After Peter and Cornelius open the door for Gentiles to come to faith, a young Jewish church is forced to wrestle with the task of becoming something new. At the heart of that conflict is what is required for this faith, and what Jesus calls us to release on the journey of community with him and his people. By looking at the story of the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, Matt and Aaron discuss how contextualization shakes the core of how we see the Bible, the church, and the controversy of allowing culture to break down our doctrines into a deeper faith in Christ.
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“This isn’t about creating new laws. It’s about promoting unity. It’s about bringing the Body of Christ together.”
“Conflict is where unity is born.”
“We lead change. We don’t force change, because we’re not doing this alone. We’re doing this in community.”
“Syncretism is where, in your efforts to contextualize, you’ve lost the core.”
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Episode Highlights:
✨ Review of Acts 10 - Culture & Contextualization (1:58)
✨ Setting the scene for Acts 15 (5:42)
✨ Intro to the Jerusalem Council (13:14)
✨ 4 new “concessions” for the early church (18:00)
✨ Contextualization is a messy process (26:52)
✨ Concept of “weaker brother” (33:38)
✨ The struggle of syncretism (40:07)
✨ 3 audiences of letters (44:33)
✨Key takeaways from the 3 part conversation on Contextualization in Acts (49:02)
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Links:
Kindred Exchange Mission Audits - Learn more & sign up for the Nashville Mission Audit (August 25th-26th)
Ozark Christian College - Learn more about the The Master of Arts in Biblical Ministry with a concentration in Biblical Studies
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Get Connected:
Connect with Aaron at aaron@kindredexchange.co
Connect with Matt at mcook@fhu.edu
