Ok, so this doesn't have anything to do with today's reading, but you don't get anything really useful when you google "Christian Pharisee." It just comes out being Pharisee. Hmmm, makes sense really.
In Antioch in the region of Pisidian, the Gentiles seem to receive the good news better than the Jews. It's almost an inherent truth in life that the outsider is more open than those closer to a thing. So it is true here.
In Jerusalem, the question of the moment is whether the Gentile Jews need to be circumcised and follow the law. Note that it is some of the Pharisee believers that push this requirement:
"Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, 'The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.'" Acts 15:5
"Believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees" - we don't become Christians without some baggage. And the Pharisees bring to their Christianity a bit of their law-conscious rage for correctness. It seems religion has always been plagued by a rage for correctness which I don't think should be confused by a rage for God-likeness or closeness to God.
Lord knows.
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