Acts 15:6 - Meaning and Application

Here we see a council called, not by formal order, but by agreement for this occasion (Acts 15:6). The apostles and elders came together to consider the matter. They did not give their judgment separately, but met together so they could hear one another’s views. In a large number of counselors there is safety, and there is also comfort.

They also did not decide too quickly. Even if they were clear in their own minds, they still took time to think it through and to hear what the other side could say. Nor did the apostles decide without the elders, the lower-ranking ministers. In doing so, they showed respect to them and gave them honor. Those with the greatest gifts and the highest places in the church should respect younger and lower-ranking ministers, because wisdom is not limited to age alone (Job 32:7-8).

This gives pastors a good pattern for times of disagreement. When hard questions arise, they should meet in solemn gatherings for counsel and encouragement. In that way, they can learn one another’s views, strengthen one another’s hands, and act together.

Peter’s speech comes next in this council. He did not claim any special rank or headship over the meeting. He was not the master of the assembly, nor even the chair for this occasion. We do not find him opening the discussion, since there had already been much debate before he stood up, and we do not find him closing it either. He spoke as a faithful, wise, and earnest member, and what he said was especially fitting because he had been the first to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

There had already been much speaking on both sides of the question, and that was proper. The Pharisees who believed were there, and they were allowed to present their case for their view, probably answered by some of the elders. Such matters should be fully discussed before they are settled. When both sides had been heard, Peter stood and addressed them, “Men and brothers,” as James later did (Acts 15:13).

First, Peter reminded them of the call and commission he had already received to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He was surprised that anyone would still question a matter already settled. They knew that, from the beginning of the gospel days, God had chosen him from among the apostles to preach to the Gentiles, and he had been the one through whom they heard the word and believed (Acts 15:7). They also knew that he had already answered earlier questions about this, and everyone had rejoiced that God had granted the Gentiles repentance that leads to life (Acts 11:18). No one had then said a word about circumcision. So why should the Gentiles who heard the gospel through Paul now be forced to submit to circumcision? Why should the terms of their welcome now be made harder than they were before?

Second, Peter reminded them how clearly God had approved his preaching to the Gentiles and shown that their faith was real (Acts 15:8). “God,” who knows the heart and judges people truly, gave them the Holy Spirit as proof that they belonged to him. He gave them not only inner grace and comfort, but also the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, just as he had given them to the apostles. This shows that the Lord knows those who are his, because he knows the heart. We are, in a true sense, what our hearts are.

When God gives people the Holy Spirit, he is marking them as his own. That is why believers are said to be sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, marked out for God. God had welcomed the Gentiles into fellowship with him without requiring circumcision or the law. Then why should the church refuse them fellowship unless they accept those terms? God has made no difference between us and them (Acts 15:9). They are just as welcome to Christ’s grace and to the throne of grace as Jewish believers are. So why should we put them at a distance, as if we were holier than they are?

We should not make any conditions for accepting our brothers and sisters that God has not made for accepting them himself (Romans 14:3). The Gentiles had been made fit for fellowship with God because their hearts had been purified by faith, and that faith was God’s own work in them. So why should anyone say they were unfit for fellowship with the church unless they submitted to the outward cleansing required by the Jewish law? By faith the heart is purified. Through faith, we are not only declared right with God, but our conscience is also cleansed, and the work of making us holy begins and continues. Those whose hearts are purified by faith become so alike in the things that matter most that lesser differences should carry no weight. The faith of all believers is precious and has the same precious results (2 Peter 1:1). Since faith unites them to Christ, it also joins them to one another, so even the difference between Jew and Gentile is swallowed up in that union.

Third, Peter sharply rebuked those teachers, some of whom were likely present, who tried to place the Gentiles under the law of Moses again (Acts 15:10). The issue was so clear that he could not speak without some heat. “Now then,” he said, “since God has already owned them as his own, why are you trying God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, the believing Gentiles and their children?” Circumcision was a burden even on their children, who are here counted among the disciples. It was a yoke that neither their fathers nor they themselves had been able to bear.

In doing this, they were guilty of a serious insult to God. They were questioning what he had already settled and confirmed by giving the Holy Spirit. In effect, they were asking whether he had known what he was doing, whether he had been sincere, or whether he would stand by his own action. It was as if they were testing whether God, who had appointed the ceremonial law for the Jews alone, would now bring the Gentiles under it in order to satisfy them. People try God when they dictate terms to him and say that no one can be saved except on conditions God never appointed. That is as if the God of salvation had to take his instructions from them.

