Acts 15:7-11 KJV "Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
The apostles and elders assembled in Jerusalem for an eventful conference to clarify the New Testament message of grace. Some of the Jews in Judea wanted to enforce the circumcision tradition along with the message of grace preached to the Gentiles. Peter was led providentially into a situation at Samaria with a Gentile family and uncircumcised men were led into the faith in the same manner as the believers at Pentecost had experienced without circumcision. When all the assembly at the conference heard this they were silenced and the issue died. There were no
counter arguments to be made against Peter.
James, the leader of the conference, knowing that the silence did not mean total consent presented a compromise that helped to ease the intensity of the debate. He knew that Amos and Jeremiah had prophesied the Gentile conversion and what Peter had done was in line with the Old Testament. But to ease things he stipulated to the missionaries going to the Gentiles they should insist that the new converts abstain from eating meat not killed in a Jewish manner and meat offered to pagan idols. He also insisted that all converts abstain from all sexual immorality. This would "silence" the Jews, keep them happy, and the missionaries would be free to preach to the Gentiles.
Peter's thesis met an anti-thesis, circumcision, and the thesis remained without synthesis. James presented an anti-thesis to the thesis and a synthesis was conceived. So goes the history of Christianity. Synthesis after synthesis were conceived after antithesis were offered. People have been trying to add conditions to grace in order please someone.
However we know the whole story as unfolded in the New Testament. The Jews were not silenced; they followed the missionaries stirring up trouble. The missionaries did not follow the conditions and preached unconditional grace received by faith in Christ's atonement. They did naturally insist on abstinence from sexual immorality. Particularly, Paul's letters to the Romans and Galatians clarify the message of grace to the Gentiles. The letters of James and Hebrews attempt to clarify to the Jews the message of grace.
Salvation through grace apart from works is the thesis. This message must not be compromised.
It's necessity is rooted deeply in the biblical message of depravity. Man is hopeless to rescue himself and is totally dependent on a greater power outside himself. If God does not act first there is no redemption and man is eternally lost, without exception. This first act of God we call grace. No act of man ever comes before God. Repentance, confession, baptism; all acts of man follow God's grace.
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2 comments:
So, was the Jerusalem Conference about compromise? Was the gospel of grace compromised in Jerusalem by the Apostles? Your post seems to imply such.
There was an attempted compromise by James (It seems good to me, my judgement) to apease the Jews scattered throughout the world. It could have been a necessary compromise at the time due to the explosive nature of things in Jerusalem. Perhaps this is a lesson in "holding and folding". Did they play "five card draw"?
But no, the gospel was not compromised as Peter, Paul and Barnabas went forth not adhering to the conditions except sexual immorality.
Thanks for the comment! Come back often.
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