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Acts 18:12-13  While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgement.  “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

Here we have an interesting case of history repeating itself over and over again.  When we look at the ‘Big Picture’ of the Bible as a whole, we see God, ‘the LORD’, patiently, compassionately and persistently reaching out to win back the friendship of mankind whom he had made in his own ‘likeness and image’ but who had become his enemy by rebelling against his gracious ‘blueprint’ for the true enjoyment of life.

His first big move in this process was to destroy everyone with a worldwide flood and make a fresh start with Noah and his family.  It was not long after the Flood that the same rebellious mindset set in again, so the next significant step was to choose one man, Abraham, to be the father of a great nation whom he would particularly bless so that they, by enjoying his friendship according to the ‘blueprint’, could be the source of blessing beyond Abraham’s family to the whole world.

This process also soon failed through rebellious disobedience, so this nation was reconstituted through Isaac and Jacob (‘Israel’), exiled to Egypt to serve as slaves for over four centuries, and then graciously and miraculously rescued from this by substitutionary atonement through the shedding of the blood of a lamb.  As a gracious provision for the rescued nation, they were given the ‘blueprint’ in more detail, in the form of the ‘Law’ (‘Torah’ – Genesis – Deuteronomy) through Moses, to serve as a guide for their enjoyment of life as God’s redeemed friends.

This also failed because of their rebellious hearts, turning this ‘Law’ into a mechanical set of ‘rules’ instead of applying the ‘heart’, or underlying intention, of it to their interpersonal relationships, and attitude, expressed in every part of their daily lives.

To rectify this, the LORD sent them, over a long period of time, leaders like Samuel and King David, and prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and many others, who actually understood the heart of the blueprint and called people to repentance and faith, and thus ‘enjoy God forever’.  Jeremiah (17:9) reminded them that “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?”, so it is not surprising that a more drastic solution was required.  Ezekiel (36:26-27) spoke of the need for a whole new beginning: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” and Isaiah (chapters 40-66) spelt out in detail what form this would take – God himself entering human history in the form of his own Son, being their Messiah, the Servant-King, who would die himself as the sustitutionary sacrificial ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29).

In the light of all this history, it is, sadly, not surprising that when Jesus came to reveal the true intended ‘heart’ of the ‘blueprint’ for enjoying life to the full, they rejected and crucified him as a blasphemous Law-breaker (according to the way they were misunderstanding their own ‘Torah’ – see Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (Matthew 5-7)).  And now, as Paul tried to explain all this to God’s Chosen People in Corinth, the same thing happened to him.  Earlier, Stephen had faced exactly the same opposition from the Jewish Sanhedrin, and it’s well worth reading Luke’s account of how Stephen defended the true understanding of the historical record (much more clearly than I have tried to do above) in Acts chapters 6 and 7.

Paul explained the response he had received from the Jews in Corinth like this: “We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.  But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read.  It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.  Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.  But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:13-16).  Let us be much in prayer for Jewish evangelism in the light of his words!

– Bruce Christian