Called to Reach the World
“Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ ” – Galatians 3:8 In Jesus’ day, the idea of holiness had become very important to the Jewish people. Babylonian exile and captivity experienced by the Jews five hundred years earlier due to embracing pagan practices caused them to build a fence around the Torah. This meant that you obeyed the law perfectly and never violated it. For first-century Jews, many lived out holiness by following rules and legalism, but were bereft of blessing others. So much of the heart to reach people had been lost because they were afraid to fall out of God’s favor and into captivity once again. During this time, I think there was this huge separation between God’s people and those outside of their culture they were intended to reach.
