Jesus broke down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles, uniting them into one new man. And not only in the church: Jews and Gentile who did not accept Jesus also joined into one unit, defending the old ways, especially sacrifice.
For instance, this from the Martyrdom of Polycarp 12:2: “When this was proclaimed by the herald, the whole multitude both of Gentiles and of Jews who dwelt in Smyrna cried out with ungovernable wrath and with a loud shout, ‘This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the puller down of our gods, who teaches numbers not to sacrifice nor worship.’ Saying these things, they shouted aloud and asked the Asiarch Philip to let a lion loose upon Polycarp. But he said that it was not lawful for him, since he had brought the sports to a close.”
Dear Reader,
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