THE MIRROR OF GRACE
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Opening Prayer
King Jesus, rule in my thoughts and actions today. You deserve my devotion; I want to serve you with all that I am to bring you glory.
Read ACTS 15:1—11
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Acts
Acts 15
1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
3 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.
4 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.
5 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.”
6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question.
7 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.
8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.
9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.
10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?
11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
Reflect
Listen to your favorite version of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace.’Expansion brings complexity; change carries tension; new developments raise new questions. For the early church, the inclusion of the gentiles in the family of faith means all of this. It’s hard for us to imagine just how seismic a shift this passage documents. Circumcision had been the mark of membership of God’s people from the beginning (Genesis 17)—why stop now? It is a matter that needs to be discussed and decided at the highest levels, so, missing no opportunity to encourage church communities en route, Paul and Barnabas are on the road again.
At the Council in Jerusalem (around 48—49 AD), Peter’s experience with the family of Cornelius (Acts 10, 11) comes into focus. It was then that God took the initiative in bringing gentiles to saving faith, confirming his work in their hearts by pouring out his Spirit. If God requires no more than that, why should we?
Let’s not miss the mirror Peter holds up, too: this saving grace is for us, as well as them, as he reminds the hardliners (v. 11). When grace offends us, perhaps it is reflecting our own return to religious rules, to wearying self-effort, and inviting us into the sweetness of its freely given rest all over again.
Apply
Where might you be tempted to add to grace, for yourself or others? Allow yourself to feel the weight of those things, then imagine Jesus lifting them off you, leaving only his light and easy yoke (Matthew 11:30).
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, please keep me focused and dependent on God’s grace alone so that I may fully know the freedom that is mine in Christ.
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