The Jerusalem Council: Peter Like Paul Preaches Salvation by Grace through Faith, Not Law (Acts 15:1-35)
Introduction: Conflict in Church
I think one reason people – particularly men – don’t want to get involved in church is conflict. Who wants to have awkward painful stand-offs? Who wants to have more debates and fights? Isn’t life is full of enough fights already? Aren’t the fights in my family enough? Isn’t my head full of problems at work? And you want to involve me in your ones at church? No thanks, my Sundays are too precious to spend on your squabbles. I want a bit of peace and quiet. So men do a runner.
Of course, there are those who just love a fight. You know the attitude. They sniff out a fight on the wind. They circle to watch for entertainment. “Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight”.
There are those of us who love controversy, the adrenelin rush, and want to beat the opponent. They turn up ready for the fight.
Two responses to conflict. Both of them destructive:
Conflict – no thanks! Flight.
Conflict - yes please! Fight.
There is a third response. This is the response that accepts conflict as a normal part of life in a fallen world. It recognizes that conflict is painful and potentially divisive, which are sorrowful things. But it sees in conflict an opportunity for growth. The serious debate gives us an opportunity. We can clarify important beliefs. We can actually come out of this conflict with more understanding, knowing what we believe, and what we don’t believe. What must we agree on? What doesn’t matter?
This was the opportunity the church had in Acts 15. Acts 15 is the church growing in and through conflict. They didn’t run from the conflict as cowards. They didn’t run into the conflict as cowboys. They came confidently to the conflict as courageous Christians, and they came away with clarified core commitments. They understood their gospel better, and then used it to clarify the gospel and encourage each other.
The Gentile Mission a success
Now the conflict that we read about was the direct result of the success of God’s mission. Does that surprise you? Conflict was the result of success. This is not what we usually think. We usually think conflict is the result of failure, the failure to keep everyone happy. If we have conflict, we think we’ve failed. But this is not the case. Jesus Christ was leading his apostles to preach to the Gentiles. And Jesus was pouring out his Spirit on them.
What have we seen in Acts chapters 9-14? There is Gentile Christian church at Antioch in Syria. Paul has preached in Damascus in Syria and the Arabian tribes (Acts 9:20; Gal 1:17), and spent 10 years ministering in Tarsus and Cilicia (Gal 1:21; Acts 9:30). There are now Gentile churches in these places. Then Paul and Barnabas planted churches on Cyprus and into Southern Galatia.
It was a great success. Sure, they were stoned and mistreated. They taught ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God’ (verse 22). But many counted the cost, became Christians, and gathered in churches.
The Conflict the Church had to have
But the success of the mission brought a challenge to the church.
Confrontation in Antioch (Acts 15:1-2; Gal 2:11-14)
Paul and Barnabas were continuing their ministry in Antioch. But during this time, they had an unexpected visit from head office in Jerusalem. These visitors were Jews from James’ church. And they directly challenged Paul and his gospel.
They said this: “Paul! He’s no apostle. And he hasn’t told you the whole gospel. That’s why we’re here. You need to be circumcised. You need to obey the law of Moses. To be saved, it is faith in Jesus’ death + obeying the law of Moses. No obedience to the law of Moses, no salvation.”
The Conflict spreads to Galatia: Galatians
These men were the equivalent of religious stalkers. They were retracing the earlier steps Paul had taken in his missions. They were going to the churches Paul planted, and challenged Paul’s claim to be an apostle. They were bullying Paul’s converts into circumcision. No wonder Luke says that Paul and Barnabas had sharp dispute and debate with them (Acts 15:2).
The Protagonists
So in the Red Corner, we have ‘some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees’ (Acts 15,2,5; Compare Gal 1:7; 2:4,12; 4:10,17; 5:2-4,11-12; 6:12-13) That’s Luke’s polite name for them. Paul calls them harsher names: troublers, false brothers, infiltrators, he wishes they would emasculate themselves.
Their gospel is this: Acts Chapter 15 verse 1:
"Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." (NIV)
Again, verse 5:
"The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses." (NIV)
Their case, simply put, is ‘No circumcision, no heaven’. If you don’t keep the law of Moses, you’re going to hell. Faith in Jesus and his death won’t save you.
In the Blue Corner, we have Paul & Barnabas. What is their position?[1] Simply put, It is faith in Jesus alone that saves, without works of the law. Galatians 2:15-16:
"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ." (Galatians 2:15-16 NIV)[2]
Paul is saying that if Christians believe they MUST get circumcised, they don’t understand the gospel. They are not yet Christian. They’re going to hell. It’s as serious as that. They have to earn their salvation, because they say Jesus died for nothing. Paul is saying that it is faith alone in Jesus that saves. And if you add anything to it, it stops being faith in Jesus, and doesn’t save.
