ACTS: Church on Mission | Lesson 15 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points
Read Acts 15.1-35
INTRODUCTION / CONNECTIONS / CONTEXT
1/ As we ended our last two lessons, Paul and Barnabas have just returned from their first missionary outreach journey to the Gentiles [chs 13-14]. They had been gone for two years. and did they have a lot to tell! “And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples” [13.27-28]. We can only imagine what joy there must have been as Paul and Barnabas reported in gathering after gathering—recounting the many experiences they had in the cities they had ministered in. But, especially, how God had moved through them to bring so many Gentiles to salvation by faith in Christ and His Gospel!
2/ “BUT…” Note how Luke opens the next narrative in ch 15.1. Over that same time, word was filtering back to Jerusalem, and not everyone was happy that Gentiles were being saved and accepted into the faith community as equals. So, we could say that ch 15 is the consequence, follow-up, or even the ‘blowback’ from the more tradition-oriented membership of the Jerusalem church. That is our lesson now…
I / vv 1-5 | Controversy and Conflict: “Gentiles must be circumcised to be saved”
1/ v 1 / “But some men came down from Judea [Jerusalem] and were teaching the brothers [in Antioch], ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’” Herein lies the very core and pith of the Gospel: How can Gentiles be saved? Or, as we shall see, how can anyone be saved? How has anyone ever been saved? These objectors were most probably the same clique and ‘sub-party’ within the Jerusalem church who had protested Peter’s going to Cornelius [11.1-3]. We have no reason to doubt they were active members of the Jerusalem and that they were saved believers themselves. But they couldn’t relinquish the traditional rituals [circumcision] that had accompanied their faith and very identity as the people of God from the days of Abraham. But their error lies in their tying in circumcision with being saved. And that has never been the case. No believing Old Covenant believer was everjustified before God by his circumcision. Later, Paul will make the crystal clear and airtight case for the separation of physical circumcision and justification by faith, using Abraham himself as an irrefutable evidence [see Romans 4.1-12].
Brian J. Vickers makes this comprehensive assessment: “The major theological controversy in the early church is over the core issue of faith: What is required for salvation? In fact, this is the major theological issue for all times and eras: What does it mean for a person to become a Christian and part of God’s people? In this question, both the individual and the group aspects of the Christian faith come to the fore. The answer comes down to one of two ways that are absolutely incompatible. The first is basically this: to be a Christian requires faith in Jesus and something else—in this case, circumcision. The second way is this: to be a Christian requires faith in Jesus alone.” | ESV Expository Commentary. We may note that these ‘faith in Jesus + something else’ are still with us…
2/ vv 2-3 / Paul and Barnabas disputed and debated with these Jerusalem ‘circumcision party’ brothers: “And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them…” This was NOT just a difference of opinion, seeing the issue from different perspectives, or ‘agreeing to disagree.’ NO! This was the Gospel! And to add anything to faith in Christ only [Sola Fide] for salvation is to neuter and nullify the Gospel, and they weren’t having it. This demand that the Gentiles must be circumcised for the sake of maintaining the Jewish tradition must not stand! So “Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.” And, of course, as they made their way on the 300-mile journey south to Jerusalem, you know they had to stop everywhere they could along the way as “they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers”—that is, everyone except the ‘circumcision party’ Jewish brethren was rejoicing in the salvation of all peoples!
3/ vv 4-5 / So “When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.” “BUT” again “some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.’” It was not enough for the Gentiles to believe in Christ and His Gospel to be saved—they had to become Jews: be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses…all of which had been fulfilled and done away with in Christ [13.38-39]. Remember one of the primary transition movements we’re seeing in Acts is ‘The conversion of the covenants’ from Old to New.
II / vv 6-21 | A Council is convened in Jerusalem
1/ v 6 / At this point, ‘the apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.’ We don’t know how many times they convened this council or how many days they did so. We should not assume it was just one meeting—even an all-day one. Luke tells us in v 7, “After there had been much debate…” So, we can assume there was a lot of repeated ‘back and forth’ over a prolonged period of time.