They were also doing great wrong to the disciples. Christ came to proclaim freedom to captives, and they were trying to enslave those whom he had set free (Nehemiah 5:8).

The ceremonial law was a heavy burden. It was hard for people and their ancestors to carry, because its rules were so many, so varied, and so showy. Even the food laws made daily life harder, not only because they limited social life, but because they burdened the conscience with endless questions.

The concern over touching a grave or a dead body, and all the rules about becoming unclean and then being made clean again, were also a heavy load. Christ came to free us from that burden. He called the weary and the weighed-down to come to him and take his easy yoke. So for these teachers to try to place that same burden on Gentiles, which Christ had come to remove even from the Jews, was a great wrong.

Peter had already shown that circumcision was not necessary for salvation. In fact, both Jews and Gentiles are saved only through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in no other way (Acts 15:11). We believe we are saved by that grace alone. The same grace saves the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Circumcision gives no advantage to us, and uncircumcision gives no disadvantage to them. We all must depend on Christ’s grace for salvation, and receive that grace by faith, just as they do. There is not one way of salvation for Jews and another for Gentiles. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters here, but faith that works through love (Galatians 5:6). Why should the Gentiles be burdened with the law of Moses as if it were necessary for salvation, when the gospel of Christ is necessary for both their salvation and ours?

Barnabas and Paul then spoke to the council. Their report did not need much explanation, because they simply repeated what had already been recorded in the earlier chapters, the miracles and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them (Acts 15:12). They had already told the church at Antioch about this (Acts 14:27), and they had told their fellow believers along the way (Acts 15:3). Now they told the council, and it was very fitting that they should. The issue was whether Gentiles must submit to Moses’ law. In answer, Paul and Barnabas gave a plain account of facts showing that God had approved the preaching of the pure gospel to Gentiles without the law. To force the law on them now would be to undo what God had done.

They declared, with all the details that made it both impressive and moving, what great miracles, signs, and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. God had confirmed their message by miracles in the world of nature, and he had given success to their work by miracles in the life of grace. In this way, God honored these apostles, whom the Jewish teachers were condemning, and he honored the Gentiles, whom those teachers despised. What further defense did they need when God himself had spoken for them? The conversion of the Gentiles was itself a wonder, all things considered, and was no less than a miracle. If they received the Holy Spirit by hearing and believing the gospel, why should they now be troubled with the works of the law? (Galatians 3:2)

The whole crowd listened in silence and gave Paul and Barnabas a hearing. They had not voted, but they had gathered to hear what was being said. It seems they paid more attention to this report than to all the arguments before it. In natural science and medicine, nothing is more convincing than experiments. In law, nothing is more convincing than settled cases. In the things of God, the clearest explanation of the word of grace is often the account of what the Spirit of grace has done. So people listen quietly when someone can tell them what God has done for their soul, or through them (Psalm 66:16).

Then James spoke to the council. He did not interrupt Paul and Barnabas, though he likely had already heard their report. He let them finish for the good of the whole group and so their account could be heard firsthand. After they were done, James stood up. God is a God of order. He allowed Paul and Barnabas to speak, and then James drew out the lesson from what they had said. Hearing several ministers may be helpful when one truth strengthens another.

He began with respect: “Men and brothers, listen to me.” You are men, so it is to be hoped that you will listen to reason. You are my brothers, so you will hear me kindly. We are all brothers, and we all care about this matter. Nothing should be done that dishonors Christ or troubles Christians.

Then he referred to what Peter had said about the Gentiles coming to faith (Acts 15:14). “Simeon,” that is, Simon Peter, had already explained how God first visited the Gentiles in Cornelius and his friends, the first Gentile believers. When the gospel first began to spread, the Gentiles were quickly invited to receive it. James notes two things. First, the grace of God was the beginning of it. God visited the Gentiles. It was a gracious visit. If they had been left to themselves, they would never have come to him. The first move came from God. He not only visited and redeemed his own people, but also those who were not his people. Second, the glory of God was the goal of it. God was taking out of the Gentiles a people for his name, people who would honor him and in whom he would be honored. Just as he once chose the Jews, so now he was choosing Gentiles to be for him a name, a praise, and a glory (Jeremiah 13:11). All God’s people should remember that their honor exists so that God may be glorified in them.

