"They must have understood something that many of us today haven’t yet grasped."
Perhaps--but it seems unlikely that the 3000+ people of various backgrounds who kickstarted the church in Jerusalem all understood one thing exactly the same and so behaved so radically different.
I'm definitely on board with the condemnation of outsourcing our obedience and have spoken out against this myself. I take it a theological step further and say that when we outsource our obedience we make grave, practical theological errors that we otherwise denounce intellectually.
I think the one thing that changed this first generation of believers (which you mention) is that they have their eyes opened to reality--not a new reality, but reality as it has always been; a reality I attest to being only seen in love. When we have our eyes opened like that we cease to behave as if our systems and governments and other of what I call Secondary Interfaces matter to the point of action. It's a knowing that surpasses intellectual assent (which is a massive road block to us Western Christians). It is Paul saying that we do not know as we ought to know bearing forth love.
These people saw each other for who they really were; flesh and blood people whom Jesus gave his life to and for inspiring the kind of love, faith and hope in Jesus to do the same every day of the week. The reason I say that they didn't all understand the same thing is that Jesus gave them revelation to see their own circumstances in the light of love which casts out all darkness. For example, the rich saw their humbled state while the poor saw their lifting up in the world both knowing that the God who saved them renders their former value defunct in the light of His love. The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Love, then, is what we are missing; to see one another clearly for who and what we are, and to reckon with the fact that Jesus died for the whole world because He loved them; saw them how the Father saw them and pitied them and did not give them what they deserved but gave them mercy. We are the people of God who have received mercy ; so let's give it out more freely shall we?
I think what they “understood” was that Jesus had made them an actual family, and they started living like one, which was attractive to the culture because they had never seen people of such different classes and social status treating one another like family. All of which I think is similar to what you are saying, but perhaps nuanced a bit.
However, I think we also have to consider the difference between thinking of Acts as merely a historical narrative that we can learn from, versus thinking of it as intentionally being written to catechize the churches in the patterns, principles, practices and procedures that together shape churches in Jesus’ plan. It shows how the church went from being a spontaneous, somewhat disorganized collection of gatherings to a strategic complex network of churches spread across the Roman Empire, led locally by elders, deacons and leading women, and shaped globally by leaders like Timothy & Titus who were trained for decades “on the job” by Paul. Jesus had a plan that He said His Spirit would teach them after He went away (Jn 14:26), and Acts is the account of how that plan was implemented (all that Jesus continued to do and teach) by the apostles, most specifically Paul, who Luke emphasizes by pointing out that Jesus actually broke back into history to select him, give him a specific calling, and teach him what he needed to do, and once Paul is in the picture, Luke’s narrative shifts follows his work. Not because Paul is a better person than Peter, but because Jesus specifically selected him as the gifted leader who would unfold and implement the plan for the church, which when done well, reflects Gods wisdom to all creation, even those beings watching from heavenly places (Eph 3:8-10)
You might be interested in this short article I wrote about a church I visited recently that is living like this right here in the Midwest (link below). I also wrote a paraphrase of 1 Cor 11:17-14:40 that goes after some of this. They are on my Substack as well.
JESUS’ NEW COMMUNITY WAS TRANSFORMED BY HIS RESURRECTION. NOW THERE WAS AND IS A NEW WAY TO LIVE…IN HIS LOVE, EVEN FOR ENEMIES. WE ARE TO REMEMBER THAT WHATEVER OUR ENEMIES, THOSE WHO HATE GOD, WE ARE ULTIMATELY SAFE. WE ARE TO RESPOND TO THEM IN LOVE, PRAY FOR THEM AND LET GOD DEAL WITH THEM. I HAVE TO THINK THIS WAY WHENEVER I BECOME ANGRY OVER WHAT OUR LEADERS DO AND SAY. THEY NEED TO BE TRANSFORMED, TOO.
"They must have understood something that many of us today haven’t yet grasped."
