The Pharisees and the early church: The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses. Acts 15:5
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During the preaching of Jesus in the Holy Land, the relationship between the divine teacher and the Pharisees was never good, although there were some conversions. The Pharisees were distinguished by their strict adherence to the law of Moses, which brought Jesus many problems. Probably Joseph of Arimathea, who in an act of mercy (compassion, kindness) asked for the body of Jesus after his crucifixion, was a Pharisee.
And somehow and continuing the same problem, after the birth of the Church at Pentecost, the Pharisees converted to the Christian faith wanted the first believers to strictly follow the law of Moses to achieve salvation. And this openly went against the evangelization carried out by Paul during his first missionary journey, which did not require circumcision, but the sincere acceptance of faith in the name of Jesus through the sacrament of baptism. And Paul's thought was logical because baptism is the passage from a life full of sins to a life of righteousness, as John the Baptist demanded when he baptized in the Jordan River. The spiritual gift of righteousness and the law of Moses are different things, as Jesus taught with the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).
And this problem among the early Christians was what led to the first council of Jerusalem during the early church.
This is how the book of Acts recounts what happened between Paul and the Christians of Pharisee origin before the council:
"When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ´The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.´" Acts 15:4-5.
Finally, the first council of the Church did not decide for or against the issue, but left the spiritual matter to the freedom of conscience.
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