You don't have to convince me. I am not Catholic.
Peter, being a minister to the circumcision (Galatians 2), fades in emphasis, while the emphasis on the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, expands.
Well, if Matthew's Great Commission has any credibility (which it doesn't), the eleven disciples were told to go to all the "nations/tribes" which could be understood any way you wish, either as all the people of the world or just the tribes of Israel, the word ehtne is not specific.
So, there would have been no reason for anyone to only deal with the circumcision, In addition to that, Acts 13:26 clearly tells you why Paul went to the Gentiles: the Jewish rejection! But if he and Barnabas were already apostles to the Gentiles, why did it matter what the circumcision believed; it was not their concern! or it shouldn't have been.
Bottom line is, Jesus never said anything about going to the gentiles; on the contrary, he forbade it. He also specifically picked 12 disciples for each tribe of Israel. He never said anything about having more. The whole thing is a story that was ad-libed as time went on.
As for Peter and Paul receiving "messages" in different chronological order, that is just pure nonsense: the HS was supposed to teach them all things they needed to know. They sure didn't act like they did.
None of them knew that there would be a “Church Age,” much less one that would last for 2,000 years,
Oh, yeah, the HS kept that from them. That was a special surprise reserved for other times...Rather, it seems to me the HS let Paul teach that Christ was coming back soon...
I am n to sure what your point is, but thanks anyway.
We are writing, of course, as non-Catholics. I am also non-Protestant. Non-Catholic and any sense related to the Vatican; non-Protestant in any sense related to Geneva.
Oh, well, I protest a whole lot of clerical, sacramental, and formal religion. According to people like Ian Paisely, that would make me a “PROTESTant.” But in the sense of Geneva Protestantism . . . I am not one.
I don’t know where the passage in Matthew ch. 28 ever first got the description, “The Great Commission.” When comparing the four Gospel accounts, the commissions at the end of each are different, and for a purpose.
Believing Israelites, those who accepted Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of Messianic Prophesy, headed by the Twelve Apostle of the Lamb, under that commission of Matthew 28, were to go to the nations with that message of the King. It was the Gospel of the Kingdom, which has nothing to do with either Vatican or Genevan theology.
The Gentile nations would be blessed in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as they would believe in the Seed of those three, Jesus Christ. This was nothing new in Matthew. The Old Testament was clear that as Israel believed, obeyed, and received the national promises, the Gentiles who followed suit would be blessed as well.
The commission was to go to dispersed Israel among the nations and then to the Gentiles of those nations. It had nothing to do with the Church (Body of Christ) of the current dispensation. It is not the Catholic Church, it is not ANY Protestant church or denomination, nor any Baptist or Brethren church or denomination. The Eleven who heard the commission new nothing of these things.
There is no requirement to day to preach anything special to the Circumcision, for today is not their day. Any Jew must receive Jesus Christ as the Sin-Bearer/Saviour, on the same basis as any Gentile. In the matter of Gospel evangelism today, there is no distinction.
There was a Gospel of the Circumcision and a Gospel of the Uncircumcision. Three men continued in the former, and Paul and others went on to the other (Galatians 2). It was a time of transition, and revelation by the Holy Spirit was progressive; God did not make everything known to all of the Apostles at the same time.
God did hide some things from the original Twelve. The Gospels and the epistles will attest to it. Just run the words “hide” and “hid” and “hidden” in the New Testament.
Example: When Christ first told the original Twelve that He was going to Jerusalem, would be killed, and rise again the third day, the text clearly states that they understood NONE of these things, and these things were “HID” from them.
The doctrine of the Body of Christ was a “hidden” from ages and generations before being revealed first to the Apostle Paul (Ephesians ch. 3).
There is no evidence that they understood that there would be a “Church Age.”
My point? Bible-literalism.
“Bottom line is, Jesus never said anything about going to the gentiles; on the contrary, he forbade it. He also specifically picked 12 disciples for each tribe of Israel. He never said anything about having more. The whole thing is a story that was ad-libed as time went on.”
You won’t be surprised that we disagree again!
“17The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” - Gen 18:18
The prejudice of the Jews didn’t negate God’s plan. The ministry of John the Baptist was a sign. Jews had started baptizing converts to their faith, but didn’t baptize themselves since they had already arrived, so to speak. For John to insist they needed baptism and repentance and a new start was radical.
Jesus concentrated on ministry to the Jews, because it was through the Jews that all nations would be blessed. He had to get them ready for the indwelling Holy Spirit, who would take them where they needed to go - reluctantly, at times, but I can be pretty reluctant in following God myself, so I can’t point fingers!
Nor was it just Jesus that concentrated on the Jews. Paul ALSO went first to the Jews: “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”