So we have this gospel equation:
Where ‘Gospel’ = ‘Trusting Jesus and his death for salvation’
Gospel + Nothing = Salvation
BUT
Gospel + Anything = No Gospel and No Salvation
This is a real disagreement. There are disagreements where you can agree to disagree. But this is not one of them. This is a disagreement about how we get to heaven. Either faith in Jesus’ death alone saves, OR we have to keep the law of Moses as well.
The Resolution
The good news is that there is a very clear resolution of this matter. The verdict falls on one side. And we find the verdict in Peter’s speech (Acts 15:7-11).
Peter’s verdict (Acts 15:7-11)
Peter comes down unreservedly on the side of Paul. He has two arguments, and both are arguments from experience. And then he comes to his conclusion.
Argument 1: God gave his Holy Spirit to Gentiles (verses 8-9)
His first argument is that God has obviously given his Holy Spirit to Gentiles. We saw that with Cornelius. So he says, verse 8, God has accepted the Gentiles. They believed in Jesus Christ. They manifestly received the Holy Spirit, shown in other languages. Verse 9. God purified their hearts by faith. God did it. We saw it. Gentiles are accepted by God without circumcision.
Argument 2: We can’t keep the law (verse 10)
And the second is that we haven’t been able to keep the law. In verse 10, Peter chastises the Circumcision party.
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?
(Acts 15:10 NIV)
The law of Moses is an unbearable yoke for salvation. None of us have kept it. If you say we’re saved by the law, we have to keep it all. And we haven’t done it. We cannot do it. The law just shows us that we Jews are sinners needing saving, too.
Therefore, salvation is by grace of Christ through faith (verse 11)
And so his concluding sentence, the high point of the chapter, is verse 11. But there is another translation that I think captures the original better[3]. It’s found in the CEV, which we use in School Scripture:
But our Lord Jesus Christ was kind to us, and we are saved by faith in him, just as the Gentiles are. (Acts 15:11 CEV)
By the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe to be saved[4]. This salvation by faith is also taught in Ephesians.
For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no-one can boast.
(Ephesians 2:9 NIV)
In other words, Peter completely agrees with Paul. We are justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the law, for by works of the law no-one will be justified.
Paul was right, the circumcision party were wrong. We are saved by trusting Jesus and his cross.
BUT if we add anything to trusting Jesus and his cross, we aren’t trusting Jesus and his cross anymore. See our gospel equation again.
Where ‘Gospel’ = ‘Trusting Jesus and his death for salvation’
Gospel + Nothing = Salvation
BUT
Gospel + Anything = No Gospel and No Salvation
Most of us wouldn’t add circumcision to the gospel. We might be tempted to add our Christian practises, like water baptism or confirmation or serve on parish council or teaching Scripture or doing the church gardening or preaching or leading bible studies, or reading the bible at home each day. All these things are good. All of them I would encourage every Christian person to do, if they are able to. But none of them save us. Only Jesus and his death saves us.
And the moment we begin to add these good things to the gospel, we are trusting the things that we do. The gospel says, ‘Not do, but done’. ‘Not do, but done, by Jesus.’
If you feel you are further from God because you skipped your bible reading this morning, or havent’t prayed enough, what are you trusting to bring you close to God? Your bible reading? Your prayers? But you can’t get any closer to God than you already are through Jesus Christ. It is Jesus and his death that brings us close to God, not our bible reading or how often we pray, as good and helpful and important as all that is.
The Implementation
While Paul made the arguments, and Peter made the decision, it is James who implements the decision. James’ judgment is important because of what it doesn’t say. James does not impose circumcision or the law of Moses on the Gentiles. That is very clear.
But he does want the Gentile Christians to avoid some things. Verses 19 to 20:
"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols [literally, the pollution of idolatry], from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. (Acts 15:19-20 NIV)
Here are some strange commandments to our ears. Lots of places in the New Testament talk about avoiding sexual immorality and idols. We are elsewhere told to flee idolatry and sexual immorality.
But what about strangled meat, and blood? Isn’t all food clean now, after Peter's vision? Does James' letter mean that we Christians cannot eat black pudding (which is made out of blood) and medium rare steaks? Do we have to investigate what method of slaughter is used in the abattoir, like the Muslims? Do we have to avoid human blood transfusions, as the Jehovah’s Witness teach?
I don't think so.
I think we need to look at the two earlier commands differently from the two later commands.
