Verse by Verse

Have you ever heard the term primitive Christianity? Usually, when something is labeled primitive, we think of it as being very basic, something that may be crude and poorly formed, like a lean to or a rough log cabin. Actually, the word primarily refers to something in its earliest stages of development, something in its original form. Primitive Christianity refers to the way Christianity was practiced by the very first believers, those 1st century Christians who were taught directly by Jesus Christ and the original apostles. Anyone who's tried to compare the beliefs and practices of those first Christians with what is called Christianity today would quickly recognize that there is a huge difference between the two.

In fact, if Jesus were to return to earth today, he would have trouble even recognizing the religion that claims to bear his name. The passage we wanna consider in today's episode is a good illustration of this fact as it describes an event important to the apostle Paul, something Luke, the author of Acts, recorded and something all the 1st century Christians would have understood. However, if we ask most churchgoers today about it, they might recognize the title or connect it with an event 2000 years ago, but they would have little or no idea what it was or why it mattered to Paul or whether it should matter to us. To set the stage, Paul had spent 3 years in Ephesus in the Roman province of Asia, on the western edge of what we know today as the nation of Turkey. From there, he traveled a relatively short distance to ancient Macedonia and Greece, where he had spent the winter in Corinth and was headed back to Jerusalem with a special collection to help the needy believers in Judea.

Acts 20 verse 6 tells us he stopped at the Macedonian city of Philippi to celebrate an ancient festival called the Days of Unleavened Bread, along with the Christians who were there. That brings us to today's passage, Acts 20, verse 16. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. Scripture tells us there were approximately 7 weeks between the days of unleavened bread and Pentecost. Because of that, the old testament refers to this festival as the feast of weeks.

The name Pentecost comes from the Greek and refers to counting the 50 days, 7 weeks plus one day, leading up to this sacred festival. A few verses later, we're told that Paul asked the church elders from Ephesus to meet him briefly in the port city of Milita so he could speak with them one more time before continuing his journey to Jerusalem. The history is interesting, and Paul's instructions to the elders were sobering and important. But we must not overlook the rest of what verse 16 tells us. For Paul, this ancient festival, Pentecost, was so important that he set aside other critical matters so he could be sure to be in Jerusalem in time to observe it.

Scripture is abundantly clear that those early Christians followed the example of Jesus Christ and his apostles by continuing to observe the entire series of annual holy days as God had instructed. Scripture describes Jesus keeping the Passover in the Feast of Tabernacles. We just saw that Paul had observed the days of unleavened bread and planned to keep Pentecost. In 1 Corinthians, he wrote a great deal about keeping the annual Passover. And near the end of the book of acts, Luke wrote of the fast, which all commentators recognize as a reference to the day of atonement.

The day of atonement is so important in the book of Hebrews that you really can't understand the book properly without understanding that celebration. What does all that mean for us? If those who were taught by Jesus and his disciples continued to meet and worship on those days, why don't Christians today do that? Are there Christians today who still believe in observing these days just like those 1st century Christians did? Are there people today who believe that primitive Christianity is still the right way to live?

If you'd like to know more, the life hope and truth website offers a series of short videos on the feasts of the Lord. The show notes for this podcast episode will show you how to find them. And join us again next time as we continue to explore God's sacred word verse by verse.

Verse by Verse is a companion podcast to the daily bible verse blog, which you can find on the Life, Hope and Truth Learning Center. Check out the show notes for more.