21 “For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
Our culture has been affected by the presence of the Gospel. That does not mean that it has become a Christian culture. On the contrary, it has picked up a superficial understanding of what the Gospel looks like when someone practices it. They know that Christians give up certain things when they become believers. In the old days people gave up smoking, chewing and dancing. Today we might say clubbing, bed-hopping and electronic relationships. These outward expressions of the work of God in a person’s life are just the outward things that happen when someone yields to the Lord. They are not the essential tenants of faith. It is like someone seeing the fireworks on the Fourth of July and saying that the meaning of the event is the celebration of the invention of fireworks instead of the birth of our nation. The Gospel is not those outward evidences, but the inward change in relationship to the Lord. As Peter is summarizing and concluding the discussion about the requirements they want to impose on non-Jewish Christians, some want to impose the whole package of outward evidences. Peter argues for the minimum. And he only argues for that minimum because it has become part of the culture at large. He wants to eliminate offending over non-important issues, issues that have been identified by the culture as being connected with obedience to the Lord. Paul argues in other places that these practices mean nothing, but Peter is making an accommodation to a particular culture. This accommodation does not change the message of the Gospel. A modern example might be having a believing man grow a beard in a culture where wise men have beards. Or having a woman cover her head in a culture where an uncovered head is offensive. Neither practice is central to the message of Jesus, but can help remove a non-essential offense so the truth of the Gospel can be presented and heard.
The Arnold Journey 