“And the law shall go forth from Zion”. Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:2 Here is the sounding of the death knell for any denomination. Since no denomination even CLAIMS to have started in Jerusalem, without any other argument offered, this one argument dismisses all the claims they could ever have for being the original church Jesus started!! How important is this claim to have begun in Jerusalem? In the book of Galatians we have Paul and Peter at odds as to the doctrine of circumcision. Galatians 2:1-21 There was a sect of the Lord’s church that tried to make physical circumcision a part of the plan of salvation. Their doctrine was ‘he that believeth, is baptized, and physically circumcised, shall be saved’. They wanted physical circumcision a part of the preaching of the New Testament Church so the Jew would leave them alone, thinking the Church of Christ to be just another sect of Judaism!! This would cause the Jews not to take a stand against the Lord’s Church. This was intended to be taught in every Gentile congregation the apostle Paul had started.
Peter, the first apostle to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised Gentile, had not had them physically circumcised. Galatia had predominately Gentile members. Peter had been worshipping with the Church of Christ at Galatia where most of the male membership was Gentile. Suddenly, a group of the brethren came from Jerusalem preaching this new doctrine. They must have had a lot of power behind them for when they came Peter dis-associated himself from the Gentile brethren making pretense that he agreed with their doctrine. When the apostle Paul saw the hypocrisy of Simon Peter, he “withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.” Galatians 2:11 If this had been allowed, the gospel of Christ would have lost the support of Deity!! PHYSICAL CIRCUMSISM, YOU SEE, WAS THE SIGN Christ gave Abraham that would cause every male born of his seed to remember and know that the promise Christ had given Abraham was true and genuine. If physical circumcism was still demanded that would mean the Messiah had not yet come. If not, why not: if the Messiah had come the reason for physical circumcism was over!
For some strange reason (unknown to those who do not study the scriptures) Paul and Peter were directed to return to Jerusalem. The why was not given in Galatians. Jesus had directed while here with the disciples; “if any of you disagree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 18:20 This makes it rough of Peter being the first Pope, but Jesus had foreseen problems arising and directed how to resolve them!! Coupled with His directive that all new doctrine was to be preached FIRST in Jerusalem, to let this go and not be stopped, this would not only be a NEW doctrine, but a contrary doctrine. This was taken in hand, the Holy Spirit ‘bade Paul and Peter to return to Jerusalem’ for what was the ONLY council to ever be held under the auspicious of the Holy Spirit. There could be no others, the apostles were dead and gone and they alone had the seat on Thrones to rule and judge-legislate-hand down and bind upon mankind, for the Master!! Matthew 19:28
Now, in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit takes charge, Acts 15, and Peter, Paul, and the whole church gets a letter, handwritten by James the step-brother of Christ, solving the whole problem. Those “angels from heaven” (Jews who were teaching something other that what the apostles taught) were soundly defeated in promoting error as truth. Any NEW doctrine had to be first preached in Jerusalem. Denominationalism has NEVER BEEN taught, first in Jerusalem, it was first preached where it began!!
