rules and choices

What’s the deal with Timothy being circumcised? It’s related here, in Acts 16:1-3: “Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”

Yesterday I read in Acts 15 about the decision of the apostles that the church shouldn’t require circumcision. They were reacting to the Judaizers who want Jewish Christians to still behave like Jews. James and the other apostles wrote a letter back to the churches letting them know that rule doesn’t apply to new Gentile believers or even Jewish ones anymore.

So now Timothy is circumcised because that would make him more acceptable to the Jews in the region. What gives?

This has me thinking about the different impact of rules and choices as we try to follow Jesus. Rules apply always and to everyone, and they enforce behavior; that’s why in general Jesus was mostly about fulfilling the laws himself so that he could give us the grace not to have to. Rules tend affect actions but not necessarily hearts.

Choices, since they are things we decided ourselves to do, tend to very much involve what’s on our hearts. And I think that’s why the choice to circumcise Timothy was a good one. It wasn’t required, so it was a way for Timothy to demonstrate his sincerity to people who might question it. It was a hard thing that better enabled him for ministry.

It’s OK and often good for us to make choices even when there aren’t rules. We can choose to fast. We can choose to kneel for prayer in a Catholic or Lutheran church. We can choose to serve foods that are compliant with Muslim and Jewish restrictions and eat them ourselves. Any of these things in the right circumstances can make us more effective witnesses.

Sometimes, though, we make choices that compromise our witness. In those cases, other Christians want to go back to rules. Rules are a natural way to limit the damage undisciplined people can do to your cause. But rules are still restrictive, and changing hearts will always do more good than enforcing behaviors.

I’m grateful this morning that I serve a Lord who leads by grace. I’m grateful that rather than holding me to a bunch of rules he encourages me to act out of the love and gratitude I have for that grace. Sure, in practice that can make things a little messy, but it’s better than being a bunch of Pharisees. And it gives us freedom to do many things to build more natural relationships with people who don’t yet believe the things we live by.