Pod Prep : 2-15-19
Understanding the First Church Doctrinal Council; How Did it Limit Gentiles Obedience?
THE ACTS 15 MEETING IS CRUCIAL FOR NEW TESTAMENT UNDERSTANDING
One cannot fully understand the Epistles of Paul without correctly digesting the findings of this, vital to Christian growth, conference in Jerusalem. The home church for evangelizing, Antioch, did not circumcise. Bad teachers came later and insisted that all these gentile converts could not have full or equal standing in the church. Why? Because these converts were not circumcised. The issue had some level of acceptance among Jewish brethren, or it would have been dismissed out of hand.
Acts 15:2 NKJV 2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.
This issue needed a full review and decision by the entire church leadership. Paul was certain that God was with his approach of evangelizing the world, but Paul needed the issue answered once and for all. The claims of the Judaizing wing of the church was a threat to diminished his ministry to the gentiles. All leaders are in attendance at this conference. This verdict will be decisive. The Apostle Peter, the most active of all the Apostles, opens with the reminder that God had through him revealed that the Holy Spirit would convert RAW gentiles.
Acts 15:7-8 NKJV 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 "So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,
Probably some fifteen years previously, Peter explains the opening up of salvation to raw gentiles. He explains that God knows their hearts and they were ready for conversion and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Paul expands on this in his letter to the Romans.
Romans 2:28-29 NKJV 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
A true Jew or worshiper of the true God is based on an open repentant heart and not dependent on any outward signs like circumcision. It is the heart that counts in spiritual matters. Serving God inwardly is the crux of salvation and conversion. Peter then exhorts all to not put up barriers for the gentiles. These barriers would be higher than for Jews who had all been circumcised as infants.
Acts 15:10 NKJV 10 "Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
The goal of some of the Pharisee believers was to limit gentile converts coming into the church. Paul and Barnabas then delivered the bulk of the evidence of God's will in this matter. They recalled all the many converts and miracles done with gentiles in the Roman Empire. The evidence of God's will in this matter was overwhelming.
Acts 15:12 NKJV 12 Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.
No doubt all the Apostles and Elders saw the will of God being demonstrated by his works. Therefore the chairman of the Jerusalem church gave the verdict.
Acts 15:13-14 NKJV 13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me: 14 "Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
The Apostle James then backs up his conclusion with scripture showing that they were obeying God's written will as well.
Acts 15:16-17 NKJV 16 'After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; 17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.'
The conference makes a historical decision to exempt gentiles from circumcision.
THE CHURCH WAS VERY OLD TESTAMENT ORIENTED OR THIS ISSUE WOULD BE MUTE
Why is no conference in the book of Acts for altering the Sabbath to Sunday? One obvious answer , no one ever even considered making such a change. The Sabbath is the sign of the true God, why would true worshipers of the true God violate the sign of
God? They never even thought of it. Paul makes it clear that the OT is believed and followed and honored by all believers.
2 Timothy 3:15-16 NKJV 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
Paul also makes it clear that all scripture is vital for instructions in righteousness. Remember James the Apostle used the OT to justify the exception for gentiles regarding.
Romans 6:14-16 NKJV 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Breaking of the law is sin, so Paul is saying though we are saved from the penalty of the law by the grace of God, based on the sacrifice of Christ, we still are expected to obey and live God's way. This would include keeping the Sabbaths both weekly and annually. The Old Testament was their guide and that is why circumcision could be a possible issue. James gives guidelines for the entrance of raw gentiles into the previously all Jewish congregations.
Acts 15:20-21 NKJV 20 "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
James was insuring that the raw gentiles, who would have had limited Biblical knowledge in most cases, would not offend God or the Jews. They must immediately be careful not to get involved with activities connected to idols and to guard the morality regarding sex and marriage and to not eat food that is unclean and offensive to God. This would include such things as blood pudding.