2 / vv 7-18 / The rest of this section of Luke’s narrative is a summary of three core testimonies that were presented during those council proceedings: Simon Peter, Paul and Barnabas, and James [the half-brother of Jesus]. We will consider them in order as Luke narrates the themes of their testimonies…
- vv 7-11 / Simon Peter re-tells/rehearses his first encounter with Gentile Cornelius [chs 10-11]. Keep in mind that Luke is ‘compressing’ a lot of time in these chapters—Peter’s visit to Caesarea to preach the Gospel to the Gentile Cornelius was probably ten years before this present council. You would think the issue would have been settled, ‘put to bed,’ ‘off the table,’ and settled back then. But, NO! It seems that these same tradition-oriented, ‘circumcision party’ Jewish believers have been inwardly simmering ever since. And now, it had re-surfaced big-time, and their suppressed discontent is erupting and boiling over. So, Peter reminds them: “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, and He made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” There is so much to highlight and emphasize here, but let’s see if we can break it down this way: [1] God did everything in the salvation of the Gentile Cornelius, just as He has in the salvation of these latest Gentile converts. God chose Peter to witness to Cornelius; God bore witness to their salvation by giving them the Holy Spirit; God made no racial or ethnic distinction between Jew and Gentile; God cleansed their hearts from sin through faith in Christ; etc. God did it all! [2] God not only bore visible witness to His acceptance of the Gentile believers by giving them the same Holy Spirit, but He did so in the same ways He had worked among them as Jews: “just as He did to us”; “we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” [3] Salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike is only through ‘faith’ and ‘through the grace of the Lord Jesus’—nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. [4] To require the Gentiles to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved is ‘placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear.’ The historical fact is, no one has ever been able to keep the law of Moses. And you can’t pretend to keep one external ritual of the Law [circumcision] and break any other law and expect to be saved and justified and gain the favor of God by the one law you appear to have kept. As this same James will write a little later in James 2.10: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” You can’t selectively obey and keep the Law. It stands fulfilled by perfect obedience to it all or broken in the whole by even the least violation. And since the first giving of the Law, it has been an impossible and insufferable yoke to everyone who put it on. Only Christ perfectly obeyed and kept God’s Law, and therefore only faith in Christ can save and justify us before God. And it was that way in the Old Covenant also. No Old Covenant believer was ever justified by keeping the Law. They were continuously condemned in their conduct and consciences by the Law—but God provided the repeated sacrifices to cover their transgressions until Christ came to forgive them and put them away [Hebrews 10.1-4]. [5] And if you object to what God is doing, and seek to hinder these Gentiles from their simple faith in Christ, and not accept them as God has accepted them, you will do exactly what the Old Testament forefather generations did [Deuteronomy 6.16; Psalms 78.18, 41, 56; 106.14]…and what the Jews did to Jesus when they rejected and refused to accept Him and crucified Him—“why are you putting God to the test…?” To ‘put God to the test’ means that you contradict Him, disobey contrary to what He has commanded you to do, and you seek to impose your own rebellious will and judgment on Him and require Him to accept you on your terms…and not His!
- v 12 / Barnabas and Paul testify to what God has done through them among the Gentiles. “And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.” It was fitting that Peter should lead in the testimony of witnessing God’s works of grace among the Gentiles. After all, Peter was ‘one of them.’ He was their long-time trusted apostle, pastor, and leader. Even Barnabas also was one of their trusted leaders, having labored and served among them from the beginning [see 4.36-37]. Paul was still an ‘apostle come lately’ to many of them in Jerusalem. But now after Peter had ‘set the table,’ Barnabas and Paul recount their missionary ministries among the Gentiles, including the many testimonies of the apostolic ‘signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.’ After all, it was they and their recent interactions and experiences with Gentiles that had precipitated this council to begin with when the ‘circumcision party’ members of the Jerusalem church had objected. So what Paul and Barnabas are doing here is just giving additional and more expansive testimony to God’s working among the Gentiles after Peter’s introductory personal testimony.
