Acts 15:1 - Meaning and Application

Even when a state or a church is doing well, it is foolish to feel secure and assume nothing can shake it. Some trouble will still arise, and often it cannot be predicted or stopped in advance, only met with care. If there was ever a kind of heaven on earth, it was the church at Antioch at this time, with many faithful ministers there and Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, building them up in the holy faith.

Yet even there, their peace was disturbed and disagreements arose. A new teaching had come in among them, and it caused this division. Certain men were teaching that Gentile believers had to submit to circumcision and the ceremonial law, the old Jewish rites and worship rules, in order to be saved (Acts 15:1). Many who had once become Jews later became Christians, and now they wanted Gentile Christians to become Jews as well.

The men who pushed this came down from Judea. Some think they had been Pharisees, a strict Jewish group, or perhaps among those priests who had obeyed the faith (Acts 15:5; Acts 6:7). They may have claimed to speak for the apostles in Jerusalem, or at least to have their support. They went to Antioch because it was the main center for work among the Gentiles, and if they could win people there, their teaching would spread to all the Gentile churches.

They worked their way in among the brothers, acted pleased with their conversion, and congratulated them on becoming Christians. But then they told them they still lacked one thing, they must be circumcised. Even people who have been well taught need to stay alert, or they may be taught badly again.

Their teaching was this: unless Gentiles who became Christians were circumcised according to Moses and took on the whole ceremonial law, they could not be saved. Many Jews who believed in Christ still kept a strong attachment to the law (Acts 21:20). They knew it came from God, valued it because it was ancient, and had grown up practicing it. They may also have felt sincere devotion when they took part in those rites.

So, after baptism brought them into the Christian church, they kept Jewish food laws, ceremonial washings, temple worship, and the Jewish feasts. They were allowed this, because habits formed in childhood are not easily removed at once. In time, the destruction of the temple and the end of the Jewish nation would make those practices impossible anyway. But it was not enough for them to keep these customs themselves, they wanted the Gentile believers to come under the same rules.

There is a strange tendency in us to make our own opinion and practice a rule for everyone else. We often judge all people by our standard and assume that if we are right, anyone who differs must be wrong.

These Jewish believers also had wrong ideas about the Messiah, the promised Savior. They could not let go of the hope that he would set up an earthly kingdom for the Jewish nation and make it glorious and victorious. It disappointed them that nothing was happening in that way.

Now that they heard Christ’s teaching was spreading among the Gentiles, they hoped that if they could get Gentile believers to take on Moses’ law too, their larger hope would still be achieved. Then, they thought, the Jewish nation would become more important, their religion and power would grow, and they might even throw off Roman rule. In their minds, this would finally bring the kind of Messiah’s kingdom they had imagined. It is no surprise when people with wrong ideas of Christ’s kingdom use wrong methods to promote it, and those methods may actually work against it.

This dispute over whether Gentile converts should be circumcised had been going on among the Jews long before this. Josephus tells of one case where Ananias said a Gentile could follow the Jewish religion without circumcision, while Eleazar insisted it was a serious sin to remain uncircumcised. Josephus also says that when two notable Gentiles came to him for help, the strict Jews strongly pressed for their circumcision, but he tried to dissuade them. Bigotry and moderation have always differed in this way.

These men put great weight on circumcision. They did not merely say it would be good if Gentile believers were circumcised, or that it would help them get along better with Jewish Christians. They said, “Unless you are circumcised, you cannot be saved.” In other words, if you do not agree with us and follow our way, you will never go to heaven.

That is how proud deceivers often speak. They force their own ideas on others and threaten damnation if people do not accept them. They tell people that unless they believe exactly as they do, or do exactly as they require, they cannot be saved. So the Jews told their brethren that unless they belonged to their church, joined their fellowship, and followed their worship customs, they could not be saved, even if they were otherwise good people and believers in Christ. No one should ever say, “Unless you do this or that, you cannot be saved,” unless they are clearly supported by God’s word.

Paul and Barnabas strongly opposed this divisive teaching, which was trying to reserve salvation for the Jews now that Christ had opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles (Acts 15:2). They had serious argument and disagreement with these men. They would not yield to the doctrine, and they publicly argued against it.

As faithful servants of Christ, they would not stand by and let his truth be betrayed.

They knew that Christ had come to free us from the burden of the ceremonial law and to tear down the barrier between Jews and Gentiles, uniting both in himself. So they could not bear to hear that Gentile converts should be circumcised when they had only been told to baptize them. The Jews wanted the Gentiles to fit into every one of their customs, and only then would they call them brothers, which was no real kindness at all. But since Christ never meant to unite them in that way, it must not be accepted.

As spiritual fathers to the Gentile converts, the apostles would not let their freedom be taken away. They had told the Gentiles that if they believed in Jesus Christ, they would be saved. Now to say that belief was not enough unless they were circumcised and kept the law of Moses would discourage them right at the start. It would place such a stumbling block in their path that it might almost drive them back to their old life, so the apostles stood firmly against it.

To prevent harm from this dangerous teaching and to silence those spreading it, they decided that Paul and Barnabas, along with some others, should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders to settle the matter. The church at Antioch did not doubt the truth of Christian freedom. But they sent the question to Jerusalem for three reasons. First, the men teaching this doctrine had come from Jerusalem and claimed apostolic backing, so it was proper to ask whether Jerusalem had really given such orders. Second, if the believers there saw that the apostles and elders at Jerusalem opposed this teaching, they would be more settled in their own minds, since Jerusalem still had strong ties to the law of Moses. Third, the apostles at Jerusalem were the best people to consult on a matter not yet fully settled, because they had the special, God-given authority of apostles.

Paul and Barnabas traveled to Jerusalem on this mission, and their journey was honored by the church. They were brought on their way as a sign of respect to useful servants, a practice that is commended as being done in a worthy way (3 John 1:6). In this way, the church showed support for those who defended the freedom of Gentile believers. They also used the journey well, not wasting time. Passing through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told the churches about the conversion of the Gentiles and the great success of the gospel among them, which brought great joy to all the brothers. The spread of the gospel should always be a cause for joy. All believers rejoice when more are brought into Christ’s family, because there is room and inheritance enough for all.

At Jerusalem, they were warmly welcomed. The church, the apostles, and the elders received them as brothers and listened to them as messengers from Antioch. In return, Paul and Barnabas told them everything God had done with them. They did not boast about what they had done, but gave glory to God for what he had done through them. God had enabled them to plant the gospel, and now, in coming back, they had watered what was planted. In both cases, they freely admitted that God gave the increase. It is a great honor to be used by God, because those who serve him also have him working with them, and he must receive all the glory.

Still, they met opposition from the same party in Jerusalem. When Barnabas and Paul reported the large number of Gentiles and the great harvest of souls gathered to Christ, everyone rejoiced, except for some believers from the sect of the Pharisees. These men received the news coldly and believed that the Gentile converts still needed to be circumcised. This shows that people who once resisted the gospel can still be won by it, for God’s power breaks strong defenses. In Christ’s time, few rulers or Pharisees believed in him, but now some from that sect had believed, and many of them likely did so sincerely. It also shows how hard it is for people to quickly shed old habits of thought. Some who had once been Pharisees kept part of their old way of thinking even after becoming Christians. Not all did, as Paul himself shows, but some did. Their loyalty to the ceremonial law and their suspicion of the Gentiles made them think the Gentiles could not belong in the fellowship unless they were circumcised and took on the law of Moses. In their view, this was necessary, and they would not associate with the Gentiles unless they submitted to it.