During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to explore an argument that broke out among Jewish believers and Gentile converts to Christianity in the First Century that threatened to split the early church like an overripe watermelon. This chapter of church history recorded in the book of Acts is formally called “The Jerusalem Debate” and the hugely significant spiritual truism came out of those ancient theological fisticuffs is still a foundational wall of orthodox Christianity today. Early church fathers described it as: solo fide, which in Latin means “faith alone.” In other words, the Old Testament guidelines that the Jewish believers in Acts were so fired up about getting non-Jewish Christian converts to abide by couldn’t save them then and it sure can’t save us now because no human being has the capacity to attain moral perfection. Mosaic Law underscores our need for a Messiah. Furthermore, our gratitude for God’s grace – not the attempt to justify it – has to be the motive behind Christian morality, otherwise good doctrine and good behavior will soon digress into smug moralism, self-righteousness, judgmentalism, and even worse. Today’s conversation about our on-going need to be “re-Gospeled” is bound to be lively and hopefully life-giving so please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or wrapping banana leaves around a deceased pig for a backyard luau, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us! 

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