Acts - Lesson 27

There is an outdoor chapel in Philippi today that is at least near where Lydia was saved and baptized. God had opened Lydia’s heart and confirmed the direction that had resulted in such a long trip for Paul and his companions. She was baptized along with her household making them the first European converts. Staying with Lydia, Paul and Silas were able to begin building a local Church.

Acts 16:16-18 … As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

This slave girl is said to have had a “python spirit” and this was originally a pagan myth about a serpent (python) who guarded the temple and oracle of Apollo at Delphi. It eventually became used for pretty much all troubled people (and even ventriloquists who may or may not be troubled). In this case the poor girl was demon possessed and the local people thought she could tell the future. Her shouting would have been interpreted to be about God for anyone with a Hebrew background but for the pagans of Philippi they would have understood her to be shouting about Zeus. So she wasn’t helping but rather confusing the situation and creating a disturbance.

It is probably also significant that satan’s root sin is that he wants to be like the “Most High” (Isaiah 14:14) and that this poor possessed slave girl shouts using the phrase “Most High God”. She also recognizes that the authority of satan in that community is being challenged by the way of salvation. So it is disruptive and confusing but it is true.

So why did Paul wait? Remember that Paul was planting a Church, he was yielded to the Holy Spirit, and he didn’t get rushed into a decision. After several days, the Church was growing in Lydia’s house. We don’t know how big it was but it was becoming established. The Holy Spirit had constrained Paul and finally allowed him to turn, rebuke the spirit, and heal the slave girl. At that point she was likely added to Lydia’s house Church. Now that it was time this action changed everything. Now it was OK for the ministry to go in a completely different direction. If this had happened on the first day then, just from a practical point of view, it would have hindered the establishment of the Church. As in last week’s analogy, like a draft horse, Paul knew how to wait but even a good draft horse will stamp a foot once in a while because they know what to do when it is time to do it. When it was time to act, Paul was greatly annoyed.  

Acts 16:19-24 … But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The owners of the slave girl objected to her deliverance and it was obvious from her changed behavior that God had delivered her from a demon. The mob only grabbed the two Jews in the party. Notice that Luke and Timothy - who was half Jewish - didn’t get arrested. They charged them with promoting an illegal religion but the mob violence resulted in violations of the law. They were Roman citizens and this treatment was illegal. They were beaten and imprisoned in the high security section without a trial. However, high security isn’t really an obstacle to God.

The owners wouldn’t be able to generate an angry mob and get their revenge by stressing their personal financial loss. The owners played on prejudice and fear instead. Paul and Silas couldn’t even find a synagogue here so that means there were fewer than 10 male Jews in the city. At the river they only found women. So the threat from Jews would not have been credible even if they had been hostile and they were not hostile. It was legal for Romans to be Jews. However, the strategy of misrepresentation worked and they were beaten with rods (2 Corinthians 11:25).

So after all the walking and the almost nonexistent Jewish witness in Philippi they were beaten and thrown in prison. Many folks would take this as evidence that God was not blessing their outreach plan. Paul and Silas had a better grip on what it means to be the bondservant of our sovereign God than we do. They were busy looking for the next step from God and expecting God to move.

Acts 16:25-29 … About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.

Paul and Silas were worshiping God under the annointing of the Holy Spirit and the prisoners were listening to them. This maximum security facility didn’t hold up well to God shaking it. Miraculously the doors came open and the prisoner's chains fell off. The jailer would be expected to kill himself for letting the prisoners escape. If he didn't kill himself then he would have been killed for the loss. Paul showed real mercy in saving the jailer’s life. At that point the jailer was subject to receive a death penalty from the state but he was about to receive life from God. I don’t think the jailer ever forgot that situation. Listen to what Paul writes to Timothy long after this event.

2 Timothy 1:7-11 … for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,

Paul demonstrates this with such power at this point in Acts. He was worshiping God and shows love and self control in ministry to the jailer. He doesn’t draw back from suffering. He knows that it is God in him doing the work. He knows his purpose as a bondservant of God.

