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B - The Apostolic Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-35)
ACTS 15:1-5
1 Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.” 2 Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. 3 They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers. 4 When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them. 5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
Sometimes the devil appears as a godly being, teaching men to keep the law, as if they could gain, in addition to Christ’s forgiveness, a special holiness. It is as if justification by His blood and grace, as the foundation of our life with God, are not sufficient. Some strict Pharisee converts came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and there disturbed the peace and harmony of the Antioch church. They asked to be given the right to teach in the meetings so that they might lead the believers to a further fullness of salvation. They claimed that the blood of Christ was not sufficient for redeeming the believers, who also needed to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses. God, as a token of His covenant, had commanded this. They claimed that all of the law had been given by inspiration of God, and that he who did not precisely keep the law would be condemned.
Paul and Barnabas were filled with holy indignation. The latter had already been to Jerusalem to investigate. Both apostles emphasized, with all frankness, that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers, according to their experiences in the cities of Asia Minor, did not depend on the new believers keeping or knowing the law. Salvation is bestowed by grace, and not as a result of our keeping the law. The Pharisee converts of Jerusalem, however, demanded unconditional submission to the revelation of the Old Testament. Paul, however, made it clear that God had declared a new law in Christ. He had fulfilled for us the old law with it´s holy demands and admitted us into the age of grace.
As a result of this conflict, a violent spiritual struggle broke out in the church. New believers were disturbed, for both parties had based their claim to truth upon the Law. Consequently, as has since happened at various times in church history, the church members asked that a council be assembled, which purpose was to discern the will of God through the apostles, elders, and those mature in the faith.
Accordingly, Paul and Barnabas, in the name of the Antioch Church, travelled to Lebanon by sea, and there visited the brethren in the coastal towns. On this occasion we read for the first time that Christian churches had been founded in Lebanon, and that many individuals had entered into everlasting life. These brethren greatly rejoiced when they heard how God had called foreign idolaters into covenant with Him, without the rite of circumcision or the works of the law. These believers felt great joy, for the Phoenicians were men who had journeyed and discovered much. They knew that the Jewish religion, with all its legal judgments, could not convert the world. They immediately grasped an understanding of grace and magnified Jesus for the freedom in the Holy Spirit, freedom that had shone to a new generation.
In the region of Samaria travelers also testified to the wonders of the work of God. The news about recent spiritual experiences encouraged the believers, and guided them to offer themselves determinedly to spread the salvation of Christ to the whole world.
When the two apostles arrived in Jerusalem the believers, along with the rest of the apostles and elders, raced to receive them. They all felt the importance of this meeting, for the newcomers were the first delegation to come from outside of Palestine. They asked for decision and clarification about issues of the faith. Saul, the one-time legal expert, humbled himself. In the name of the church at Antioch he asked for confirmation of his teaching about grace. This time the whole church of Jerusalem eyed the former enemy whom God had chosen as an apostle for the salvation of the nations.
The sessions did not begin with an analyzing of doctrinal principles. Instead, the hearers first heard a report of the experiences of Barnabas and Paul, and how Christ had founded many churches in Syria and Asia Minor through their ministry. The Lord’s triumph entered the minds of all the hearers, and none of them could deny the miracle of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles. The testimony of the respected, prudent Barnabas, in particular, impressed the audience at Jerusalem, for he had already been known and sent out by them.
When the Antioch delegation finished their suggestions some of the believers, who had in the past been strict Pharisees, stood up. In spite of their belief in Christ, they had not died to self-trust. They demanded that Gentile believers not only be circumcised, but also submit to the whole law. With such a demand these fanatic Pharisees, who rejoiced at Christ´s triumph, showed they were not opposed to preaching to the Gentiles. They only zealously demanded that the new converts become Judaized, lest a new covenant be raised up beside the Covenant of Moses. By this demand they placed the works of Jesus, the Son of God, at the same level as the works of Moses, the prophet of God. In so doing they showed their complete misunderstanding of the New Covenant, with its freedom from the law, whose fulfillment had been manifested in the complete love of God.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus, open our eyes that we may see You, and recognize the greatness of Your love, so that we may not believe in ourselves, or hold fast to our weak power, but depend on Your triumph alone. Help us read and understand the Holy Bible through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and become faithful to Your New Covenant, which is revealed in your Holy Gospel.
QUESTION:
- Why did the church at Antioch decide not to solve its problem by itself, but asked the apostles at Jerusalem to find a final solution for it?