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Sunday, October 31, 2004 Acts 15 (BSF this week)Someone mentioned to me that a study of Acts will be challenging, and indeed it is. This week's BSF chapters particularly. Not because of the doctrine (salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ), which is a truth we all here have embraced (thanks to God for His revelation of that truth). But the whole scenario surrounding the huge issue that this was at the time of Acts 15 in the early church.I have known many of the various bits of the story but never put it all together in context, and seen how the major players - Paul, James, Peter etc - were affected by this issue. Here's just a few snippets for anyone who's interested to read it all in historical context, and think about the various ones. As the church at Antioch in Syria grew, the number of Gentile believers was increasing, and these as well as being uncircumcised had a very different attitude to the law to that of the Jewish Christians. We can presume that the Jewish Christians were concerned about the number of Gentiles that were joining the church because the church was losing its' Jewish flavour (ref. Hebrews), the past efforts of law-abiding Jews were being devalued, and it seems it was very difficult for Jewish believers steeped in the law and ceremonies of Moses to accept salvation by grace (plus nothing). So, the very first Church Council of apostles and elders met in Jerusalem to thrash out the issue of circumcision. This culminated in a letter being sent to the church at Antioch, setting out four requirements for Gentile believers (4 things that would cause great offence to the Jewish believers, so to be avoided) but making it clear that circumcision (as a mark of legalism, adding to grace alone) was not required for salvation. James (in charge in Jerusalem by now?) used scripture (Amos 9:11-12) and God's revelation to Peter as the basis for the decision. This Jerusalem Council meeting achieved some great things, including formal acceptance of Gentile believers, moving the church on from its' Jewish roots, church unity, and the establishment of the doctrine of salvation by grace for Jews and Gentiles alike (I found the statement by Peter in Acts 15:11 a very big one "But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will"). The BSF study then took us off into Galatians, where Paul writes about the dangers of the "false brothers" who continued to oppose his ministry and message, calling them by various names including "the circumcision group" (NIV, Gal2:11-13), those trying to be justified by law - fallen from grace. Incidentally, Paul seems to have been dogged all his life by these "false brothers" (and I sometimes get surprised when I find them even today!) In Gal1:4 Paul outlines the true gospel (Jesus gave himself for our sins) and describes "another gospel" (adulterated, adding anything else in the way of legalism, works, method). Examples some gave of "other gospels" we have today included requirements of baptism, tongues, communion, church attendance. Apparently Gal2:1-10 refers to the same Jerusalem Council as in Acts 15. Paul has strong support for his message (James, Peter & John, v.9). Then Gal2:11-21 refers to a later date - and Peter fails in being an example of grace alone, because of his fear of man's disapproval and presumably a strong sense of tradition in the Jewish customs and desire not to offend fellow Jews. By his actions, Peter was reinforcing a separation between Jews and Gentiles. Anyway, Peter graciously accepted Paul's rebuke. I was also impressed by Paul's character (Gal1:10) in being willing to not seek approval of man in this issue that was so divisive and yet, as Paul recognised, so fundamentally significant for individuals in the Antioch and Galatia churches, and for the church itself. Gary, have a good morning with Paul B. Tell us about it! Fred is lecturing Monday. I will attempt to answer you about small-brained humans shortly... # posted by geoff @ 9:27 am 0 comments
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