The Way - Day 044 (Acts 15)

Pastor Tom's Journal on Today's Reading:
Acts 15
The first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas recorded by Luke in Acts 13-14 began on the island of Cyprus and ended in Antioch of Syria. Their travels took them to many places where they shared the life-changing message of Jesus Christ and salvation through His death on the cross; however, they were also met with much opposition along the way. In fact, the later half of their journey was filled with persecution and challenge from Jews as well as pagan people. When their first journey was completed, they reported to the church at Antioch "all that God had done with them, and that He opened the door of faith to the Gentiles" (14:27). Through Paul and Barnabas' faithfulness in the ministry, many were saved and churches were strengthened.  While they settled for a time at Antioch, men who taught salvation through works "came down from Judea teaching that "unless you are circumcised according to the law of Moses, you cannot be saved" (15:1). In order to understand the false teachings of these men, we must look back to Genesis 17:10-12 where God commanded that every Jewish male be circumcised (cutting away of the male foreskin) as a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. The covenant stated that out of the descendants of Abraham would come a great nation and through his seed, all people would be blessed (see Genesis 12:1-3). Of course this promise was fully realized when God sent Jesus Christ, who was eventually born through Abraham's family line, to pay the penalty of sin through death, therefore enabling all people to be forgiven. When a male was circumcised, it was symbolic of cleansing as well as of sin being cut away because through the male organ, sin was passed on to the next generation. So circumcision was simply an outward symbol of cleansing from sin, but was never meant as a means to salvation. Salvation was promised through the seed of Abraham, not through the act of circumcision. In reality, the whole reason circumcision had become an issue in the ministry of the apostles was because the Gentiles (who were being converted) were uncircumcised. Some of the Jews felt that circumcision was a necessity for salvation and that the Gentiles could not receive it without being circumcised.  With these thoughts in mind, Paul and Barnabas were disturbed by this teaching of salvation through works and confronted these teachers (15:2a). The church at Antioch "determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question" (15:2b). Upon their arrival in Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas appeared before the leaders of the Jerusalem church and the Pharisees also appeared saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them [Gentiles], and to command them to keep the law of Moses" (15:3-5). In response to this, Peter stands up saying, "a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them [Gentiles] by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us [Jews], and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith" (15:7-9). Peter then makes a bold statement about salvation being by faith alone in Jesus' work on the cross, "But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we [Jews] shall be saved in the same manner as they [Gentiles]" (15:11).

Agreeing with Peter and the Old Testament prophet Amos, James declares that in the millennial kingdom Gentiles will be saved (Amos 9:11-12) without being circumcised as the Jews; therefore, they should also not be required to be circumcised in this present age (15:13-18). Rather than asking the Gentiles to become Jews through circumcision, James suggested that following faith in Christ the Gentiles keep themselves from food offered to idols, sexual immorality, and certain foods prohibited by Mosaic law (15:19-21). Abstaining from these things would help the Gentiles not to offend the Jews and would assure that the Gentiles did not cause Jews to violate their conscience.

The saying of James and the testimony of Peter pleased the Jerusalem church so they sent a letter with leaders from the church, as well as Paul and Barnabas, to the Christians at Antioch (15:22). The letter written to the Gentile brethren at Antioch declared "we have heard that some who went out from us [false teachers] have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, 'You must be circumcised and keep the law' - to whom we gave no such commandment..." (15:23-24). This declaration from the church at Jerusalem put an end to the false teachers troubling the Gentiles with additional works in order to receive salvation.
 
False teachers had infiltrated the church at Antioch and began teaching that the Gentiles must be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-5). This command to the Jewish nation under the law of Moses was only meant to be a symbol of cleansing from sin, not a ritual necessary for salvation (Genesis 17:10-12). This conflict between the apostles and false teachers was taken to the church at Jerusalem where they decided that circumcision was not necessary for the Gentiles to be saved (Acts 15:6-21); therefore, the council sent a letter to the Gentiles in the church at Antioch declaring them free from any rituals to receive salvation (Acts 15:22-29). The decision by the Jerusalem council was a reinforcement that salvation is only found through believing that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for sin and resurrected to guarantee our eternal life.

When the Gentiles in Antioch received this declaration from the church at Jerusalem, they rejoiced and were strengthened in their faith (15:30-34). Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch "teaching and preaching the word of the Lord" (15:35). After ministering for several days, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing" (15:36). Although Barnabas desired to go with Paul, he also suggested taking John Mark, who had earlier abandoned them on their first journey (see Acts 13:13). Luke does not provide the detailed reasoning of John Mark's departure from Paul and Barnabas, but apparently it caused deep division between them both. "Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one [John Mark] who had departed from them...and had not gone with them to the work" (15:38). The disagreement between Paul and Barnabas became so contentious that they actually decided to part ways - Barnabas and John Mark go to Cyprus while Paul chooses Silas and goes to visit the churches (15:39-41). There are points in ministry where two well-meaning people may disagree about a circumstance. Instead of trying to prove a point, it is sometimes best to agree to disagree and move on with ministry. This is exactly what happened in this circumstance.