Acts 16:30-34 … Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

He asked a direct question and got a direct answer. Some folks struggle over the meaning of the jailer’s question. Some think perhaps he was only asking what he had to do to keep from being killed as a result of losing prisoners and not asking about his eternal salvation. However, this was not that big of a city. He would have heard about the slave girl and her shouting. They are using the same root word. She said that Paul and Silas were showing the way of salvation and he asks about how to be saved. The root gives us our word “soteriology” which is the Biblical study of salvation. Paul gives him a direct answer and then presents the Gospel at his house and the jailer and his familiy get baptized that night. We don’t see an automatic household salvation in Scripture. In fact, Jesus says that the opposite will sometimes be the norm (Matthew 10:34-39). However, Paul knows the Holy Spirit is moving and - like Peter’s “all of y’all” are going to get saved in Acts 3:26 - he prophecies regarding what is coming up next. God then confirms it.

John Stott points out that in this time a Jewish head of house would pray each morning and thank God that He had not made him a Gentile, a woman, or a slave. In this town the work of God is to first save a woman, a slave girl, and a Gentile by His grace and for His glory. God doesn’t build a Church the way you might build a business. Some people build a church the way you might build a business but then God often has to shake things up.

1 Corinthians 1:27-31 … But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

We have lots of ideas about what makes us wise, righteous, holy, and redeemed that filter in from the culture we live in and of course in our sin nature we become puffed up. It is God who provides wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption. God builds a Church in Philippi that was a tremendous blessing to Paul and he has a real affection for this Church. While it must stand against persecution and doctrinal attacks and work for harmony, it isn’t in need of the correction necessary for the Galatians or Corinthians. Knowing that this is the way God works, you’ll see the need for fervent prayer as we seek a new pastor. We want mercy and grace.

Acts 16:35-40 … But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

Paul isn’t just being hard headed. Paul is building a Church and he is pushing back against unlawful opposition to the Church. He knew that he would be leaving soon and moving to the next city to plant another Church. Paul makes the local government remove him publically from prison and apologize for unlawful actions. Afterwards he encourages the new Church in Philippi. Paul visits Lydia. She was a key part of the local Church and the first European convert. He encouraged the “brothers” and these were presumably those men that he placed in charge of the local Church. He would come back and visit them again later. These were the overseers and deacons of Philippians 1:1 who Paul calls his partners in the Gospel from the first day. It was a long trail but Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke had seen the birth of the first European Church.

Acts - Lesson 26

While the phrase we discussed “Wherever you go, there you are” is associated with various pop culture sources ... I like this source because Thomas a Kempis captures the context in which we were using the phrase. "So, the cross is always ready and waits for you everywhere. You cannot escape it no matter where you run, for wherever you go you are burdened with yourself. Wherever you go, there you are." —Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, ca. A.D. 1440

Last week we also had a great discussion on the role of the moral law in the life of a Christians. I’d like to stress three things. First, we should always have the highest respect for the moral law in our lives. In fact, we need to get to the point that we stop doing anything that causes us to wonder if we are honoring and glorifying God. Second, we need to be very careful to never present as a law something that isn’t contained in the moral law (Deuteronomy 4:2). Thirdly, in response to Psalm 119, we should seek to understand the ritual law and see it's beauty in foreshadowing Christ and teaching us truths about God.

Acts 16:6-10 … And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help 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.

Lots of books have been written about trying to discover the will of God in your life. Some of these books seem to be directions for negotiating with God. That isn’t likely to be a smart path to take. Generally the presumption is that if you are trying to serve God then everything will go well and God will lead you on without a hitch. I’m not sure which Book of Acts they read to come up with those ideas.

I think it is important to see that Paul, Silas, Timothy and all those with them (including Luke) were seeking God but took careful steps and got some negative direction. That is OK. God has the plan and these guys take the steps. They get to see the next step so they have a lamp for their feet. They know the end. They know they will serve Christ on earth until they go home to be with Him so they have a light to their path.

Psalm 119:105-112 … Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word! Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your rules. I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts. Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

Paul likely knew this Psalm. God was guiding but it was step by step. Paul was committed to the truth of the Gospel and to moral purity. He was afflicted and needed life from God according to the promises in the word. It would have been an offering of praise and their lives were often in danger. There is a joy in the Gospel and in surrender to God that kept them going. It was approximately 350 miles around Asia. They were not to preach in Asia. They were not to preach in Bithynia. God says don’t turn left and don’t turn right. So you keep walking for 350 miles … on a missionary trip … you keep His righteous rules, even when afflicted, you offer praise, you pray for wisdom, and realize that all we have is what He gives us. Luke is a good historian but doesn’t really tell us anything about what happened to Paul, Silas, and Timothy as they headed down to Troas and the sea. Verses 7, 8, and 9 cover a long time and many miles of work walking toward Troas.

