The council at Jerusalem concerning circumcision (Acts 15) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

 The council at Jerusalem concerning circumcision (Acts 15)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

 

Scriptures reading Acts 15

 

¹ Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses you cannot be saved.” ² This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So, Paul and Barnabas were appointed along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. ³ The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. ⁴When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

⁵ 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.

⁶ The apostles and elders met to consider this question. ⁷ After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “ Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹ He made no distinction between us and them for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

¹² The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. ¹³ When they finished, James spoke up. “Brother, listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

¹⁶ “After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, ¹⁷ that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things. That have been known for ages.”

The decision

^{19 “} It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. ²¹ For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

²² Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (call Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. ²³ With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings,

²⁴ We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. ²⁵ So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul ²⁶ men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷ Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. ²⁸ It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements. ²⁹You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

The letter delivered to Antioch

³⁰ The men were sent off and went down to Antioch where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. ³¹ The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. ³²Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. ³³After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. ³⁵But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

The Second Missionary Journey to Syria and Cilicia (15:36-18:22)

The personnel chosen the problem of Barnabas

³⁶ Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing. ³⁷ Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, ³⁸But Paul did not thing it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. ³⁹ They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. ⁴⁰ But Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹He went through Syria and Cilicia. Strengthening the churches.

 

 

Verse 1 Unless you are circumcised…you cannot be saved. The problems raised by the presence of Gentiles in the church now came to a head. Peter had learned that no man should be called unclean –not even a Gentile (10:34), and the Jerusalem church had accepted the first Gentile converts on an equal basis with Jewish converts and without the necessity of being circumcised. However, the ultra-Judaistic party went on the offensive and insisted that Gentile converts be circumcised. A parallel question was also being raised: Should there be unrestricted social contact between Jewish and Gentile Christians? The Judaistic party separated themselves from those who did not follow the dietary laws and would not partake of the common meals. Chapter 15 is concerned with these two questions: Circumcision and foods (socializing). Had the division over these questions prevailed, the unity of the church would have been shattered from the start.

           With a strong purpose to exercise the Judaic influence on the Gentile believers. This is an annulling of the faith in God’s New Testament economy, and it is a real heresy. Hence, the “certain men” who taught the Christian brothers this heresy might have been those whom Paul in Gal.2:4 considered false brothers. In God’s New Testament economy, to be circumcised is to make Christ of no profit to the believers. To keep the custom of Moses, that is, to practice the outward ordinances of the law, is not only to nullify the grace of God and make Christ’s death of no effect (Gal.2:21) but also to bring the believers, whom Christ has set free, back to the slavery of law (Gal.5:1;2:4)

Verse 2 This was Paul and Barnabas’s contending for the faith (Jude 3) against one of the greatest heresies, that the truth of the gospel might remain with the believers (Gal.2:5). It was not because Jerusalem was the headquarters of God’s move, or because the church in Jerusalem was the head church controlling other churches. The Paul, Barnabas, and certain others went to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. It was because Jerusalem was the source from which the heretical teaching concerning circumcision came. In order to solve the problem and uproot the trouble, they needed to go to the source. Unlike the situation with the Roman Catholic Church, according to God’s New Testament economy there is no headquarters for God’s move on earth and no head church that controls other churches. The headquarters of God’s move in His New Testament economy is in the heavens (Rev.4:2-3; 5:1), and the One who rules over all the churches is Christ, the Head of the church (Col.1:18; Rev.2:1).

Verse 3 The going up to Jerusalem by Paul, Barnabas, and certain others was the move of the church, not the move of themselves as individuals. They did not act individualistically apart from the church, but corporately in and with the church. This was the move of the Body of Christ.

