatives and partly on some evidence in rabbinic literature that considered idolatry, immorality and murder as the three chief sins of Gen– tiles. 185 The problems with this view are that it requires dcwA68uTa "things sacrificed to idols" 186 to be equivalent to the more general term dcwAoAaTp(a . Likewise, the use of a'iµa as a reference to murder without an accompanying verb is at best rare, 187 and would be much clearer if the simple <j>ovoc; were used. Finally, Wilson insists that "A fully ethical interpre– tation of th; decree requires the omission of nvtKTo<;," which requires the acceptance of the textually suspect Western text. An alternative to the purely ethical understanding is a modified ethical view which interprets the elements of the decree more naturally but avoids direct Mosaic legi lation as its support . That is , dcwAov8uTa is understood normally as eating food offered to idol and nopvda as sexual immorality . The more cultic terms of nv tKTo<; and a'iµ a are under- 184 Wil on, Luke and the Law, 99-101. 185 "Indeed it i the e three categorie hich track and Bill rb k u t the e id nee they collect in connection with the J wi h f th n n-J i h -100 He cite track-Billerbeck, vol. I , 353ff. 186 ' It d note the m at whi "l·tOWAO ," DNT, 2 :37 -7 . B th p tohc deer e f A . 1 : I id. tM 7 hi is th un ubst ntt t im f Wil n, Luk and th La'r , I at g riz rld," Ibid ., Ii m,"