Acts 15: the council at Jerusalem
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| Photo credit: sspiehs3 | Pixabay |
The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 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 should hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.’
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Acts 15:5-11,19-21
The new church was growing and growing and people, both Jews and non-Jews ('Gentiles') were coming to trust in the Lord Jesus. But there was a problem - a question that threatened to divide the church. Should the Gentiles be required to follow the Law of Moses - i.e. all the commandments given to the Jewish people about 800 years earlier, that they had tried to keep to all these years? The conclusion was no. Gentiles did not need to 'become Jews' in order to enter the kingdom of heaven and Gentile men did not need to be circumcised. However, the apostles did advise them on some specific behaviours that they should avoid.
On some levels, the question of what is meant by 'the law of Moses' can be a complex one for scholarly debate. Paul's letters to the Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians, as well as to the Romans, deal with the matters raised in Acts 15 (probably due to the same group of people), and to the casual observer, talking about 'works' and 'the law' tends to conjure up images of moral good deeds, and we conclude that it is not these that save us, but trust in Jesus Christ. But many point out that, as is more evident in Acts 15, this is specifically about the Jewish law, and includes (or even centres on) the ceremonial, and specifically circumcision. The letter to the Galatians, Romans and Hebrews talk in greater depth about why the Jewish law specifically a temporary thing that was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus.
So what does it mean for all those passages that reassure us that it is by God's grace with have been saved, such as Ephesians 2:8-9? Does the 'grace' part just make up for me not being Jewish, and then I have to be good on top of that? In this passage in Acts, the apostles decree that the Gentiles need not be circumcised, but then list out some other things that they shouldn't do (verses 19-21).
Luckily, if we read the epistles I've mentioned, then we realise that this isn't the case. In his letter to the Romans Paul talks very much in terms of morality, and emphasises that in terms of our sinful hearts: There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-24). Paul emphasises that the ceremonial parts of the law were only ever an outward sign, and that they were therefore meaningless if people did not keep to the rest of the law - including, by implication, the large swathes of moral codes it contains. Ceremonial laws for the Jews could be described as akin to baptism with water to Christians. Anyone could be immersed in some water and say the right words, but if their heart is not for God then there is no difference between them and someone else who has not been baptised - all need the grace of the Lord Jesus.
But what does this mean for me, and others like me? I'm not Jewish, and nobody is trying to make me so. The specific teaching of what Paul refers to as 'the circumcision group' is not prevalent in my life, church or mission field.
Firstly, understanding the Old and New Covenants is useful for understanding and correctly interpreting scripture. It means that we can engage with the law given by Moses - even if some parts are hard to understand - whilst understanding our place in salvation history. As I have said, other books in the Bible deal with this in more detail and now is not the time to go into more analysis of the Law given to Moses and how we approach it.
Secondly, and more pertinent to the here and now, is that there will always be contemporary philosophies and practices, both in the church and in the secular world, that try to achieve the same thing as those who sought salvation in the ceremonial aspects of the Jewish law. I don't think (although I'm not an expert) that there is any religion, secular or not, that thinks that people can measure up to perfection. That's where all the ceremony comes in - a way of making up for our deficiencies. Some may turn to abstinence and self-punishment, others to religious ritual, but none of the ceremony will save us any more than any of the good works will save us.
Finally, there's an application which says: 'God's love is for everyone', and we are to, on no account, make it harder for people to worship. Earlier this year I wrote on John's gospel and the time that Jesus cleared the temple. What made him so angry? It was that people were putting a price on access to worship - making it harder for people. Jesus had equally angry words to say to the religious leaders who put up barriers to worship:
‘And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. Luke 11:46. ‘Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.’ (Luke 11:52)
By contrast, Jesus says:
And so in our passage, Peter reflects Jesus and says:
Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.’...‘It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. (Acts 15:10-11,19)
Some of the Jewish Christians thought they had an idea in their head of what a follow of God should look like. We may have that too, and we need to take a long hard look at ourselves in God's mirror - the Bible - to check that we are not imposing it on other people, not judging them by what they have and haven't done, but through the eyes of Jesus, who offers salvation to all who believe.
Finally, what about the list of 'do nots' at the end? They seem a rather random bunch of requirements. No sexual immorality? Fine. No eating meat with blood in it or food offered to idols? Seems like a one of the more archaic and specific Jewish laws. Actually, all the things mentioned can be linked to ceremonial and religious purity in the cultures of the time - Jewish, as well as Greek and Roman. For example, women would serve at temples as prostitutes in service to the pagan gods. Whilst some of these are never ok (like sex outside of marriage) and some only advised against due to the societal connotations (e.g. eating food that had been offered to idols - the food itself was not harmful, as Paul sets out in 1 Corinthians 8), they are the things that the fledgling church needs to avoid getting sucked into. We should be wise in protecting our faith - not being 'taken captive' by other philosophies and ceremonies, because it is in Jesus we trust, and he is enough.
Next: Acts 16: What must I do to be saved?
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