45 practice upon which the Preterist view has a beneficial impact, it would still be worth the switch. But futurism creates many more moral, ethical, and spiritual problems besides that one. Just think how much it would clean up Christianity in the eyes of the watching world if the Preterist worldview could be applied by the overwhelming majority of Christians worldwide. I presented a paper at the Evangelical Theological Society on this very subject (Eschatology Ethics). It is available as a PDF lesson outline. Simply email me and request it (preterist1@preterist.org). It was here at Caesarea that Paul and his companions “stayed for some days” before going up to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. While they were there, a prophet from Judea came and took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “This is what the Jews in Jerusalem are going to do to the man who owns this belt. They will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles” (Acts 21:11). When the church there and Paul’s companions heard that, they began begging Paul not to go to Jerusalem. But Paul was steadfastly resigned to facing whatever awaited him at Jerusalem. Evidently there was a significant group of Christians there in Caesarea, since we see some of them travel in caravan with Paul to the feast (Acts 21:1516). This third missionary journey of Paul lasted about four years from start to finish (Spring of AD 54 until Summer of 58).
June 58 – Paul arrived in Jerusalem and met with James
and all the elders. Paul related all the wonderful things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. Then the elders of the Jerusalem church told Paul that he had been accused of teaching Jews in the Diaspora to forsake Moses, and not to circumcise their children, nor walk according to the customs. Did you ever wonder why Paul did not agree with his accusers, and say, “Yeah, that is exactly what I am teaching, and all of you Jewish Christians here in Judea should be doing the same thing.” Why does Paul deny their accusations, instead of agreeing with them? How can Paul present sacrifices in the Temple here in AD 58, which is almost thirty years after the first Pentecost? Doesn’t this violate the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ on the Cross? Why are these Jewish Christians and Paul still sacrificing in the Temple? This whole controversy points us back to what Jesus said in Matt. 5:17-20. There is no doubt that the Cross was the once-for-all sacrifice for sin. If Jewish Christians were still sacrificing thinking that they were getting some kind of forgiveness or justification from it, they were sadly mistaken. From the books of Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Hebrews, it is crystal clear that the Law had no power to justify in the first place. It was merely a tutor to lead them to Christ where the real justification was. So, why did the Jewish Christians continue sacrificing? Let’s suppose you were an unbelieving Jew in AD 58 while the Temple was still standing in Jerusalem. Would you listen to a Gentile who was trying to preach the gospel to you? Would you even listen to a fellow Jew who was breaking the Law of the land by not keeping the jots and tittles? Nope to both questions. This is why Jesus told them to keep every jot and tittle better than the scribes and Pharisees, so that their fellow unbelieving Jews would listen to them preaching the gospel. Their scrupulous law-keeping gave good testimony to their righteousness, and earned them a hearing. The Jews wanted to know what it was about Christianity that made Jewish Christians better Law-keepers than they were. This law-keeping by Jewish Christians “adorned the gospel” and made it attractive to the Jews. Jesus had commanded them to keep the jots and tittles for that very reason, so the gospel would not be hindered by their bad law-breaking example. The apostles all knew this principle, that Jewish Christians needed to continue keeping the Law until it was all fulfilled and passed away at the destruction of Jerusalem. They became all things to all men, in order that more would be converted. They did not bind the Law on Gentiles, since it was destined to pass away soon, but until it passed away the Jewish Christians needed to keep it in order to attract as many