21 "For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
The Apostle James adds that they will overtime learn many more things they need to know by attending synagogues every Sabbath and listening to the scrolls as they are read. If one takes these few requirements for entry as the only responsibility of Christians, idols clean food and immoral sex it would be OK,unbelievable! No one would believe then that gentiles could lie, steal and murder or curse the name of God. It is outrageous. The exception surely does not undermine God's Laws when properly applied.
WHAT WERE THE REAL HIDDEN MOTIVES OF THE CIRCUMCISION PARTY?
When this monumental decision, opening the way for greater evangelizing of the gentile world, some of the Pharisees saw God will and were sincere. Some of the Pharisees no doubt reluctantly accepted the decision. All leaders were in agreement. Some Pharisees were real believers but others were not so sincere. They wished for circumcision to be a barrier to limit gentile entrance into the church. Paul found that they, secretly upon his leaving, would come in after Paul had established a new congregation and try and undermine it. They demanded the members become like all the other sects within Judaism.
Galatians 2:3-4 NKJV 3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage),
Other evil teachers lied about the Acts 15 conference and tried to bring the gentiles brethren back into the bondage and excesses of Judaism as led by the Pharisees. Paul taught that Christs' church should be free of this yoke of bondage. But the sneaky Judaizing party was trying to drag members back into bondage.
Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV 28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
The Pharisees put people under heavy burdens. Their leadership made worship of God a burdensome affair.
Matthew 23:2-4 NKJV 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 4 "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
WHAT DID THE ENEMIES OF THE GOSPEL FALSELY ACCUSE PAUL OF DOING?
Acts 21:20-24 NKJV 20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; 21 "but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 "What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. 23 "Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. 24 "Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.
Believers will not fully understand the teachings of the Apostle Paul unless they understand the first church council in Acts 15. Since Paul wrote a good deal of the New Testament they will not fully understand portions of it. Paul supported the law. Paul followed God's spiritual leadership in exempting the gentiles from circumcision. Unbelieving Jews falsely accused him of being against the Bible while the secretive Judaizing party undermined churches from within by stealth.
The great evangelistic work was opposed from without and from within yet Paul succeeded so overwhelmingly that he was accused of turning the world upside down. See Acts 17:6.
THE ACTS 15 MEETING IS CRUCIAL FOR NEW TESTAMENT UNDERSTANDING
One cannot fully understand the Epistles of Paul without correctly digesting the findings of this, vital to Christian growth, conference in Jerusalem. The home church for evangelizing, Antioch, did not circumcise. Bad teachers came later and insisted that all these gentile converts could not have full or equal standing in the church. Why? Because these converts were not circumcised. The issue had some level of acceptance among Jewish brethren, or it would have been dismissed out of hand.
Acts 15:2 NKJV 2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.
This issue needed a full review and decision by the entire church leadership. Paul was certain that God was with his approach of evangelizing the world, but Paul needed the issue answered once and for all. The claims of the Judaizing wing of the church was a threat to diminished his ministry to the gentiles. All leaders are in attendance at this conference. This verdict will be decisive. The Apostle Peter, the most active of all the Apostles, opens with the reminder that God had through him revealed that the Holy Spirit would convert RAW gentiles.
Acts 15:7-8 NKJV 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 "So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,
Probably some fifteen years previously, Peter explains the opening up of salvation to raw gentiles. He explains that God knows their hearts and they were ready for conversion and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Paul expands on this in his letter to the Romans.
Romans 2:28-29 NKJV 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
A true Jew or worshiper of the true God is based on an open repentant heart and not dependent on any outward signs like circumcision. It is the heart that counts in spiritual matters. Serving God inwardly is the crux of salvation and conversion. Peter then exhorts all to not put up barriers for the gentiles. These barriers would be higher than for Jews who had all been circumcised as infants.
Acts 15:10 NKJV 10 "Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
The goal of some of the Pharisee believers was to limit gentile converts coming into the church. Paul and Barnabas then delivered the bulk of the evidence of God's will in this matter. They recalled all the many converts and miracles done with gentiles in the Roman Empire. The evidence of God's will in this matter was overwhelming.
Acts 15:12 NKJV 12 Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.
