Week 47 Galatians 6
Paul writes a lot about the conflict between a) ethnic-Jews who believed in the Lord and b) non-Jews who also believed in the Lord. (At some point I’ll try tracking how often Paul does this but for now my estimate is: pretty often.)
One part of the question is: why did ethnic-Jewish-believers harangue non-Jewish believers about becoming like them and adopting a bunch of OT traditions? But the other part of the question is why some guy – let’s say a casually-religious & non-Jewish Cypriot who came to belief in the Lord – would want to add-on a bunch of Hebrew religious practices. What’s attractive about that?
But then today I read this: those who are trying to force you to be circumcised are doing it for just one reason. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save.
Which is interesting. Did becoming-a-Jewish-recruit exempt you from persecution? I did a quick outside-the-bible search for “Jewish religion in the Roman empire” and sure enough it looks like Judaism had some kind of official status with Rome. Meaning (maybe) that the equation looked like this for a non-Jewish believer: I believe in the Lord + I adopt Judaism + I come under the Jewish umbrella = I survive.
There’s likely more to it than that. But this is a big practical reason for why the Jesus-believer guy from Crete might be tempted by a Jewish recruiter.
Note: quote from Galatians 6:12 (NLT)