HOW SWEET THE SOUND
Opening Prayer
Father, coming to your Word today, I ask that you speak to me through it; build my faith and show me more of what I need to serve you.
Read ACTS 15:1–11
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Council at Jerusalem
15 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.”
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Reflect
‘… since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace … .’1
It is difficult to comprehend the seismic shift the inclusion of gentiles brings about in the early church. Up to this point, the church has essentially been a Jewish phenomenon. However, the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius’ conversion, and the Antioch church all hint at God’s broader inclusive agenda. This becomes the norm in the Pauline churches, for the most responsive converts tend to be the gentiles whom Paul encounters. This prompts a genuine crisis in the early church: the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 is the leadership’s attempt to address this.
The crux of the issue is the role of the Jewish Law in salvation. How much should the Law’s requirements, including circumcision, apply to these new gentile converts, who have no other Jewish affiliation (v. 5)? The question is not whether non-Jews should be included, but on what basis? This passionate debate becomes the main factor prompting the widening separation between Christianity and Judaism. In the initial discussion, Peter reminds them that the Spirit clearly showed God’s acceptance of gentiles by coming upon Cornelius and his household dramatically when they believed.
He then gives a profound summary: ‘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? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are’ (vv. 10, 11). Peter sets out his firm belief that nobody can actually fulfill the Law. Not just gentiles, but Jews as well, are saved through God’s grace alone.2 This dramatically levels the playing field—all stand before God equally in need of grace.
Apply
This is the good news—because of the cross, you stand forgiven and cleansed by grace. Take time now to simply give thanks.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, I am forever changed because of your sacrifice on my behalf! Help me to live each moment of every day in ways that bring you glory.
1 Rom 5:1, 2 2 cf. Rom 3:9
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