This is a LOT to cover, but cover it we must.
😏 I have a pot of coffee and extra snacks. ☕️
Good. Let’s go.
THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL
I’ve noticed a trend among some Christians of romanticizing the early church as if it were this idyllic community where everyone got along and they were all full of faith and power and everyone was serene and probably had halos. Not so. We’ve already seen several problems in Acts that had to be resolved.
They were people with challenges just like us. Different culture. Different languages. But still people.
And some people really don’t like change.
The Gentiles coming into the Church were a HUGE change. Jesus hadn’t left a manual behind on “How To Assimilate the Gentiles.” But He did call Paul to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles and He sent Peter Cornelius.
Here’s the problem:
“But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.””
Acts 15:1 ESV
The people teaching this view (both then and now) are Christians. They are followers of Jesus. But they also claim that Gentiles must become Jewish in order to be saved.
Now, I’m not 100% sure, but I strongly suspect that Galatians 2 is all about this same circumstance. And we are going to unpack that after we go through Acts 15.
“And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.”
Acts 15:2 ESV
If you’re tracking so far, the “question” is: “Do Gentiles have to be Jewish to be saved?” There are 2 views:
- Yes, they have to become Jewish
- No they don’t
The group who says “yes they do” are identified as “the sect of the Pharisees.” Since they are pro-circumcision they are also called “they of the circumcision” (KJV) or “the circumcision party” (ESV) in Acts 11:2, Galatians 2:12, and Titus 1:10. And Paul does not have nice things to say about them. (We’re just about to read Paul’s letter to the Galatians and he gets very salty about it.)
When Paul and Barnabas get to Jerusalem, everyone was happy to see them and hear what God was doing.
“But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.””
Acts 15:5 ESV
And the debate began.
(By the way, if you are a Torah-observant friend reading this – first off… Welcome. I’m happy to be your friend. I am FULLY aware of ALL the views on this passage. I’ve done my homework on those arguments. I find them unconvincing and out of harmony with the rest of scripture. I would kindly ask you to pause and consider before labeling a redeemed sister in Christ ignorant, a rebel, blind, deceived, bound by the traditions of men, or – the coup de grâce I’ve seen in comments sections on this topic – “a mouthpiece of the devil”)
Peter’s Argument – The Holy Spirit
Peter presents an argument on the side of “no they don’t have to keep the Law.” And it’s simply this: God poured out His Holy Spirit on the Gentiles WHILE they were in the state of not keeping the Law.
“And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.”
Acts 15:8-9 ESV
This argument still firmly stands.
God filled the Gentile believers with His Holy Spirit without circumcision or Torah-keeping. That’s a fact of scripture.
Cornelius was a God-fearer but not a Jew. The Gentiles in Galatia were not Jewish, yet God is filling them with His Holy Spirit. They were cleansed by faith exactly the same as the Jewish believers.
The Jewish disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit on Pentecost because they kept the Law of Moses. They received the Spirit because Jesus had “CLEANSED their hearts by faith” through His atoning death and resurrection.
If God is marking the Gentile believers as His own without circumcision or Torah-keeping, it’s a clear indication that those things cannot be required in order for them to become one of God’s own.
Peter then points out a sad fact about the Law of Moses: not even the Jews have been able to keep it. That’s not where salvation is.
“Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.””
Acts 15:10-11 ESV
Peter says that Jews and Gentiles are “saved” the same way: “through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Notice that he doesn’t say they are saved by: “the grace of the Lord Jesus to start and then strict adherence to the Torah after that in order to stay saved.”
He even says that asking the Gentiles to wear the “yoke” of the Jews is “putting God to the test,” a very dangerous thing to do. If God Himself is not requiring the Gentiles to become Jews to participate in His Kingdom, who are we to tell Him He’s wrong?
Paul & Barnabas Present Evidence
Paul and Barnabas then give example after example of God confirming His presence among the Gentile believers through signs and wonders. The fact that they are uncircumcised and non-kosher has not stopped God from doing miraculous things among them. If God found their “Gentile-ness” offensive or evidence of them being in a state of rebellion, or lost-ness, why would He bless them? Why would He personally dwell within them? He doesn’t have to.
Consider this: Adam was not circumcised and God walked with him. Same for Noah, Enoch, and Abraham. We never read once of any of them keeping Sabbath. That view has to be assumed and imported into the text. They couldn’t have observed feasts that hadn’t been announced yet. And yet these men were called “righteous.” If they could be righteous apart from the Law, why not these Gentile believers? God is walking with them. And that means something.