James then strengthened this point with a quotation from the Old Testament. He could not prove the calling of the Gentiles by a vision, as Peter could, or by miracles done through his hand, as Paul and Barnabas could. But he could show that it had been foretold in Scripture, and therefore it must be fulfilled (Acts 15:15). The prophets agreed on this. Most of the Old Testament prophets spoke, in one way or another, about Gentiles being brought in, even Moses himself (Romans 10:19).

It was the common hope of devout Jews that the Messiah would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). But James passes over the more famous prophecies and points to one that may seem less obvious, from Amos 9:11, 12. There, God promises to restore “the tabernacle of David,” that is, the royal house and kingdom of David, which had fallen into ruin.

God’s covenant was made with David and his descendants, but David’s house is called his “tabernacle” because David began life as a shepherd who lived in tents. By James’s day, that house had indeed sunk low. No king from David’s line had ruled for many ages, the scepter had left Judah, and the royal family had been buried in obscurity.

Yet God said he would raise it up again, like a phoenix from the ashes. This was fulfilled when Jesus Christ, from David’s family, was raised up and given the throne of his father David, with the promise that he would reign over the house of Jacob forever (Luke 1:32, 33). When David’s tabernacle was rebuilt in Christ, the rest of that royal house soon disappeared altogether. The Jewish nation itself was later destroyed, and their family records were lost.

The church of Christ may also be called the tabernacle of David. At times it may be brought very low and seem to be in ruins, but God will build it again. Its fading work will revive. It may be cast down, but it will not be destroyed. Even dry bones can be made alive.

The rebuilding of David’s house would also lead to the calling of the Gentiles, as Amos goes on to say, “that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord” (Acts 15:17). This does not mean only the Jews, who thought they had the whole claim to David’s kingdom, but all the rest of mankind, those who had long been outside the visible church. Once David’s tabernacle is restored, they too are brought to seek the Lord and to ask how they may receive his favor.

When David’s tabernacle is set up, they will seek the Lord their God and David their king (Hosea 3:5; Jeremiah 30:9). Then Israel will possess the remnant of Edom, but the Jews used “Edom” for the Gentiles in general. That is why the Greek version reads here, as James quotes it, “that the rest of mankind may seek,” and “all the Gentiles who are called by my name.” God had long shown special favor to Israel, so the rest of mankind seemed overlooked. But now God would turn his eye to the Gentiles too.

His name would be called upon among them. It would be made known and spoken among them, and they would come to know him and call on him. In this way, they would call themselves God’s people, and he would call them his own. By agreement on both sides, his name would be called on them.

This promise can be trusted, because the Lord says, “the Lord, who does these things.” The one who speaks is the one who acts. He says it because he has already determined to do it, and he does it because he has said it. With us, speaking and doing are two separate things, but not with God. The joining of Jews and Gentiles into one body, and everything done to bring that about, was the Lord’s work, whatever human messengers he used. It was also pleasing to him, for he is the God of the Gentiles as well as the Jews, and it honors him to be rich in mercy to all who call on him.

James then brings the matter back to God’s purpose and plan: “Known to God are all his works from eternity” (Acts 15:18). God not only foretold the calling of the Gentiles long ago by the prophets, so it should not surprise or trouble us, but he also foresaw and planned it in his eternal counsel. His plans are wise and fixed.

This is a good rule for all God’s works, in providence and in grace, in both the natural and spiritual world. They were all known to him from the beginning, from the time he first began to work, which means they were known to him before the world began, from eternity. Whatever God does, he first planned and determined to do. He works according to the counsel of his will, not merely according to his will alone (Psalm 135:6). He does not only carry out what he decided, he also decided what he would do.

We do not know our own works ahead of time. We must act as each case comes. We cannot tell what we will do until the moment arrives (1 Samuel 10:7). But all God’s works are known to him. In the book of his truth, they are written out in order, without crossing out or adding in (Psalm 40:7; Daniel 10:21). When all is reviewed, his works will be seen to match his counsel exactly, with no mistake and no change.

We are weak and short-sighted. Even the wisest people can see only a little way ahead, and not with certainty. But this is our comfort: while we face uncertainty, there is perfect certainty in God’s foreknowledge. Known to God are all his works.