When we are smart enough to seek God we generally don’t like negative direction. We associate closed doors with an error. We like positive direction. Both closed doors and opened doors are blessings if received with an appropriate attitude. Paul and his companions kept focused on the Great Commission. It is in each Gospel near the end and in Acts near the beginning so it must be heard and obeyed. However, it isn’t just obeyed out of duty. Paul had Christ’s love moving his heart to maintain obedience and he knew the desperate need for the Gospel in the entire world. After 350 miles they got positive direction. That is a long wait.

Once at NC State University when I was walking to work I found a team of horses in my way. It was the Southern States Percheron Team. It during “Ag Days” and they were getting ready to make an appearance on the Brick Yard. Since they were in my way I walked close. These 6 horses were about 6 feet tall at the shoulder so even at 6’ 1” or so I couldn't really look over them without straining and of course the heads came up from the shoulder and were massive. They each weigh over 2000 pounds and they were born to carry and pull burdens. They helped make America a nation as they served as draft animals. That morning, as I walked up close and looked in their eyes, God impressed on me that, regardless of their power, if they didn’t know how to wait they would be useless. Paul knew how to wait in obedience to God. Paul waited 350 miles. That is a long way to wait for someone who knows how to preach. He knew how to plant churches. He was constrained by God for a purpose. He needed to go straight to Macedonia. It is one of those fundamental lessons of God that you keep doing the last thing He told you to do until He tells you to do something else.

Isaiah 40:29-31 … He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

I bet Paul and his companions knew that verse from Isaiah too. I pray that we would learn to rest in both negative and positive guidance. Paul, Silas, and Timothy would plant the Gospel and begin the flow toward Europe. This would begin the flow toward most of our ancestors and our cultures.

If you can watch the “we” and “they” transitions in the text you can try to infer where Luke was on this journey. He apparently wasn’t with them the whole time. On this second journey it seems he joined at Troas because the author switches to “we” from “they” in describing events in verse 10. Luke is a good historian so I don’t think that is very important but it is an interesting personal aspect of Luke’s ministry.

Acts 16:11-15 … So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

These verses tell us how they got to Southern Europe and the city of Philippi. They are still carefully seeking God’s will in the missionary journey and they were there for days before they shared the Gospel near the river and Lydia was saved. Keep in mind that the early Church was built from Judaism outward but without any limitations or restrictions for non-Jewish members. You needed 10 men to form a Synagogue but if you didn’t have 10 for a “minyan” then the next step was to have an outdoor place of prayer that was preferably near a body of water. There is an outdoor chapel in Philippi today at least near where Lydia was saved and baptized. Not finding a synagogue … Paul and his companions did the next logical thing. He went down to a body of water looking for a place that would be a likely meeting place.

Lydia was likely pretty well off financially. Purple cloth was produced using species of sea snails and it was very expensive. She was already in that class of people who were worshiping God and not pagan deities. Confirming the direction that had resulted in such a long trip, God opened Lydia’s heart, she was baptized along with her household. These were the first European converts.  Since there is no mention of a husband it is likely that she was a widower. Imagine the relief of Paul and all those with him when they saw God bless and save Lydia and her household. 

Acts - Lesson 25

Last time we ended with Paul and Barnabas back in Antioch after the Church Council in Jerusalem. They delivered the letter from James to Antioch along with two believers named Judas and Silas who were sent by the Apostles. The Church in Antioch – the mixed congregation of those who were previously Jews, God fearing Gentiles, or Pagans were built up and continued to grow in Christ.  

Acts 15:35 … But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

At this point Paul and Barnabas had been together for a considerable period of time and in a number of difficult circumstances. They obviously were good traveling partners and were able to work together under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I think it is fair to say that Paul was being motivated, along with Barnabas, by the Holy Spirit to return and provide additional preaching, teaching, and pastoral support to the churches they had established.

