Acts 15:1-29
This week read about how the infant church faced a problem that we still face today in our churches. The specific manifestation of the problem is different today, but the problem is the same. I suspect this problem will continue to face the church until the end of this age.
To understand this problem, Acts 15 needs to be read with Galatians, as there is significant over lap in topics, and Galatians helps fill in some of the details that are missing from Luke’s summary in Acts. The events leading up to this chapter played out something like this: First Paul completes his first missionary trip, and then he returns home to Antioch to rest and recover. While there the Judaizers mention in Acts 15:1 show up, and start causing trouble. Paul, Titus, Barnabas and some others head to Jerusalem to clear up the problem and along the route Paul writes the letter to the Galatians. Once in Jerusalem the meet with the Apostles and Elders and all is going well till a group stands up and says that the Gentiles must follow the Jewish Law.
That is the setup for the events of Acts 15:1-29. In this event we see several groups starting to split out. The first group is the Judaizers. This group is the ones who in Acts 15:1 state that you cannot be saved unless you are circumcised. We learn more about this group in Galatians, which was written in direct response to them and the problems they were causing in the new churches in that Paul and Barnabas had just planted there a few years earlier. This group is made up of Jews who held to the Law, and were only willing to let Gentiles in if they conformed to the Law of the Old Testament. They went as far as to say that you could not be saved unless you followed the Law and became a Jew.
Now its worth noting that Paul calls this group FALSE Brothers in Galatians 2:4. This tells us that while these Jews looked like Christians, they were not. To bring this up to modern day this group would be church members. They would be on committees, they would be active, and even tithe. They are probably there most, if not for every church activity. They are so active that everyone pretty much assumes them to be some kind of higher degree of Christian. The problem is that if they are in fact “false brothers”, then they like these Judaizers are counting on their good works to get them in to heaven, and they are not Christians. Paul because he was writing Scripture had this information revealed to him directly, so he could state that these specific men were not Christians. We need to be careful on who we label false and not, for only God really knows the heart of man. That being said, those not of Spirit will always fall back on works and then try to convince others to fall back on works as well for salvation, because the idea of Grace is alien to men.
The next group is the people mentioned in Acts 15:5. Luke makes it clear that this is a completely different group of people. Unlike the previous group, the Scripture tells us this group is in fact made up of believers. These are Christians, and that is important to note. When we compare what they said to what the prior group had said there is a subtle, but critical difference. The Judaizers said the Gentiles had to be circumcised to be saved; this group said that circumcision should be required of Gentile believers. They knew that salvation came through Jesus, but for them it was Jesus plus the Law, not Jesus alone. I think it is blatantly apparent that many good churches today struggle with this same “Jesus plus law” problem, it seems to almost be the default case.
When we look at this group we should note they are Pharisees. This means they, before coming to Jesus, were dedicated to the Law and a literal understanding of the Jewish Scripture. So what happened here is that they became Christian, but had not yet shed off all their old life.
This is very common in today’s church, and something that needs to be dealt with gently. When a person first comes to Christ there may be some big radical turn around in their life, but it is almost a given that not all of their old life will be gone. They may still cling to bad music, or bad company. Maybe they do not dress all that respectfully, or perhaps they still abuse some other privilege. In the case of the Pharisees it was strict legalism that they brought with them, but problem is basically the same. Paul calls this group “weaker brothers” instead of “false brothers”, and he tells us we are to come along side and help strengthen them, in contrast to telling us to cast out a false brother.
These two groups clash with the delegation from Antioch, and the Apostles and Elders of the Jerusalem church. The meeting is not recorded for us, but we do have their ruling. Luke records for us a summary of Peter, Paul, and Barnabas giving the supporting case, and James giving the verdict. The verdict is something of a compromise. First and foremost it dispelled the argument that the Gentiles had to keep the law, and had to be circumcised. They did however pass down some rules. These rules appear to be targeted at aiding fellowship between Christians and Jews, and are definitely not connected to salvation.
Paul will build on the lessons from council in many of his letters, but we will just look at one place for now, and visit some of the other areas in later studies. In Romans 7:1-6 Paul uses marriage as an example to teach about a modern Christian’s relationship to the Law. I am a married man, so if I were to go find some other woman to have an relationship with it would be considered adultery, and punishable by death under the Old Testament Law. However, if my wife should die, and then I was to find and marry another woman it would be fine with everyone, because my marriage to my wife would have terminated on her death. In the same sense a Christian is freed from the Old Testament Law because he participates in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. To put it a simpler way, a Christian is freed from the law by death.
Does this mean the Law is destroyed? No, it is not. Jesus by his life and death fulfilled it (Matthew 5:17) for believers, but the Law still stands for the unbeliever. The scripture clearly teaches that the Law cannot save, but it does show the need for salvation. If you were hang a picture on the wall, and want to get it straight. You would hang it, get it close then put a level on it to see if it was straight or not. The Law is like that level, it cannot make the picture straight, it can only show that the picture is not straight, and how far away from straight it is. So then the Law shows unsaved man that they are lost, and how far they are from God.
The Law also useful to Christians in that it shows us a picture of God’s standards. For example if you were to tell me that you object to requiring Christians to tithe because you do not think it goes far enough, then you would have grasped the concept of life under Grace. If you think about any law, all it really can do is punish a wrong doer. Most laws boil down to if you commit some crime you get some number of years in prison. There is no salvation or sanctification in the law, only a curse.
The point that is being made here is that all true Christians are freed form all of the Old Testament Law, and instead live as son’s of God under the Law of Grace. This does not mean that anything goes, but it does give us great freedom. Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians that the entire law is summed up with the word “Love” and later in the same letter he lists the fruit of the Spirit by telling us nine attributes, which are all attributes of Love. This is to tell us that we have been freed from the Law so that we can live a Spirit filled life of love, and when we do we will manifest the attributes that characterize the fruit of the Spirit.
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