Acts 15:1-33 record the deliberations of the Jerusalem Council and its landmark decision that faith alone was sufficient for salvation. The Council was called as the result of a commotion in the church at Antioch, which arose when Jews from Jerusalem claimed that circumcision was necessary for Gentile converts to be saved.
We might be inclined to view the Council’s deliberations as an interruption to the Acts narrative; however, its decision had the effect of preventing legalists among the Jewish believers from forcing circumcision on Gentile converts.
It also maintained the forward momentum of Paul’s ministry by exempting them from what Peter called “the yoke on their necks that neither our fathers nor we are able to bear.” (Acts 15:10) Both Jew and Gentile, it was decided, were saved by the same grace.
Sabbath keeping is noticeably absent from the Council’s list of prohibitions. Not surprisingly because Israel alone was commanded to keep the Sabbath and Circumcision as signs that they were God’s chosen people.
There is no mention in the Old Testament of any requirement for non-Jews in the time of King David or King Solomon to keep the commandments given by God to Moses; nor of King David seeking to bring foreigners like Hiram to the faith of Abraham. The role of the Jews was to be a light to the nations. Gentiles who converted to the Jewish faith did so out of conviction, not because Jews targeted them for conversion.
There could hardly have been more credible leaders than those who formed the Jerusalem Council. Peter, Paul, and Barnabas were members, and the meeting itself appears to have been chaired by James, the Lord’s brother. The Council was called to discuss the question of non-Jew circumcision; however, from Peter’s address it is clear that the Law as a whole was under discussion.
The council’s sensible decision considered the presence of Jews in cities throughout Asia Minor and their teaching of the Law of Moses every Sabbath. It was decided that four things would be prohibited: ceremonial pollution by idols; prostitution; the eating of strangled animals; and the consumption of animals from which blood had not been drained.
Jews following Jesus would continue to practice their faith, since the Old Testament types had been fulfilled in Christ. For example, since Christ was the Passover Lamb, they could keep that feast in the knowledge that it had been fulfilled in his death on the cross (1 Corinthians 5:7). This explains why Paul hurried to be in Jerusalem in time for the Day of Pentecost (Acts 20:15). While keeping the Feast, Paul would have been praising God for the ingathering of Jews, which was taking place – the “first-fruits” of what would be a worldwide harvest.
Before the sitting of the Council, Paul had confronted Peter over his compromise of the Christian faith in trying to have things both ways. Paul reiterated that salvation was by grace rather than by the works of the Law (Galatians 2:11-21). “For I through the law am dead to the law,” Paul later wrote, “that I might live to God.”
The Council was not an interruption of the Acts narrative, in which theology took first place while mission outreaches from Antioch were put on hold. The Council’s decision resulted in a major shift that would have far-reaching effects on the ministry of the apostles to the Gentiles because it exempted converts from circumcision.
We might think that the four instructions had more to do with the minor matters, but the Council had been called to judge whether gentiles ought to be circumcised, which was no small matter. The way for outsiders to enter the Jewish faith had always been open, but the Old Testament makes no mention of a Jewish equivalent to widespread evangelism in the Christian manner.
The two things that identify Jews to this day are circumcision and the keeping of the Sabbath, neither of which is required of non-Jews. Jesus Christ reconciled both Jew and Gentile to God in one body by the Cross (Ephesians 2:16). “For through him we both – Jew and Gentile – have access by one Spirit to the Father.” The “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16) is comprised of Jews and of Gentiles who are “one” in Jesus Christ.
I thank God for my family’s British ancestry — my mother was English-born; but my identity in Jesus Christ is an entirely different thing, and it is grace alone that gives me the freedom to enjoy it to the full. It seems that, maybe because grace alone seems too good to be true, the battle for grace needs to be fought again in every generation.
Sola Gratia!