Acts 15:36-41 … And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 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, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

So Barnabas and John Mark headed for Cyprus while Paul took a believer called Silas and headed into Syria and Cilicia. They took an overland route to return to the area they had ministered to on the first missionary journey. The Gospel had been spreading while Paul and Barnabas were not there since there were churches to strengthen in Syria and Cilicia on the way to their first mission field.

These were real men and they had real personalities. I think sometimes we idealize the 1^st Century believers and think they sat on a spiritual mountaintop without ever making a mistake or having difficulties. Paul was in a difficult struggle for the truth of the Gospel. Barnabas was a valuable aid to him in his ministry but the struggle of the role of those who came from gentile backgrounds was a difficult struggle. Paul indicates that Barnabas had waffled on the subject in Antioch along with Peter.

Galatians 2:13-14 … 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?”

The combination of John Mark’s bailing out in the first missionary journey and Barnabas not sticking tight with Paul on the issue of Gentile circumcision may have combined to push these two apart. However, God sends out two missionary groups. Barnabas headed out on the same path that they took before and headed for Cyprus. The tradition is that he ministered there until he died. We don’t get historical details on the entire set of missionary trips that took place but we know that John Mark is eventually helping Paul again. So relationships were restored and I imagine that they saw God bless both trips and realized that maybe they should have considered two trips in the first place.

Acts 16:1-5 … Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

After Syria and Cilicia they moved into Galatia and ministered at Lystra and Iconium again. Paul found a young man named Timothy and this is the first time we hear about Timothy in the book of Acts. One thing about Paul is that he always keeps the underlying motive clear in regard to the Gospel. Timothy’s father was a Greek and his mother was a Jew. Even if you ignore the skills that Timothy had, you still note that he would be useful on the mission field because he could relate to both Jew and Greek effectively. So Paul, because of Timothy’s Jewish background, circumcises Timothy to remove a stumbling block in ministry to Jews. Nobody was saying that Timothy needed to be circumcised to be saved. This was a cultural adaptation that didn’t mean anything with regards to righteousness. If you can’t see how Paul looks through the symbol to the motive on this issue then Paul’s actions will seem confusing. At one point Paul says, “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God (1 Corinthians 7:19). At another point Paul says, “Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you (Galations 5:2).

We have a really hard time keeping focused on the heart motive. We are like 1^st century Jews who looked at a behavior and often ignore any indication of the heart motive in approving or disapproving of an action. Paul, by the work of the Holy Spirit in his life, knew that it was the motive that mattered. Timothy didn’t think he was getting any more righteous by being circumcised. Paul didn’t think Timothy was getting any more righteous by being circumcised. They knew that God had neither commanded it nor forbidden it. This was adiaphorous and they made a choice to facilitate their ministry to the Jews.

This is an important concept for life in the Church. If someone is more comfortable doing or not doing a particular thing that is neither commanded nor forbidden by God then they get to do it. This is a rule against both antinomian (against the law) and neonomian (new legalism) behavior. The moral law of God rules our behavior. Jesus made that clear. The ritual law is laid aside because Christ fulfilled it.

Antinomian points of view are generally first heart issues and later become manifested as obvious disobedience to the moral law. Antinomian heart issues can be bought out by a perceived neonomian attitude or legalism. I know a woman who gets a can of beer and mows her grass on a riding lawnmower on Sunday as folks are going to church. She considers herself a Christian and I’ll just leave it at that. She isn’t violating any moral law by mowing her grass and drinking a beer. She thinks she is offending the neonomians who drive by and that is her desire and that is a violation of the moral law. She is seeking to offend a weaker Church member. So she is sinning but not in the way a drive by neonomian might think.

A neonomian point of view can creep into the Church more easily. We could even see the folks exposed to this woman's behavior teaching in their church that anyone who drinks beer or mows their grass on Sunday is a sinner and going to hell. At that point the neonomians are sinning. You can’t teach that. It isn’t Scripture. In fact, in our society, people observe a day of rest in various ways on various days. Even if you consider mowing the grass with a riding lawn mower to be work then perhaps someone observed Monday or even the Sabbath (Saturday) as a day of rest. Getting drunk is a sin but drinking a beer isn’t a sin. If an alcoholic drink was a sin then Jesus was imperfect, we don’t have a savior, and me may as well all go home right now. I’ve lived among people who thought I was sinning by drinking coffee (actually all hot drinks). I don’t think a person who avoids coffee is sinning and I’m not sinning by drinking it. It is adiaphorous – except perhaps for those who give themselves nerve problems by overdoing it.

