All of the initial Christians were either Jews by birth or by conversion, and apparently there were no Gentile members for at least the first ten years after the birth of the Church on Pentecost c28-30AD. The MYSTERY of CHRIST was NOT revealed to the apostles until several YEARS AFTER Jesus’s death, resurrection and ascension. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep Īlthough God does NOT require Gentile believers to convert to Judaism to be saved, the apostles ( under the guidance of the Holy Spirit🕊️) did place some restrictions on gentile believers to steer them away from IDOLATRY and guide them towards living Holy Lives in Christ…

simply by BELIEVING and RECEIVING the Gospel of Jesus Christ.ġ Corinthians 15:1: Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, 2 by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.ģ For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. The MYSTERY that Paul spoke about is that gentiles would become fellow heirs ( with Jewish believers) and partakers in the promise of ETERNAL LIFE in CHRIST JESUS…. God’s plan did NOT say that gentiles would become fellow heirs and partakers in the promise (of ETERNAL LIFE in CHRIST JESUS) through the law of Moses. However, the Jerusalem Council soon recognized that God does NOT require Gentiles to convert to Judaism OR keep the Law of Moses to be saved! This is the MYSTERY that the apostle Paul wrote about in Ephesians 3:1-12, namely that the gentiles (non-Jews) were to be fellow-heirs and fellow partakers of the Promise of Eternal Life through simple FAITH in the Gospel ( Good News) of Jesus Christ.Įphesians 3: 4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my ( apostle Paul ) insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel , The general consensus among Jewish believers at that time had been that Gentile believers would need to convert to Judaism to be saved. In Acts Chapter 15, Jesus’ disciples gathered together in a meeting that is now known as “The Jerusalem Council” to determine what restrictions would be incumbent on the new Gentile converts who were coming to Faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Coming together