James’s Argument – Fulfilled Prophecy
After Paul and Barnabas, it’s James’s turn. James is a serious OT scholar. And what he is hearing from Paul, Barnabas, and Peter strikes him as the fulfillment of a prophecy given by Amos. (James quotes the Septuagint version)
“In that day, I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and I will rebuild the ruins of it, and will set up the parts thereof that have been broken down and will build it up as in the ancient days: that the remnant of men, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, may earnestly seek me, saith the Lord who does all these things.” – Amos 9:11-12 LXX (Brenton translation)
God revealed long ago that it was His plan to welcome the Gentiles into the Tabernacle of David. We talked about the Tabernacle of David when we went through 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles and Psalms. It was not the Tabernacle of Moses. It wasn’t the Temple. There weren’t any of the sacrifices and rituals commanded by Law of Moses going on at David’s Tabernacle. In fact, it seemed to suspend most of the Torah rules about interacting with God. The only object in the tent was the Ark. God’s presence. And people who were not Aaronic High Priests had access to God. Levite musicians and singers worshiped there before the Lord. They weren’t “supposed” to be that close. David wasn’t a Levite and he would go and worship. Psalm 27:4 suggests that David was looking upon the shekinah glory of God. In 2 Sam. 7:18 David “went in and sat before the LORD!” THAT is the Tabernacle of David. It’s a place beyond the Law of Moses where a man from the tribe of Judah can come in and sit in the presence of Yahweh. Not a priest. Not a Levite. A shepherd and warrior.
THAT is what God said He would restore. Not the Tabernacle of Moses from Sinai. Not the Temple of Solomon. Not the model that excludes, rather, the model that gives incredible access: The Tabernacle of David. And He does it so that the Gentiles can come and seek the Lord too.
Based on the witness of the Apostles Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James, the decision is to “not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.” It’s this word:
This is the only time this word is used in all of scripture. Acts 15:1 shows us where the harassment was. It was the Pharisee-Circumcision group troubling the Gentiles and telling them that they weren’t real Christians if they weren’t keeping Torah. And the Apostles say, no one is going to do that anymore.
There are four and only four things asked of the Gentiles. Some scholars have compared them to the things expected of the “stranger who dwells among” Israel in Leviticus 17:7-13, 18:26. And all of them have to do with keeping clear of idol worship, which involved all four. Note that the list does not include the quintessential Jewish things: circumcision, Sabbath observance, eating kosher, or keeping the Law of Moses. Instead, the Gentiles are advised to:
- Abstain from things polluted by idols
- Abstain from sexual immorality
- Abstain from consuming meat from creatures that were strangled
- Abstain from consuming blood
That’s it. This is not a “starter set” of rules to be followed up by full Torah observance. Otherwise, James would not have written:
“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.””
Acts 15:28-29 ESV
“No greater burden” means there isn’t more coming. This is it. End of list. And Paul is about to get VERY salty in defending this decision, which was unanimous by the way. There wasn’t some “faithful” group that held to Torah observance for the Gentiles while a rogue group broke off. That’s pure myth. Look at what scripture says:
“Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,”
Acts 15:22 ESV
The “General Epistle to the Gentiles” (which is what Acts 15:23-29 is), is ratified and supported by “the WHOLE Church.”
And in this letter they all agreed to this:
“forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:”
Acts 15:24 KJV
It grieves me that the message of “Ye must be circumcised, and keep the Law!,” has returned and is again troubling the Gentiles and causing them to doubt their standing with God in Christ. It’s a message that does subvert the soul as the Apostles said. And Gentile believers should know that the Apostles, Elders, and “the whole Church” never issued a commandment that Gentiles were required to become Jewish in order to be saved or sanctified in any way.
That news is very freeing. And that’s why there was such great joy in Antioch when the Gentiles read the letter.
Christians are certainly free to rest on the Sabbath, camp out during Tabernacles or observe any other parts of the Law they can (which is honestly not much without a Temple and Levitical priesthood, but hey, knock yourself out). But we are not required to do these things and therefore should not judge one another based on observing or not observing them. Paul is going to spill a LOT of ink on this topic. We are saved from beginning to end by the grace of God – whether Jew or Gentile.
If you want to dig in further to this text or are still uncertain about it, here is a 15-min video to get you started which will open a door to hours of solid biblical examination of these subjects on this channel.
THE DRAMA
Now let’s look at what happens “off-screen” in Antioch because it impacts what happens on Paul’s 2nd Journey. We read about it in Galatians 2. It parallels Acts 15. I’m going to drop a bit of commentary in, in brackets…
“Then after fourteen years [after the 1st missionary journey and several years in Antioch] I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. [They went to settle the dispute from Acts 15:1-2. Paul submits what he is preaching for review, to “make sure” he is preaching correctly among the Gentiles.] But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. [Paul is referring to the Pharisee “circumcision party.”] But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch [unsure whether this happened before the Council or after], I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?””
Galatians 2:1-5, 11-14 ESV
Peter was sitting down next to his shrimp and bacon-eating Gentile brothers (who had also not washed according to Jewish custom). He may have been eating kosher himself, but even sitting at the same table as Gentiles was a big step for someone who had to have a 3x vision from God before he would even go inside a Gentile’s house. But we learn something about James in this passage. He probably leaned Pharisee. And Paul oughta know. He had been of the strictest Pharisee sect. They were worried that it might get back to “the circumcision party” that they might’ve been contaminated by eating with Gentiles.
😐 Basically, you’re saying they were all afraid of getting Gentile kooties.