Because sin is a heart issue and your circumcision is to be of the heart, you can understand why Paul would say circumcision doesn’t matter at one point and even circumcise Timothy and at another point indicate that he wishes those who teach circumcision would emasculate themselves (Galatians 5:11–12).

In other words, you never do anything that would cause a weaker brother to stumble. You always have the highest respect for the moral law in your life and even stop doing anything that causes you to wonder if you are honoring and glorifying God (that might include not mowing your grass on Sunday). However, you never teach as a command or prohibition something that isn’t contained in the moral law because if you do that then you have clearly sinned (Deuteronomy 4:2). In fact, in response to Psalm 119 we can each also seek to understand the ritual law and to see the beauty of the ritual law in foreshadowing Christ.

Acts - Lesson 24

Last week I stopped right after Paul and Barnabas had returned to Antioch (Acts 14:28). The church at Antioch had sent them out and rejoiced that Paul and Barnabas had completed the first missionary journey. They spent time with the church in Antioch (in Syria not Pisidia) strengthening them and building up this church of Jews and God fearing gentiles that had become one in Christ. In the first century this was a radical mixture of people. Paul explains this mix in his epistle to these folks (Galatians).

Galatians 3:26-29 … for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

We have spoken of Paul’s thorn in the flesh over the last few weeks. Paul said that God used it to keep him from being conceited as a result of the great revelations that the Holy Spirit had given him. Although we have a hard time realizing it, this new family formed by God is at least one of (if not the greatest) revelation given to Paul. The idea that you - a gentile according to the flesh in all likelihood - have an equal position before God with those who are Jews according to the flesh was a mystery. God revealed it in the Law and in the Prophets but the Jews didn’t see it until the scales came off their eyes. As Gentiles were filled with the Holy Spirit and swept into the Church then the Apostles saw the Church in all the fullness that God intended. All members were made one body as Abraham’s offspring and his heirs as God had promised. However, while the Apostles saw this by the grace of the Holy Spirit, Christians can grieve the Holy Spirit and some of our early Jewish brothers did fight against the Holy Spirit. This resulted in the first Church Council in Jerusalem to settle the objections that they were raising and to examine the demands that they were placing on the Gentiles. Church Councils have occurred periodically and they can make mistakes. As we stand on Scripture we survive as best we can but when we deviate then we find error in our statements. The leadership in this Council tried to keep the focus on God’s work and word.

Acts 15:1-4 … 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.” 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. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.

Paul and Barnabas had to defend salvation by grace. Remember that the Law consists of both ritual and moral commands from God. We still obey the moral law but the ritual law has come to an end since it foreshadowed Christ and Christ has come and the Holy Spirit has been sent. This first group who opposed Paul and Barnabas were insisting on circumcision for gentile converts. This group wanted the Gentile converts to demonstrate their separation from the culture they lived in by circumcision. This may not seem as much of a separation but in Greek culture the athletic events were conducted without clothes so it did have a public impact in this culture. There were times that the Roman government would prohibit circumcision. There were times of rebellion against Rome in which the Jews would insist on the circumcision of every male child in Israel. So this was not a strange point for these two cultures to clash over. For us, the issue is religious legalism and we must examine ourselves to be sure we never teach that a person must do something, or refrain from doing something, that God hasn’t taught in His moral law. In Deuteronomy 4:2, as Moses delivers the Law of God, he says, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.” This concept is taught in the Gospels and Epistles very clearly.

The issue of the ritual law and Jewish customs was so prominent and important that Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem teaching and reporting on their missionary trip to the believers along the way. They were known and well received by those in Jerusalem and shared news of their trip with the Apostles and the elders. The Church needed to be of one accord on these issues. As hard as it was to separate culture from righteousness it was time to do so. Historically, God has used opposition to the Church to purify and clarify doctrine. That is what He does here in the earliest and most ingrained of problems for the Church.

Acts 15:5 … 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.”

These guys who came from the Jewish Pharisees raise the bar above circumcision and push for keeping the whole law. I think you can see the reasoning of these men. It was their culture back to Abraham and they wanted to protect it from change. It was not good but it was understandable and it resulted in the first Church Council in history. Paul was not going to allow this to pass this way. He had even taken an uncircumcised Gentile with him to make sure the issue was in their face (Galatians 2:3). Luke records Peter’s words first.

