However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets … Acts 24:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 22, 2018): Acts 24

A paradox: a statement that, despite being grounded in sound, logical reasoning leads to a conclusion that is logically unacceptable or self-contradictory. In the science fiction realm, paradox is the best way to defeat an evil computer or robot because they can’t handle the contradiction. Comedian George Carlin once illustrated the idea of a paradox when he asked: “If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?” There is nothing wrong with the reasoning in the question except that it seems to employ a curious double negative. Frank Herbert in “Chapterhouse: Dune” reveals a paradox in a more serious way. “Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.” Essentially, when we seek to be free, we become captives to all of our various wants that we have come to believe are essential to our freedom. Herbert is speaking of a long distant future, but we understand what he is saying in our own culture. Both personally and nationally we are being enslaved by our own wants and desires, and often by the debt load that it takes to make us happy. But we also have examples of people who have disciplined themselves to the point where they have the ability, and the money, to do whatever they want. Through discipline, they have enslaved themselves, and so they are truly free. Maybe it doesn’t make logical sense, but it is true.

Paul is involved in an early church paradox. Paul is often referred to as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Maybe more than any other early church leader, Paul led the charge of taking the Christian message to non-Jewish populations. In the process, he changed the way that Christianity was viewed by the world. Most notably, he ended the requirement for male Gentile people to be circumcised, an action that was abhorrent to non-Jewish cultures, to become a member of the faith. But in the process, he also erased much of Law of Moses, including many food regulations, for non-Jewish believers. It was a radical separating of the faiths. Christianity was no longer a Jewish sect. Christianity and Judaism, because of the work of Paul, could finally stand on the world stage as individual religions.

Yet, the paradox was that while Paul was a Christian, this Apostle to the Gentiles was still a Jew. And he tells Felix that he better follows the rituals of his ancient religion, Judaism, by being a Christian. For Paul, to be a good Jew, you needed to be a good Christian because all that was spoken by the law and the prophets were summed up in the teachings of Jesus Christ. To be a real Jew, a believer had to leave Judaism and become a Christian, because it is Christianity that follows the real dictates and purpose of Judaism.

It is true, but it also almost enough to make your head hurt.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 25