CONTENT WARNING: This passage deals with an early church controversy surrounding circumcision. Resultantly I’m going to say “penis” in this video. If you’d rather skip a video about the Bible where the host says penis, I can respect that, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
Acts 15:1-5 is about a bunch of guardians of good religion coming up to Antioch to tell the church there that none of them are Christians unless they get circumcised. Paul and Barnabas have a huge problem with that and the two groups come into heated disagreement.
Obvious questions: Why would anyone care about that? Did the circumcisers have any valid point? How will the church get past this obstacle to telling the larger world about the grace of God through Jesus?
Oh and if you want to skip the video because I say penis, but you still want the answer to the question, it’s “no.” You’re obviously off the hook if you’re a woman, but even if you’re a guy, you don’t have to go buy a home circumcision kit and make a mess of your downstairs bathroom to get God to like you enough to have a relationship with Him.
You’re welcome to do that if you want, but it looks like the Bible’s saying people can know God by belief in Jesus plus nothing.
Matt is the editor and co-author of the book Putting God in His Place: Exalting God in the iCulture published by Nextstep Resources. In addition to writing and film, he enjoys rock music, competitive team sports, and travel. Connect with him on Twitter @MattWhitmanTMBH.
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