Sabbath School Today, Volume 9 - Paul E. Penno

the law" had merit.
"It is a grave mistake on the part of those who are children of God to
seek to bridge the gulf that separates the children of light from the children
of darkness by yielding principle, by compromising the truth." [2]
Even though the early church, under the power of the Holy Spirit's work
on their hearts, in its first "general conference" session in Jerusalem, had
come to a consensus on the issue of the "how" of salvation-through faith
alone (see Acts 15:20-29), it remained a major point of dissension between
the Jewish and Gentile believers. The Jewish followers of Jesus had been
admonished to not put the burden of circumcision (or any "works") upon the
Gentile converts.
Ancient Egyptians, Ethiopians, Syrians, and Phoenicians all practiced
circumcision. Why did God command Abraham to circumcise the males in
his household? The purpose of God was not to mimic the pagans, but to put a
spiritual purpose on a common practice. God's intent was to forever remind
Abraham and his descendants that the works of the flesh can not fulfill the
promise of God, and in fact, will produce only more unrighteousness.
Abraham listened to Sarah and thought he could produce the "child of
promise" through a slave woman. Just as his descendants did at Sinai when
they thought that through their own efforts they could do "all the Lord
commanded," Abraham rashly took the whole responsibility upon himself to
produce the child of promise. That one miscalculation resulted in a disaster
that we are still experiencing to this day.
From the entrance of sin into this world, for the most part, mankind has
depended upon "self" to create a shield from sin's results. Adam's nakedness
was covered with the work of his own hands in fashioning a fig-leaf garment.
Cain thought that the works of his hands in tilling the soil should have been
sufficient as a sin offering. Abraham thought that he was man enough to
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