Acts 15

CHAPTER 15

The Council at Jerusalem (15:1-5)

1 Some men came down from Judea⁶⁴ to Antioch; these men were mainly Jewish Christians from the church in Jerusalem. Although they had become Christians, they still believed that it was necessary to observe the Jewish law, that is, the law of Moses. These Jewish Christians had heard about the great number of Gentiles turning to Christ in Antioch and the surrounding districts, and they worried that these Gentiles would bring “impurity” into the church. The Jews considered the Gentiles to be impure and sinful. And to a certain extent the Jews were correct. Compared with the Jews, the Gentiles were definitely more impure in their outward behavior—especially in the matter of fornication. Therefore, these strict Jewish Christians wanted to find a way to protect the church from being contaminated by the new Gentile believers. The solution to the problem, they decided, was to require the Gentile Christians to obey the law of Moses. In this way, they thought, the Gentiles could be made “pure.” So these Jewish Christians went to Antioch to teach the Gentile believers to obey the Jewish law.

But when the Jewish Christians got to Antioch, they added another teaching which was completely false. They began to teach that if the Gentiles did not become circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses—that is, if they did not obey the Jewish law completely—they could not be saved. This teaching was false, because man is saved only by God’s grace through faith, and not by any work of the law (see Galatians 2:15-16; Ephesians 2:89 and comments).

When the Jewish Christians first came to Antioch, Peter happened to be there also. Before they came, Peter had been having complete fellowship with the Gentile believers. But when the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem arrived, Peter, because of their teaching, stopped eating with the Gentile Christians. Even Barnabas soon fell into the same error along with Peter⁶⁵ (see Galatians 2:11-13). Paul immediately saw that because of this false teaching of the Jewish Christians, a great split was about to develop in the church. We know, however, that in the end Peter took Paul’s concern seriously, because a little later at the Jerusalem council described below, Peter took Paul’s side in the dispute that arose there (verses 7-11). Peter remembered how the Gentile Cornelius and his family had become Christians. It had not been necessary to circumcise them (Acts 10:44-48; 11:15-18).

These Jewish Christians from Jerusalem also carried their false teaching to the new Galatian churches established by Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. It was mainly to counter this false teaching that Paul wrote his New Testament letter to the Galatians.

2 The Christians at Antioch, especially Paul and Barnabas, did not accept the teaching of the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem. The matter could not be settled between the two parties. Therefore, the church at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas, together with some other believers, to discuss the matter with the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.

3-4 On the way to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas told the believers they met about how the Gentiles were turning to Christ.

5 The Jewish Christians who started the false teaching were mainly Pharisees, who were the strictest party among the Jews. (Paul himself was a Pharisee.) They insisted that the Gentile Christians must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”⁶⁶

Peter and James Give Their Opinions (15:6-21)

6-7 At the meeting, Peter got up and told the others about how God had commanded him to preach the Gospel to Cornelius and his family (Acts 10:19-20).

8-9 At that time Peter had learned that God made no distinction between Jews and Gentiles (Acts 10:34). Man is not made pure and righteous because of his work or his birth, but only because of his faith.

10 Peter said that they must not place on the “disciples (the Gentile Christians) a yoke (the Jewish law) that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear.”

The Jewish law was like a heavy yoke, because it contained hundreds of little rules that the Jews were required to obey. Except for the Pharisees, the Jews themselves found the law to be a heavy yoke. About the Pharisees Jesus had said, “They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders” (Matthew 23:4). But Peter had found that Jesus’ load was light, not heavy (Matthew 11:28-30). Why should the Jewish Christians now make these new Gentile believers obey all these unnecessary rules, which the Jews themselves found such a burden to obey?

11 Then Peter said an important thing: The Jews themselves could not be saved by obeying these rules. The Jews, like the Gentiles, were saved only by grace through faith. “… it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we (Jews) are saved, just as they (the Gentiles) are,” said Peter. Thus, if the Jews weren’t saved by obeying the law, how were the Gentiles going to be saved by obeying it?

12 When Peter had finished speaking, Paul and Barnabas told the assembly how God was bringing the Gentiles to faith in Christ. This was further clear proof that God accepted the Gentiles just as much as He accepted the Jews.

13-15 James, the younger brother of Jesus, was the main leader of the Jerusalem church at that time. James said that what Simon (Peter) had said was in agreement with the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets.

16-18 Then James quoted from Amos 9:11-12. The prophet Amos wrote that God would rebuild David’s fallen tent (verse 16). That is, God would restore David’s truekingdom—whichisthechurchof Christ. The remnant of men (verse 17) are the Jews who believe in Christ (see Romans 9:27; 11:5). Therefore, according to Amos’ prophecy, God would establish Christ’s kingdom, the church, so that both Jews and Gentiles may seek the Lord and find Him.