- vv 13-18 / James presents a summary statement by linking what they have heard to prophetic Scriptures. Then it is James’s turn to speak. [Let’s remember that this is a different James than the brother of John who was martyred in ch 12.1-2. Also, in that same chapter, Peter mentions this James who had already assumed a position of influence and leadership in the Jerusalem church [12.17]. This James is a half-brother of Jesus who has come to faith in Christ as Lord, Messiah, and Savior at some point after His death and resurrection. Prior to the crucifixion, James was noted as showing signs of unbelief along with other members of his family [Luke 8.19-21; Mark 3.21; John 7.5]. Paul also called James one who seemed influential and of one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church in Galatians 2.2-9.] So James rises to speak and replies, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon [Peter] has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for His Name.” And so he re-affirms Peter’s testimony to the work of God in giving faith to the Gentiles, and adds his own “Amen!” And then he quotes Amos 9.11-12 and Isaiah 43.7 to show that what they are witnessing is what Yahweh has said He will do in their prophetic Old Testament Scriptures. This quote from Amos is so significant because it also answers the question the disciples had asked Jesus when He was commanding them to ‘go into all the world’ in ch 1.8 when they had asked Him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?” When Jesus commissioned them to ‘be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,’ it was His way of telling them, “Yes, I am restoring the Kingdom to Israel. Except that you will see that I am now the True Israel, and my Kingdom will be peopled with not just Jews and physical descendants of Abraham as before, but Israel will be the believing peoples from every nation—Jews and Gentiles also!” Jesus had ‘returned’ in His first coming to earth. ‘The tent of David’ that had ‘fallen’ with the Babylonian captivity and the dispersion that came with it will be ‘rebuilt.’ Listen now to the Amos prophecy that was being fulfilled before their very eyes—they were ‘front row’ witnesses and even participants in it! “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the LORD, and all the Gentiles who are called by my Name,’ says the LORD, who makes these things known from of old.” Everyone knew and believed that the Messiah would be the ‘Son of David’ and would reign as Eternal King as one of David’s descendants—which Jesus was! And here, the very work of God that the ‘circumcision party’ was objecting to was the very Kingdom hope they had longed for all along!
3/ vv 19-21 / Pastor James then announces what he believes to be the consensus of the apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church for the members of the Antioch church in answer to their questions: “Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God…” Meaning, “We should not discourage them, reject them, nor be requiring that they be circumcised and subscribe to the requirements of the Old Covenant Law of Moses nor Jewish customs.” But, what James does recognize is that all throughout the provinces of the Roman Empire—and particularly where the Gentile missionary outreach is expanding—there are Jewish enclaves and communities of the Diaspora residing there from the Babylonian captivity 600 years before [v 21]. And the Gentiles should take intentional measures to not unnecessarily offend them by flaunting their liberties in Christ. BUT NOTE: this is in no way a compromise or caving in to the ‘circumcision party’ or their legalistic/un-Scriptural demands; rather, it is the common sensitivities and considerations every believer should exercise toward other Christians who may have different cultural backgrounds and customs than they do. James asks the Gentiles to follow four guidelines which will foster mutual acceptance, cultivate unity, and allow the Gentile/Jewish believers to live and labor together in harmony with each other: “…but [we] should write to them [1] to abstain from the things polluted by idols, [2] and from sexual immorality, [3] and from what has been strangled, [4] and from blood.” All of these guidelines will respect the ancient traditions and customs prescribed in the Law that the Jews have scrupulously followed; they will require no burdensome yoke on the Gentiles; they will demonstrate that the Gentiles are accepting, welcoming, and respecting their Jewish brothers and sisters; AND they will in no way compromise the Gospel of faith alone in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be saved! [See Romans 15.1-7.]
III / vv 22-35 | Letter of Commendation and Encouragement from Brothers to Brothers
1/ v 22 / All of these summary conclusions from the Jerusalem council—together with the agreement of the whole church body—were written in a letter that Paul and Barnabas should take back to the Antioch church. Two of the leading men among the brothers from Jerusalem were chosen to accompany Paul and Barnabas: Judas called Barsabas, and Silas “who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth [v 27].” So now Luke introduces us to Silas, whom Paul will choose to accompany him on his next missionary journey after Paul and Barnabas have a falling out with one another [vv 36-40].
2/ vv 23-29 / The contents of the letter will repeat a kind of ‘minutes’ from the council’s deliberations and conclusions. That is what the Antioch church had asked for [v 2]. Just some observations here that were not specifically highlighted in Luke’s historical narrative before:
- {1} the Jerusalem apostles, elders, and church acknowledged that they had not commissioned or authorized the troublesome ‘circumcision party’ agitators who had gone to Antioch that had ignited this whole controversy and conflict [v 24];
- {2} what they are writing to them is the unanimous consensus of the whole Jerusalem church under the leadership of the apostles and elders [v 25];
- {3} the Jerusalem church heartily commends Paul and Barnabas for their self-sacrificing Gospel ministries [vv 25-26];
- {4} what they are counseling the Antioch church to do is in agreement with the Holy Spirit and in accordance with the authority of the prophetic Scriptures [v 28].
3/ vv 30-35 / Paul and Barnabas, accompanied by Judas and Silas, faithfully carried the Jerusalem letter back to Antioch: “So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.” Judas and Silas remained spent some time among the Antioch before returning to Jerusalem. Silas then returned to Antioch where he will later join Paul on his 2nd missionary journey.
4/ We will include the remaining paragraph of ch 15.36-41 in our next lesson…
~Dave Parks 