James then gives his judgment about what should be done in the present matter concerning the Gentiles (Acts 15:19). “My sentence is,” he says, meaning, “this is my opinion or judgment,” not as one who rules over the others, but as one advising with them. His advice is that circumcision and the observance of the ceremonial law, the outward rules given under Moses, must not be imposed on Gentile believers, not even lightly suggested to them.

There were many Gentiles turning to God in Christ, and James hoped for many more. So he urges that they be treated with great tenderness, and that no hardship or discouragement be placed on them. The Gentile believers should not be troubled with anything that would unsettle them, stir up doubts, or burden their consciences.

Great care must be taken not to discourage young believers with disputed questions. The main truths of religion, which an awakened conscience can gladly receive, should be taught clearly and deeply first. Those truths will satisfy them and bring them peace. Matters that are secondary or external should not be pressed on them in a way that only creates trouble.

The kingdom of God, the life believers are being trained for, is not about food and drink. It is not about pressing or fighting over matters that are indifferent, because those only cause trouble. Rather, it is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, and those things do not trouble anyone.

Yet it would still be good if Gentile believers gave way in some matters that most offended the Jews. If they must not yield so far as to be circumcised and keep the whole law, that does not mean they should keep opposing the Jews on every point or try to provoke them. It would please the Jews, and if a small concession can win them over, it is better to do that than to offend them, if the Gentile converts would avoid things that especially troubled Jewish believers.

First, they should abstain from pollutions of idols and from sexual immorality. Those are always wrong and must always be avoided. James, the brother of Jesus and leader in the Jerusalem church, points them out especially because the Jews were suspicious of the Gentile converts and feared they would fall into those sins. The apostles had already been careful, both in preaching and in writing to Gentile Christians, to warn them against idolatry and all uncleanness. They were told not to join idolaters in idol worship, especially in the meals connected with idol sacrifices (1 Corinthians 10:14, etc.; 2 Corinthians 6:14, etc.). They were also warned strongly against fornication and every kind of sexual impurity, as Paul later does at length (1 Corinthians 6:9-15; Ephesians 5:3, etc.).

The Jews, who were ready to think badly of people they disliked, claimed that Gentiles still allowed themselves these sins, and that Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, overlooked them. To remove that false charge and leave no place for slander, James advises that, besides the private warnings given by their ministers, they should also be publicly told to avoid idolatry and sexual immorality. They needed to be especially careful and avoid even the appearance of these sins, since they would offend the Jews in a very direct way.

Second, they should also abstain from things strangled and from blood. These were not sinful in themselves in the same way as the first two, and they were not meant to be forever forbidden to all people. But they had been prohibited in God’s command to Noah long before the law of Moses (Genesis 9:4), and the Jews had a deep dislike for them and for anyone who freely used them. So, to avoid giving offense, the Gentile believers should limit their liberty here too (1 Corinthians 8:9, 13). In this way, we should become all things to all people.

James then gives the reason for his advice. Great respect should be shown to the Jews, because they had been so long used to the solemn commands of the ceremonial law, the outward religious laws that shaped their worship. They could not be expected to leave those customs at once. Moses has had people preaching him in every city (Acts 15:21), because his writings were read in the synagogues every Sabbath day. So the Jews had many reasons to hold Moses in high honor. They knew God spoke through Moses. Moses was continually preached to them, and they were often called to remember his law (Malachi 4:4). Even the Scriptures that are written for us still need to be preached, because people who have the Bible still need ministers to help them understand and apply it.

His writings were also read in a solemn religious way in their synagogues, at the very time and place where they gathered to worship God. From childhood, they had been trained to regard Moses’ law as part of their religion. This had been done for a long time, so they had inherited an honor for Moses from their fathers. And this was true in every city where Jews lived, so none of them could claim ignorance of how strongly that law pressed these matters. The gospel has set believers free from these things, but the Jews could not be blamed if they were slow to let them go, or if they could not at once see as unnecessary and indifferent things that they, and their fathers before them, had long been taught, and taught by God, to treat as part of religion. So time must be given to them. They must be met halfway, borne with for a while, and led on gradually. We should give in as far as we can without giving up our gospel liberty.

In this, the apostle shows a spirit of moderation. He is careful to give no offense to either Jew or Gentile. As much as possible, he seeks to please both sides and provoke neither. We should not think it strange when people are strongly attached to customs passed down from their fathers, especially when they have been raised to think of them as holy. In such cases, allowances must be made, and harshness should be avoided.