Defend My Faith

Acts Chapter 15

By Kelly McDonald Jr.

In Acts chapter 15, there was a dispute about Gentile converts to Christianity. Should these converts be circumcised in order to be saved? This discussion generated a lot of controversy.

Common Argument: Unfortunately, some have used Acts chapter 15 to say that the early Apostles negated or cancelled the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath. Another argument used is that this Council declared the law of God to be a yoke of bondage.

Think it through: How could a council of believers change the entirety of the Old Testament? Using this reasoning we could just gather some church leaders together and come up with whatever standards we wanted to without regard to the Bible. Remember that the early disciples did not have a New Testament. The Old Testament and the sayings of Jesus were the only sources that the early Apostles used in their teachings.

Short Answer: In Acts 15, the Apostles clarified the minimum requirements for Gentiles to attend synagogues. They encouraged them to learn about and keep the commandments of God in verse 21. The Ten Commandments are repeated throughout the New Testament (CLICK HERE to read an article on this subject).

Longer Answer: First, we will start with the verses about the subject, which will make the article a little longer than normal.

“Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: ‘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 brothers 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 obey 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 made no distinction 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 the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers 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’” (Acts 15:1-11, NIV).

Some have said that the “yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear” is the commandments of God. One of the ways we determine the meaning of verses is to examine context and other verses. What does the Bible say about God’s law?

Deut. 30:11-14 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

I John 5:2-3 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

James 1:25 “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does”.

God said that His own law was easy to keep. Even John and James, New Testament writers, attest to the freedom that commandments of God provide. They are not burdensome. The Ten Commandments are repeated throughout the New Testament (CLICK HERE to read an article on this subject).

So what is the yoke of bondage? The question that the apostles and elders met to consider in Acts 15 was whether or not circumcision was a requirement for Gentiles to be saved. One of the groups mentioned in this discussion was the Pharisees. Here’s what Jesus said about them.

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:2-4, KJV).

The Pharisees were notorious for man-made rules that put burdens on people’s shoulders. This caused people to trust in human effort instead of looking to God. He rebuked them on other occasions (see Matthew 15:1-20). Later in Matthew 23, Jesus pointed out that they only wanted the outward show and treated widows badly. Clearly, they were not obeying God’s law.

The “yoke” that Peter refers to is the yoke of man-made rules.

Salvation by human effort is impossible. If circumcision was a necessary requirement for salvation, then we could earn our salvation. That would make the sacrifice of Christ of none effect.

In Ezekiel chapter 20, God rebuked the Israelites for being disobedient to His laws and commandments. He said, “So I gave them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live” (verse 25, NIV). Because the Israelites refused to listen to God’s rules which were good for them and easy to live by, they were given over to rules that they could not live by. This means by reverse logic the Laws of God are easy to keep.

When the apostles conferred to decide how to handle this question in Acts 15, they decided 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 Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath” (Acts 15:19-21, NIV).

These four commands are the minimum requirements for Gentiles so that they could attend the Synagogue and learn the law on the Sabbath. Notice that the Apostles even specify what they want Gentile converts to learn (Moses), where they want them to learn it (Synagogue), and when they want them to learn it (Sabbath)!

Some teachers have insinuated that these four requirements are the only four things Gentile believers in Jesus are required to obey. This interpretation has serious problems because lying, stealing, coveting, idol worship, and a host of other sins are not listed either. Paul said thieves, coveters, and drunkards will not enter the Kingdom (I Cor. 6:9-10; see also Rev. 21:8). We cannot support an interpretation of the Bible that enables people to think these behaviors are acceptable.

When we read Acts chapter 15 in context, we can understand that the apostles are establishing a minimum level of conduct for Gentiles so they can attend synagogue and hear the Word of God.

This same command is repeated to believers in Judea in Acts 21:17-26. In the second mentioning of this decision, we learn something very important about the life of Paul, God’s chosen instrument to carry the gospel to the Gentiles.

“When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: ‘You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.’ The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when their days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them” (NIV).

In these verses, Paul was questioned by his Jewish friends. Reports came to them that claimed he was teaching Gentiles to turn away from the law. Paul is then tested by his fellow brothers: If he participated in the purification vows of the men, then he would show that the reports are not true and that he is obedient to the law (and teaches others to do the same). In the latter half of this passage, Paul participated in the purification vows of these men to confirm that he never taught against the Law or break it himself.

You must remember two things: circumcision was the sign of the Old Covenant and the first believers in Christ were Jewish. This explains why this became a big issue in the early church.

It takes time to learn God’s ways and walk them out. Realizing this, the apostles made the initial requirements simple; there had to be some minimum level of commitment to show that they were serious about forsaking their old way of life.

For Gentile converts in the first decades after Christ’s resurrection, the only way to hear the Word of God was to go to a Synagogue and the only day for them to hear it was on the Sabbath.

Kelly McDonald, Jr.

BSA President www.biblesabbath.org