Acts 15:6-11 … The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 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. 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.”

I like the way Luke uses the phrase “after there had been much debate” and the next time I’m taking notes for the deacons I may use that phrase. It looks like a great shortcut.

Isn’t the work of the Holy Spirit in Peter’s life a blessing to see over and over as we study the book of Acts. He preached first to the gentiles as he ministered to Cornelius. He knew God directed his contact with Cornelius and he saw that God didn’t make any distinction. Peter cuts right to the heart of the problem with legalism. First, God cleanses hearts by faith. It isn’t works that does it. The Law of God is good and righteous but with our sin natures it serves to convict and condemn us. So why would someone want to drop a yoke on new believers that no Jew (except Jesus) could ever fulfill? All of those who are saved will be saved by grace. Peter states it clearly that the Jews will be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus just like the Gentiles. Peter preaches the good news that our righteousness comes by faith alone and it comes by grace alone. Then Barnabas and Paul get to speak.

Acts 15:12 … And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

The Church Council had to be convicted by what Peter said and they became very quiet. Peter was speaking under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the believers could sense that. Luke doesn’t tell us much of what Barnabas and Paul shared because in the previous chapters he has been telling us all about the missionary journey. One thing we pick up from Galatians is that Paul was likely placed under pressure to compromise the Gospel by those in leadership in Jerusalem. Paul refused, strengthened by the Holy Spirit I’m sure, and it was an essential point in building the early Church on Scripture and not on opinion and cultural preference. The ritual law that foreshadowed Christ had to be seen as the ritual law that foreshadowed Christ. To keep it around was clearly new wine in old wineskins and something was going to break. Your spiritual health depended on this. I am occasionally amazed at evangelical Christians who teach that someday the Jews will rebuild the temple and offer sacrifices and somehow that will be pleasing to God because they are ethically Israeli. After the perfection and cost of the Lamb of God on the Cross what makes a person think that a ritual sacrifice will be pleasing? It is a person who wants something different than what God wants. God doesn’t accept those sorts of sacrifices.

Peter had the testimony of these God fearing Greeks that God saved. Paul and Barnabas not only had testimonies about Gentiles who feared God and got saved but also about Gentiles that were fully pagan responding to the Gospel and getting saved. Everyone in the Church Council had a chance to think about what the Holy Spirit had done through Peter, Paul, and Barnabas. It is a blessing to see that Jesus’ half-brother James became a leader in the Church in Jerusalem. Peter starts the Council with a focus on God’s beginning work in the Gentiles and then brings it down to the Gospel of righteousness by faith alone and by grace alone. Then Paul and Barnabas testify of what God is doing across cultures and even in Pagan cities with little or no Jewish witness. Then James brings it all back to God’s promises and Scripture.

Acts 15:13-21 … After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’ Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

James, speaking to the Jews and using the most Jewish version of Peter’s name, points out that it is God who took people from the Gentiles to make them a people for his name and then he quotes Scripture. God doesn’t leave us to simply figure out right and wrong from results. God’s prophets told them what would happen. James quotes from the Old Testament (Amos 9:11-12).

Acts 15:22-29 … 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, with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 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.”

This letter from the Apostles and elders was then authoritative in the Church and those who were off teaching their own version of Christianity were reigned in (at least a little bit). This isn’t the end of the controversy but it was of comfort to the believers who were Gentiles. The letter recognized that it was the Holy Spirit directing this word to the Church. The requirements regarding food sacrificed to idols, blood, strangled animals, and sexual immorality. Harrison’s commentary on Acts points out that the council accomplished at least 5 things.

  1.      The gospel of divine grace was reaffirmed.

  2.      The unity of the church was safeguarded.

  3.      The evangelism of the Gentiles could proceed without hindrance. Most of Paul’s churches were founded after the council and they were Gentile churches.

  4.      The Gentile churches that had already been established were given encouragement.

  5.      The future of the church as a whole was guaranteed. 

Acts 15:30-35 … So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

The return trip strengthened the Church in Antioch. Eventually Judas and Silas returned to Jerusalem while Paul and Barnabas continued building up the Body of Christ in Antioch prior to their 2^nd missionary journey.