Perhaps--but it seems unlikely that the 3000+ people of various backgrounds who kickstarted the church in Jerusalem all understood one thing exactly the same and so behaved so radically different.
I'm definitely on board with the condemnation of outsourcing our obedience and have spoken out against this myself. I take it a theological step further and say that when we outsource our obedience we make grave, practical theological errors that we otherwise denounce intellectually.
I think the one thing that changed this first generation of believers (which you mention) is that they have their eyes opened to reality--not a new reality, but reality as it has always been; a reality I attest to being only seen in love. When we have our eyes opened like that we cease to behave as if our systems and governments and other of what I call Secondary Interfaces matter to the point of action. It's a knowing that surpasses intellectual assent (which is a massive road block to us Western Christians). It is Paul saying that we do not know as we ought to know bearing forth love.
These people saw each other for who they really were; flesh and blood people whom Jesus gave his life to and for inspiring the kind of love, faith and hope in Jesus to do the same every day of the week. The reason I say that they didn't all understand the same thing is that Jesus gave them revelation to see their own circumstances in the light of love which casts out all darkness. For example, the rich saw their humbled state while the poor saw their lifting up in the world both knowing that the God who saved them renders their former value defunct in the light of His love. The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Love, then, is what we are missing; to see one another clearly for who and what we are, and to reckon with the fact that Jesus died for the whole world because He loved them; saw them how the Father saw them and pitied them and did not give them what they deserved but gave them mercy. We are the people of God who have received mercy ; so let's give it out more freely shall we?
I think what they “understood” was that Jesus had made them an actual family, and they started living like one, which was attractive to the culture because they had never seen people of such different classes and social status treating one another like family. All of which I think is similar to what you are saying, but perhaps nuanced a bit.
However, I think we also have to consider the difference between thinking of Acts as merely a historical narrative that we can learn from, versus thinking of it as intentionally being written to catechize the churches in the patterns, principles, practices and procedures that together shape churches in Jesus’ plan. It shows how the church went from being a spontaneous, somewhat disorganized collection of gatherings to a strategic complex network of churches spread across the Roman Empire, led locally by elders, deacons and leading women, and shaped globally by leaders like Timothy & Titus who were trained for decades “on the job” by Paul. Jesus had a plan that He said His Spirit would teach them after He went away (Jn 14:26), and Acts is the account of how that plan was implemented (all that Jesus continued to do and teach) by the apostles, most specifically Paul, who Luke emphasizes by pointing out that Jesus actually broke back into history to select him, give him a specific calling, and teach him what he needed to do, and once Paul is in the picture, Luke’s narrative shifts follows his work. Not because Paul is a better person than Peter, but because Jesus specifically selected him as the gifted leader who would unfold and implement the plan for the church, which when done well, reflects Gods wisdom to all creation, even those beings watching from heavenly places (Eph 3:8-10)
You might be interested in this short article I wrote about a church I visited recently that is living like this right here in the Midwest (link below). I also wrote a paraphrase of 1 Cor 11:17-14:40 that goes after some of this. They are on my Substack as well.
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottcanion/p/the-early-contemporary-church-gathering?r=2umspq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
JESUS’ NEW COMMUNITY WAS TRANSFORMED BY HIS RESURRECTION. NOW THERE WAS AND IS A NEW WAY TO LIVE…IN HIS LOVE, EVEN FOR ENEMIES. WE ARE TO REMEMBER THAT WHATEVER OUR ENEMIES, THOSE WHO HATE GOD, WE ARE ULTIMATELY SAFE. WE ARE TO RESPOND TO THEM IN LOVE, PRAY FOR THEM AND LET GOD DEAL WITH THEM. I HAVE TO THINK THIS WAY WHENEVER I BECOME ANGRY OVER WHAT OUR LEADERS DO AND SAY. THEY NEED TO BE TRANSFORMED, TOO.