Like the Jewish Christians I seem to be stuck on the concept of the law and how that pretains to Christians. Is it now obsilete? But Jesus followed the law so should we do likewise? but we are free of the law so is the law bad? The audience of Luke/Acts seems to struggle with this concept too. According to the Dictionay, some scholars view Luke's approach to the law as conservative. Others say he is of two minds: Jews should keep it, whereas Christians are free of it. And others even say Luke understands the law is of the old era, but understands that the Jews are gonna take a while to get used to this whole "freedom" thing.
Luke basically shows that the traditions and customs are not required but Jewish Christians can follow them if they wish, as long as they don't drag the Gentile Christians along with them. Luke says that unity is more impotaint than these things, so do and accpet what you must (within the confins of reason) in order to mantain unity.
If the early church was ordered to be unified as a racially diverse community over an issue concerning their doctrine, how much more are we expected to be unified over an issue concerning the carpet color.
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I really enjoy discussing the law because it was such a controversial issue in New Testament times. Yet, the law did have it's place. I would if Luke's audience had any access to Paul's letter to the Romans, which explains that the law exposes our sin (and our need for grace).
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