Teaching Text

Acts 15:1-29

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.” 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. 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. 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.

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.”

The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 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. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 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? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

“‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,

that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
 even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things, things known from long ago. “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers.With them they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul—men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

Sermon Recap

This week, Pastor Suzy Silk continued our series through the Book of Acts, The Fifth Act, by teaching on Act 15 and the critical role it can play in defining the time in history we are currently living in. The Early Church was still a primarily Jewish community, and as the Gentiles began to be integrated in, it disrupted their normal practices, despite Gentiles receiving the same gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 10. A council of elders and leaders is called in Jerusalem to discuss how they should handle the influx of Gentile brothers and sisters, and the conclusion they came to should shape how we see people becoming Christians today: salvation is given by grace through faith in Jesus the Messiah—there is no other requirement.

Obedience isn’t required, but as we grow in discipleship, following Jesus will be expressed in obedience. The example laid out by the apostle James in Acts 15 shows us how to integrate former non-believers into a Messiah-following faith: by turning away from idols, offering our bodies as a sacrifice through sexual purity, and through studying the Scriptures. This passage also sheds light on God’s plan of redemption for the Jewish community. Though the elders’ plans for harmonious integration of both Jewish and Gentile people, the story of the Church in the 4th century onwards resulted in antisemitism, persecution, and pushing Jewish people out of the Christian faith. In Romans 11, Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to speak about the end times, when an influx of Jews will come to know Jesus as the Messiah. Though we have not yet seen the fullness of this promise, Pastor Suzy challenged us to consider how we will respond when it is fulfilled. Will we be willing to set aside our own culture and background, becoming all things to all people, in order that the Jewish people around us can be saved—aware that this has been their faith all along?

This week, we invite you to join into God’s redemptive story for both the Gentiles and the Jewish people. If you’ve never received salvation, you can repent and believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and that through Him, you have access to the free gift of salvation and forgiveness. If you are a new believer, you can grow in obedience by turning from idols and living wholeheartedly for God, by offering your body to God in sexual purity, and by studying the Word. Lastly, if you have been a believer for a while, you can enter into a posture of humility by boldly praying for and sharing the Gospel with the nations and the Jewish people in your life.