Acts 15:1-35
The Council at Jerusalem
1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “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 believers very glad. 4 When 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 keep 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 did not discriminate 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 Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors 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 signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 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 rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’—
18 things known from long ago.
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 the law of 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 (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 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: 29 You 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.
30 So 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. 32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. 33 After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. [34] 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.
Luke talks about in his book, the Acts of the Apostles, about threats the early followers were facing and how their fellowship was of great importance...These threats were similar to racial threats, and how other people are different...God and His Son led the early leaders of the gospel in a loving and kind way...As the gospel of Jesus spread, the Jews were seeing more and more Gentiles coming into the religion...The addition of these new "outside" followers and believers was addressed by Paul and Barnabas to the new Jerusalem Council...Should one become more Jewish to be a believer and must they be circumcised as were the Jewish believers...
By having a new Jerusalem Council, they helped provide a basis for the first new believers from outside the Jewish community...The early church leaders, dealt with the question of racial division for the first time in the new and early Christianity Group...So that is what set out to be the importance of the Jerusalem Council...How do you let someone or some group in your group or religion that has a different culture, different ways, and to people who just look different and do different things than you do?...Is it possible others will accept them?...So they Council could either make it easy for new followers or they could try to keep them out...Some believers believed and said believers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved."...
With Peter and James, Brother of Jesus, leading the Jerusalem Council talks -their words were very much needed and people wanted to hear what they had to say...They knew as did other followers of Jesus that He had given instruction in the book of Acts that the Disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them; and they would will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to all the ends of the earth...Peter had a great lesson about a Gentile...He had entered the house, of a man named Cornelius after Jesus' death....Cornelius met Peter and fell at his feet in reverence...But Peter made him get up...“Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”...While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people...Peter said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile...But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean...Peter and all Jesus' Disciples knew of the Great Commission where He told them after His death that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him...Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded them...Surely Jesus would be with them always, even to the very end of the ages...So the Disciples and His followers were to teach and tell all in the world about the Good News and the Gospel of Jesus...
And to add to this on his way to Damascus, Jesus had told a man named Saul that he would be His chosen instrument to proclaim His name to the Gentiles...And so Paul did it and quickly got a large following of Gentiles to be followers of Jesus...Paul and Peter and James would work together to help others get to know the gospel easier...How could this group of Apostles teach others about Jesus, if they themselves could not accept those considered outside, impure, and unclean, and knew little of Moses?...It was the opinion of James and in his best judgment that they should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who were turning to God...
There were objection in letting Gentiles learn the gospel...There was controversy in letting these new groups into the Christianity fellowship...The stakes were high but the Jerusalem Council decided on making it easy to become a Gentile Christian and they would take them into their fold and fellowship...This was a defining moment to spread the gospel and to start the Great Commission and to go to the ends of the earth to let people learn of the Gospel of Jesus Christ...They would begin to let "different" people into the new religion of Christianity...
God is LOVE...And LOVE is an inclusionary, sharing, togetherness experience...And God wants us to share together, live together, and live among each other in a loving way...God does not want us to make it difficult to learn about Him and His Son...Let us love one another...