No doubt all the Apostles and Elders saw the will of God being demonstrated by his works. Therefore the chairman of the Jerusalem church gave the verdict.
Acts 15:13-14 NKJV 13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me: 14 "Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
The Apostle James then backs up his conclusion with scripture showing that they were obeying God's written will as well.
Acts 15:16-17 NKJV 16 'After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; 17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.'
The conference makes a historical decision to exempt gentiles from circumcision.
THE CHURCH WAS VERY OLD TESTAMENT ORIENTED OR THIS ISSUE WOULD BE MUTE
Why is no conference in the book of Acts for altering the Sabbath to Sunday? One obvious answer , no one ever even considered making such a change. The Sabbath is the sign of the true God, why would true worshipers of the true God violate the sign of
God? They never even thought of it. Paul makes it clear that the OT is believed and followed and honored by all believers.
2 Timothy 3:15-16 NKJV 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
Paul also makes it clear that all scripture is vital for instructions in righteousness. Remember James the Apostle used the OT to justify the exception for gentiles regarding.
Romans 6:14-16 NKJV 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Breaking of the law is sin, so Paul is saying though we are saved from the penalty of the law by the grace of God, based on the sacrifice of Christ, we still are expected to obey and live God's way. This would include keeping the Sabbaths both weekly and annually. The Old Testament was their guide and that is why circumcision could be a possible issue. James gives guidelines for the entrance of raw gentiles into the previously all Jewish congregations.
Acts 15:20-21 NKJV 20 "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
James was insuring that the raw gentiles, who would have had limited Biblical knowledge in most cases, would not offend God or the Jews. They must immediately be careful not to get involved with activities connected to idols and to guard the morality regarding sex and marriage and to not eat food that is unclean and offensive to God. This would include such things as blood pudding.
21 "For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
The Apostle James adds that they will overtime learn many more things they need to know by attending synagogues every Sabbath and listening to the scrolls as they are read. If one takes these few requirements for entry as the only responsibility of Christians, idols clean food and immoral sex it would be OK,unbelievable! No one would believe then that gentiles could lie, steal and murder or curse the name of God. It is outrageous. The exception surely does not undermine God's Laws when properly applied.
WHAT WERE THE REAL HIDDEN MOTIVES OF THE CIRCUMCISION PARTY?
When this monumental decision, opening the way for greater evangelizing of the gentile world, some of the Pharisees saw God will and were sincere. Some of the Pharisees no doubt reluctantly accepted the decision. All leaders were in agreement. Some Pharisees were real believers but others were not so sincere. They wished for circumcision to be a barrier to limit gentile entrance into the church. Paul found that they, secretly upon his leaving, would come in after Paul had established a new congregation and try and undermine it. They demanded the members become like all the other sects within Judaism.
Galatians 2:3-4 NKJV 3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage),
Other evil teachers lied about the Acts 15 conference and tried to bring the gentiles brethren back into the bondage and excesses of Judaism as led by the Pharisees. Paul taught that Christs' church should be free of this yoke of bondage. But the sneaky Judaizing party was trying to drag members back into bondage.
Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV 28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
The Pharisees put people under heavy burdens. Their leadership made worship of God a burdensome affair.
Matthew 23:2-4 NKJV 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 4 "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
WHAT DID THE ENEMIES OF THE GOSPEL FALSELY ACCUSE PAUL OF DOING?
Acts 21:20-24 NKJV 20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; 21 "but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 "What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. 23 "Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. 24 "Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.
Believers will not fully understand the teachings of the Apostle Paul unless they understand the first church council in Acts 15. Since Paul wrote a good deal of the New Testament they will not fully understand portions of it. Paul supported the law. Paul followed God's spiritual leadership in exempting the gentiles from circumcision. Unbelieving Jews falsely accused him of being against the Bible while the secretive Judaizing party undermined churches from within by stealth.
The great evangelistic work was opposed from without and from within yet Paul succeeded so overwhelmingly that he was accused of turning the world upside down. See Acts 17:6.
