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

43 the Law always was a burden anyway and is no longer applicable. Paul only accommodates stubborn Jews when in Jerusalem (Acts 21) , but even then they reject him as they do again in Rome. By Acts 28 Judaism is a thing of the ancient past ; Christianity has shed the bondage of Moses and become Law-free. This meaning is correct insofar as it sees the Church broadening to include Gentiles and expanding to Rome; an argument of this chapter, however , is that it is incorrect as it sees the displacement of Israel and the Law as a logical prerequisite to the Gentile mission. In reality the Gentile mission is the result of God keeping his promises to Israel and the witness to the Gentiles actually comes through believing Israelites. Many Jews reject the message but the very fact that they are given the opportunity to reject demonstrates that God has not yet fully or finally rejected them. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D . 70 looms just over the horizon in A .D. 50, but before that fateful event believing Israelites proclaimed the ., message boldly to their own people and to Gentiles. The uniqueness of the Church in the middle of the first century and the message of Acts is that the Gentile mission include not just ethnic Jews and Gentiles , but religious , Law-observant Jews and Gentil e . At the same time it should be under tood that thi i an ob ervation of human behavior drawn from the book rather than a theological tatement. That i , the fa t that J believers continued in form of Old Covenant wor hip doe not imply that th Old wa till in force. In the ame way, peaking dogmatically about what Je i h b Ii much a ier than propo ing why they did it. Before even pr liminar n lu i n nant dr wn about th b k of A t , ho e r , the imp rtan f hi tori al int rpr t ti n h uld b mph 1Led . th tel ctl wh t r el ti n th b li to an end," 1 mm uld d t rmm n t n , Ba 1 J'fzeolo v