Verse 6 This was a unique conference held by the apostles of the universal church and the elders of the local church in Jerusalem. These two groups were the leading ones in the Lord’s New Testament move on earth. The conference had no chairman; the presiding One was the Spirit (v.28), the pneumatic Christ, the Head of the church (Col.1:18) and the Lord of all (10:36). Much discussion had taken place (v.7) indicates that everyone in the conference had the freedom to speak. The decision was made based on (1) the testimony shared by Peter (vv.7-11), (2) the facts related by Barnabas and Paul (v.12), and (3) the concluding word given by James (vv.13:21), who was the leading one among the apostles and elders in Jerusalem (12:17;21:18;Gal.1:19;2:9) because of the influence he exercised over the believers by his piety.

Verse 7 the Gentiles might hear from my lips. A reference to Peter’s ministry in the house of Cornelius (10:44).

Verse 9 Indicating that God does not care for outward legalistic ordinances, which cannot cleanse man’s inward being; He cares for the inward cleansing of man’s heart. This corresponds with the Lord’s emphasis in Mark 7:1-23. The cleansing of man’s hearts can be accomplished only by the Holy Spirit with the divine life, not by outward ordinances of dead letters.   

Verse 10 The yoke of the law, which was a bondage under slavery (Gal.5:1) to require people to keep the law of slavery not only enslaves people but also tests God. Even God could not and would not make man keep the law of dead letters.

Verse 11 Peter means that both Jew and Gentile will be saved through grace without the yoke of the law. This grace comprises the Lord’s person and His redemptive work (Rom.3:24). Peter and the Jewish believers were saved by this grace, not by keeping the law of Moses. As far as God’s law means nothing to either the Jews or the Gentiles.

Verse 15-17 The quotation is from the Septuagint (Greek) version of Amos 9:11-12. James specifies that the prophecy of Amos will be fulfilled after this, i.e., after the present worldwide witness. Then, after the return of Christ, the tent of David (in the millennial kingdom) will be established, and Jew and Gentile will know the Lord. James assured the council that God’s program for Israel had not been abandoned by the coming of Gentiles into the church.

Verse 19 we should not make it difficult. The clear verdict of James, as president of the council, was that Gentile converts need not be circumcised.

Verse 20 in order to promote peace between Jewish and Gentile believers, the Gentiles were asked to abstain from any practice abhorrent to Jewish Christians. The Jewish Christians would then socialize with them (1 Cor.8:13). Sexual immorality. It does not seem likely that the word means illicit sexual relations in this instance (through it does elsewhere), for this would be wrong for any Christian, Gentile or Jew. It evidently has the special meaning here of marriages contracted between too-near relatives, as forbidden in Lev.18.

Verse 21 This indicates that the concluding word given by James was still under the influence of the Mosaic law because of James’s heavy Judaic background (James 1:26; 2:10). The influence of this background remained, even at the time Paul paid his last visit to Jerusalem (21:20-26).

 Verse 39 Barnabas and Paul were men who had given up their lives for the name of the Lord (v.26), yet immediately after their victory in contending for the faith against the heresy concerning circumcision, there arose such a sharp contention between them concerning a relative of one of them that they separated from each other. The responsibility for the problem should rest with Barnabas, because after this incident he no longer appears in the divine record in Acts concerning the Lord’s move in God’s New Testament economy. The reason for his failure might have been his natural relationship with Mark, his cousin (Col.4:10), who left Barnabas and Paul in a negative way in their first ministry journey (13:13). Mark was later recovered to Paul’s ministry (2Tim.4:11; Philem.24), but Barnabas was not. Disputes that arise among the co-workers because of personal relationships are terrible! Remember this well!  They parted company. Here is an example of separation because of personality or practicality, not doctrine, and it seemed to be the only solution to the problem. God brought good out of it in that two missionary teams were sent out and Barnabas’s continued interest in John Mark rescued him from possible uselessness. (For separation on doctrinal grounds see Gal.1:8; 2 Thess. 3:14; 2 Tim.2:18;1 John2:18; 2John 10).

 Bibliography,

 

King James, The Holy Bible (KJV), Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

 Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible(NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.