What did the believing Pharisees require of the Gentile converts?
Believing Pharisees required Gentile converts to be circumcised and to keep the Law, insisting that faith in Paul’s Gospel alone was not enough for salvation. They commanded these Gentile believers to submit to circumcision and Law-keeping, teaching that without these additions they could not be saved.
Les explains that these were believing Pharisees who had embraced Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, not the hypocritical whited sepulchers. They said it was needful to circumcise the Gentile converts, but they did not stop there. They also demanded that these Gentile believers of Paul’s Gospel, which is based on faith alone, must keep the Law, or they could not be saved. This became the bone of contention between the Jerusalem Jewish believers and the Gentile converts. Les warns that the same demands persist today: people say they believe the Gospel, but claim it is not enough alone.