Yeah. That’s pretty much it.
Even after the Counsel settled the question of Gentiles not being required to follow Mosaic Law, they still had to figure out how Jews and Gentiles could fellowship together without one making the other “unclean.”
And in all these debates, we see that “even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.” Ouch.
So when Paul and Barnabas start planning another trip, that tension is lying just under the surface. And it shows up when Barnabas wants to give John-Mark another shot.
“Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,”
Acts 15:37-39 ESV
I love that the Bible includes this unflattering bit about Paul and Barnabas arguing and unable to get along because it’s real. People who love Jesus and are called to serve Him disagree sharply sometimes over ministry decisions and doctrine.
So Paul asks another brother to accompany him. The prophet Silas was among the group who went from Jerusalem to Antioch to tell the Gentile Christians the decision of the Council. Even after the others went back home, Silas stayed and ministered.
PAUL’S SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY
About 5 years after the first journey, Paul sets off again. And one of the first places he visits is Lystra, the town that killed him. And that’s where he found Timothy.
Timothy’s mother is Jewish but he hadn’t been circumcised. So they take care of that because Timothy is going to join Paul and Silas and be traveling with them among both Jews and Gentiles. After all the drama in Antioch, Paul doesn’t want Timothy to be ostracized or create unnecessary problems.
They are reading a copy of the “Epistle to the Gentiles” in every city they visit to help the believers be established in the faith.
Plan A, Plan B, Plan C (A, B, C)
First, they attempted to go into Asia, but the Holy Spirit said, “Nope.”
Next they looked at going to Bithynia. Nope.
And finally Paul has a vision of a Macadonian man saying “Come over here and help us.”
We look at this map and read the word “journey” and the narrative in Acts 16-18 and it doesn’t feel like a very long trip; perhaps a few months. This trip took around 2.5 to 3 YEARS. Paul didn’t just drop by and do a weekend conference. He moved in temporarily, discipled the believers and established local assemblies.
While they are in Troas, just before going over to Macedonia, Luke (who wrote Acts) joins them. You can see the pronouns shift. Everything prior to 16:10 is they and them. Starting in verse 10 it’s we and us.
“And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
Acts 16:10 ESV
The Philippians
We meet 2 key people in Acts 16:12-40; Lydia (a wealthy businesswoman), and the jailer. When you read the Letter to the Philippians, they and their families (and probably also household staff) were the church that received it.
The text doesn’t tell us who exactly the people were who met at the river on the Sabbath to pray; or why they were meeting at a river and not a synagogue. It doesn’t say what kind of prayer was typically made there. Perhaps there was a shrine of some kind or perhaps they were just meeting on their own. Verse 14 says that Lydia “worshiped God” which suggests she was a “God-fearing” Gentile.
Lydia is a “seller of purple” which is kind of like saying “seller of Dior.” It’s ultra-luxury for the upper crust. She reminds me of the wealthy Shunemite woman who welcomed Elisha to stay in her home. Lydia and “all her household” were baptized and Paul and his traveling team stayed with her as guests.
The Team now includes:
- Paul
- Silas
- Timothy
- Luke
- Possibly Titus and others
The incident with the girl with “the spirit of divination” is interesting because it shows that demonic attack and aggravation doesn’t always look like witchcraft. In this case, it looked like a very enthusiastic teen girl trying to “help” with unsolicited promotion.
That’s why we need spiritual discernment. What the girl was saying was true. The men were the servants of God come to show them the way of salvation. Just because a person is proclaiming something true does not guarantee God is in it. What is the effect? How is it being done? Is it distracting from the Gospel? What is the Holy Spirit within you saying about it? Nothing fools the Lord.
Paul casting out the evil spirit from her was the catalyst that led to his famous imprisonment with Silas.
Here’s a wonderful song that preaches this story well: I Bless Your Name.
There isn’t any place so dark and painful that you cannot sing praises to the Lord if you choose to. It still breaks chains and opens prison doors for the soul.
The sentence for a Roman guard who let a prisoner escape was death. That’s why the guard was going to kill himself. He thought it better to die on his own terms.
The jailer took Paul and his team- probably down to the same river where Lydia had heard the Gospel. By torchlight he washed and tended their injuries and was baptized along with his whole family. Then, in the middle of the night, he took them to his home and fed them. I find it kind of comical that the next morning, they’re all back in the jail where they are supposed to be as if nothing unusual happened during the night.
The next day they’’re released and go back to Lydia’s house, which seems to have become the meeting place of the church, and probably remained so. Then they continue on their way.
This jailer and his family, and Lydia and her household are the beginning of the Church of Philippi. And Paul has a strong and affectionate bond with them.
Isn’t it interesting that when Paul writes the Letter to them, he writes it from a prison cell? And we learn from the opening, that they immediately began sharing the Gospel with others…
“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:3-8 NLT
Paul didn’t get to stay very long with them, but he was confident that the Lord would be with them and continue His work in them.
And He continues His work in us too. We can be certain of that.