19 James made the judgment that it was not necessary for Gentile Christians to be circumcised or to obey the entire Jewish law.⁶⁷ “… we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God,” James said. There is no other requirement for salvation except the one given by God: namely, faith in Jesus Christ. So let no man add any additional ones!

20 But James requested that the Gentile Christians observe three things: first, let them not eat meat offered to idols; second, let them abstain from any kind of sexual immorality (that is, any sexual conduct forbidden by Jewish Law); and third, let them not eat any meat from which the blood had not been properly drained (Genesis 9:4; Acts 15:29).

Why did James ask the Gentile Christians to observe these three things? The reason is this. It was extremely important that the Jewish and Gentile Christians remain in fellowship with each other. The things about the Gentiles which the Jews detested most were their tendency to sexual immorality and their eating of unclean meat. Therefore, so that the Jewish Christians might not be given unnecessary of fense, let the Gentile believers not engage in these three practices. Let the Gentile believers refrain from these three things not by compulsion but freely, not to gain salvation but to show love for their Jewish brothers and sisters in the Lord (see Romans 14:15,19-21; 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 and comments).

21 Finally, James reminded the Jewish Christians that the Gentiles had many opportunities to learn about the Jewish law, because every Sabbath (Saturday) the law was read out loud in the Jewish synagogues. The law would not be forgotten. The Gentile Christians could be taught to respect the law. But for obtaining salvation the law was not necessary—neither for the Jew nor for the Gentile.

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers (15:22-35)

22 The leaders of the church in Jerusalem chose Judas and Silas to take a letter to the Gentile Christians of Antioch. Silas⁶⁸ (who was also called Silvanus, his Roman name) later became Paul’s traveling companion (verse 40).

23-29 The Jerusalem apostles began their letter by clearly opposing the Jewish Christians that had initially gone down from Judea to Antioch. Because it was these Jewish Christians who had, by their false teaching, caused all the trouble in the first place. They had gone to Antioch without any authorization from the Jerusalem apostles.

Then, in their letter, the apostles repeated the things that James had said before the council (verse 20). Here in verse 29, they instruct the Gentile believers to abstain from blood, from the meat of strangled animals. That means that the Gentile Christians were not to eat the meat of any animal from which the blood had not been properly drained at the time it was killed. An animal that had been killed by strangling would not have had its blood drained, and thus should not be eaten.

Notice that in verse 28 the apostles write: It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. The Holy Spirit was also present at that meeting. The Spirit had guided them. Let us remember that the Holy Spirit is present at all of our meetings. Whatever decision we come to, we need to be able to say: “This decision seems good to us and to the Holy Spirit.”

30-35 The Gentile Christians at Antioch received the apostles’ letter with gladness. The split that had threatened to come between the Jewish and Gentile Christians had been averted.

Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas (15:36-41)

36 Paul proposed to Barnabas that they visit again the new churches which they had established in Cyprus and Galatia. It was essential that they do this. A pastor or preacher has a duty to follow up those who have heard and accepted God’s word as the result of their preaching; they must at least appoint a representative to do this if they cannot do it themselves. Confirming new believers is just as important as converting unbelievers.

37-39 Paul was unhappy with Mark, because Mark had deserted Paul and Barnabas (verse 38) during their first mission-aryjourney (Acts 13:13). The Bible does not give the reason why Mark deserted them.

However, Barnabas, who was Mark’s cousin, wanted to take Mark with them. Paul would not agree, and so Paul and Barnabas decided not to travel together; from that time on, they each went their own way.

In one way, we are sad to read about this disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. We see their weakness. They are men like ourselves. Disagreements can arise even between good and godly men, and cause them to separate.

But, in another way, we can see a good side to this event. Paul and Mark were evidently not compatible with each other. It would have been unwise to force Mark to travel with Paul. We can guess that Mark’s spiritual development might have been thwarted if he had remained under Paul’s authority. But Barnabas believed that, in time, Mark would become a mature and effective disciple. Barnabas, more than Paul, would be able to help Mark grow spiritually. Thus we can see it was to Mark’s benefit that he and Barnabas went of f in one direction, while Paul and Silas went of f in another.

We know that in the end Barnabas’ assessment of Mark proved to be correct. Later on, Mark became an important colleague of Peter. He wrote the New Testament Gospel of Mark. And even Paul’s opinion changed as time passed, because some years later Mark became one of Paul’s closest colleagues (Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 23).

40-41 Another good thing resulted from the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas: instead of just one missionary team, there were now two. Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus, where Barnabas was born (Acts 4:36). And Paul and Silas went to Syria and Cilicia, where Paul was born (Acts 21:39). Thus began Paul’s second missionary journey.

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