I think the first item is a heading for the rest, and it is not just about 'food sacrificed to idols', as in the NIV, but the 'pollution of idolatry'. The main problem for James is the idolatry that was rife in Graeco-Roman cities. All of the things listed occurred in pagan temples, and all were part of ‘the pollution of idolatry’. So James is saying, since the Gentiles are turning to the true God, they need to break with false worship in the pagan temples. And this is what the gospel requires of each of us; a complete break with idolatry and sexual immorality.
But I don't think it means we have to investigate the method of slaughter of our meat, or how much we cook our steaks, because all food is clean, as we saw with Peter and Cornelius. These later two commandments, about meat and blood, were added to the first because they were offensive to Jews and part and parcel of pagan worship at the time. These two later commands, I believe, are given for the same reason that Paul circumcises Timothy. Because there is another important principal. Not only do the Gentile Christians have to live godly lives (by avoiding sexual immorality and idolatry), but they must give the Jews in each pagan city no cause for complaint (verse 21).
Even Paul did this. For later, even though he didn’t have to, he circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3). He didn’t want to cause unnecessary offence.
The Outcome
The events in Acts 15 have shaped Christianity as we know it. For Peter and James had recognized that Paul’s gospel was the true gospel.
Perhaps some of the circumcision party did repent. However, Church history tells us there a group remarkably like the circumcision group. They were called the Ebionites. They called Paul an apostate to the law and rejected his letters. They only used Matthew’s Gospel. They circumcised themselves. And in the end they didn’t believe that Jesus was God.
You can see the need for speaking the truth in love. Saying yes to the gospel means saying not to the alternatives. Not just saying ‘We believe this’. But also saying ‘We don’t believe this’. The church recognized ‘We are saved by grace through faith’. And this meant, ‘we are not saved by the law of Moses or circumcision’. Salvation is not Do but Done by Jesus.
Conclusion
There’s two challenges I want us to take away from todays passage.
First, are you sure about what the gospel is? Religious rituals are not the gospel – whether they are baptism or circumcision or Lord’s Supper. Keeping the Law of Moses – no matter how good it is – is not the gospel. The 10 commandments, as good as they are, are not the gospel. Being good, living the good life, doing good works, is not the gospel. It is good. It is not the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus is Lord and Saviour who saves us when we trust in his death and resurrection.
And second, conflict is inevitable this side of glory. There will be conflict, so get used to it.
Some conflict is over salvation. And we need like Paul and Barnabas to engage in sharp dispute and debate. We must be prepared to separate.
Some conflict is over important issues but not salvation. And the reality is that this side of glory, there is separation. We will see that next week with Paul and Barnabas. And all conflict, while painful, is an opportunity to clarify understandings, work out what matters matter and what matters don’t matter. For God works all things for the good of those who love God.
Let’s pray.
[1] Galatians 2:15-16, 21, 3:2; 3:9,10-14; 18; 3:22, 26-29; 5:5-6; 6:14-15
[2] Again, Galatians 2:21: I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (NIV) Again, Galatians 5:2-4: 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. (NIV)
[3] Most EVV translate the Aorist Passive Infinitive as a future: ‘We believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus we will be saved’. However, the commentators are increasingly (and in my view rightly) questioning this translation. Barrett notes that the connection between 'through the grace' and 'we believe' is ‘not impossible’: 2:720. Williams says ‘so as to be saved’ is an alternative translation of the aorist infinitive: Williams, 181. More strongly, Marshall says: ‘Jews have to believe in order to be saved through the grace of God, (cf GNB, ‘we believe and are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus’), in exactly the same way as Gentiles; the RSV translation we believe that we shall be saved (verse 11) is misleading, since Peter is talking about the kind of faith in God that leads to salvation (cf verse 7)’: 250. Likewise, L T Johnson translates ‘we are believing in order to be saved’ and says: ‘The construction of the Greek sentence is awkward and leads to several possible construals…. the infinitive sothenai can function as easily as a purpose clause as it can the equivalent of a future indicative, “we shall be saved.” The advantage of the present translation is that it makes explicit the connection between faith and salvation that Luke has been developing [e.g. 14:9]…’: L T Johnson, Acts: Sacra Pagina, 263. Most recently, D G Peterson translates it ‘through the grace of the Lord Jesus we believe in order to be saved, just as they’ and says, ‘The infinitive sothenai in this context is best read as a purpose clause (‘in order to be saved, just as they do’)’: Peterson, Acts: Pillar, 427 and fn 30. Also supporting this translation is the CEV, GNB, the Douay-Rheims, the Geneva Bible and Young’s Literal Translation.
[4] Peterson comments, ‘Whenever and wherever the gospel of God’s grace is preached, God himself enables belief and sends his Spirit upon those whom he chooses (cf 13:48 note). Faith itself is of the Lord’s gracious appointment': Peterson, Acts: Pillar, 427