Yesterday we learned that some of the Jewish Christians were advising the Gentile Christians that they had to be circumcised to be saved. Circumcision meant a man was obligated to keep the whole law (Galatians 5:3), so in essence the Gentiles were being told that their faith in Christ wasn't enough to save them. Paul and Barnabas fiercely debated this issue with the visitors from Jerusalem. As a result, the church at Antioch decided to send Paul and Barnabas along with other believers to Jerusalem to settle the matter with the apostles and elders.
"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." (Acts 15:3) These men believe in sharing good news wherever they go. I wonder how much more positive our attitudes would be if we got up every morning with the intention of saying something good to everyone we come in contact with. That's what Paul and Barnabas did and I think that's one reason we always find them with joyful hearts.
"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. 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.'" (Acts 15:4-5) The Pharisees, as the strictest religious group in Judea, are finding it difficult to understand and accept the freedom they now have in Christ.
"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 might 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 the 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.'" (Acts 15:6-11) Peter asks, "Have any of you been able to perfectly keep the law? Have I? No, neither we nor our ancestors were able to perfectly keep the law. It is through faith in Jesus Christ, the holy Son of God who did perfectly keep the law, that we have salvation."
"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. When they finished, James spoke up, 'Brothers,' he said, 'listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for His name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear My name, says the Lord, who does these things---things known from long ago.'" (Acts 15:12-18) This is James the brother of Jesus, a leader in the Jerusalem church. He points out that no one should be surprised that God has called the Gentiles into His family. God declared through the prophets that He would. God keeps His word.
James concludes, "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, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath." (Acts 15:19-21) Because the Jewish believers are exceedingly familiar with the laws of Moses, having heard them in the synagogues on every Sabbath, they find it difficult to socialize with Gentiles who don't observe the same dietary laws. This is standing in the way of true fellowship between the two groups because they can't break break together if the Gentiles are offending the Jews with unclean foods. So James, in order to foster unity in the church, advises the Gentiles not to serve anything that their Jewish brothers and sisters cannot eat with a clear conscience. In addition, the Gentiles up til now had engaged in fertility cults that included sexual immorality, plus they thought little of adultery or divorce. Such lax moral attitudes were standing in the way of true friendship with the Jews, so James says now that the Gentiles are in Christ they must live in a way that honors Christ. If they want to honor Christ they must honor the institution of marriage. If they want to honor Christ they must treat their wives and children in a way that maintains stability and security in the home.
The law of Moses was a good thing. The Apostle Paul will say in his letter to the Galatians that the law showed mankind his need for Christ. No man could keep the law. No man could earn salvation by his works. The law therefore pointed forward to the coming of Christ who would perfectly keep every point of the law and whose sacrifice would be enough to save us by our faith in Him. Paul says, "Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian." (Galatians 3:23-25) The law, like a guardian hired to take a young man to religious school and back every day, taught its hearers that no man could perfectly keep the law. It taught its hearers that man is sinful and needs a Savior. In other words, the law was the guardian that led its hearers safely home to Christ.
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