The Jerusalem Conference

 

Church controversy has always existed, and in some cases, it’s even controversy born out of misunderstanding another controversy. Such is the case with a story we were given in Acts. In Acts chapter 15, we find a controversy between two factions. One faction thinks the gentiles have to become Jewish in order to have salvation, and the other faction disagrees because the gentiles were offered salvation outside of becoming Jewish, annnndd, these Pharisees were trying to enforce requirements on the gentiles for salvation that Jews themselves had never had for salvation. Requirements that God did not give for salvation. We find these requirements in Acts 15:5

But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command [them] to keep the law of Moses."

This sect of the Pharisees demanded that the gentiles be circumcised and that they were to keep the oral law and traditions. Peter strongly objected to this, however, and he stated that God had recognized the gentiles equally with the Jews.

Acts 15:8-9 NKJV "So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as [He did] to us, 

9 "and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

The Holy Spirit had fallen on believing gentiles without them first becoming Jewish, and this is the important thing to remember as we go into verse ten.

10 "Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Peter declared that this was a yoke that their fathers had not had to bear, so why should they seek to place this burden on the Gentiles? Jealousy mostly. Jews had always looked down on gentiles as less than them because Jews were the chosen people, now God had swept aside their biases and given the gentiles His Spirit at the same time that He had given it to the Jews. Not only the high ranking Pharisees either, but the average Joe Jew as well. The Pharisees had conveniently forgotten that gentiles had always been able to worship God according to the Bible.  They had not been equal according to the Jew’s oral law, however. Peter’s point is that these man-made ideas weren’t to be required for salvation, because God had not required them for salvation. 

I say man-made because when the Jews of old referred to the law of Moses, they were not referring to God’s law but to the oral law supposedly also handed down by Moses from rabbi to rabbi from generation to generation. Christ Himself took issue with this so-called “law” many times when He said, “You have heard it said,” and then contrasted it with, “but it is written” or, “I say to you.” He constantly clashed with the Pharisees over the fact that they held their oral man-made traditions of higher value than the law of God written in the Old Testament. This is the law that the Pharisee sect was referring to, not the law of God. 

This becomes important as we go on because it sheds great light on the apostle’s response.     

Acts 15:11 NKJV "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they."

Peter goes on to say that salvation comes for all men through the grace given to us by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is an important distinction because the Pharisees had always known that salvation isn’t possible through keeping the law of God, or any law for that matter. Peter then sits down, and James takes up where Peter left off, and we’ll jump in at his conclusion, 

Acts 15:19 "Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,

James makes the delineation that the gentiles in question are new believers who are “turning to God.” These are not advanced believers but those new to the faith. James was advocating for not overwhelming them with too much information all at once. This is born out in his next words.

Acts 15:20-21 NKJV "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, [from] sexual immorality, [from] things strangled, and [from] blood. 

21 "For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."

James gives basic instructions that they should adhere to as the first things gentiles ought to be taught. This is where the controversy born out of misunderstanding comes into play. These two verses are commonly used to support arguments that the law of God has been done away with. However, upon the closer inspection of these verses, something else altogether can be seen. 

The first thing to notice is that these gentiles were already Sabbath keepers, as can be seen from verse 21. Working backward from here, we see that the instructions James gives are mere starting points, not the entirety of what they are supposed to be doing. If these four things were all that the gentiles were to keep, then parents need not be honored, stealing is okay, and murder is fine. 

Obviously, this is not the case at all. Rather, James says that the gentiles will learn everything through hearing Moses read every Sabbath. Note that James specifies that Moses will be “read.” This is the written law of God, not the oral traditions of the Pharisees. 

One of the ways we can confirm this are the commands James himself gives. 

Acts 15:20 NKJV "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, [from] sexual immorality, [from] things strangled, and [from] blood.

These commands are quite significant because James didn’t just pull these out of thin air; no, these are commands found in the Old Testament, the law of God. Half of these laws aren’t in the Ten Commandments, they come from other parts of God’s law. If the law of God had indeed been done away with, then why would James tell the gentiles that they must do these things? Food laws about how to eat meat, no less? 

The answer is simple, the law of God was never in question. This is rather the opening salvo in the battle between the traditions of men, the law of God, and the requirements for salvation, a battle that Paul would still be fighting through many of his epistles, most notably, Galatians.  

One of the main lessons we draw from the Jerusalem conference is a warning against holding the traditions of men as a higher weight than the law of God and a warning against trying to place extra requirements upon the grace that God freely gives to us. What we don’t find is that the law of God has been done away with or even that the Sabbath is no longer required. 

Tradition is a trap that we can all fall into. Traditions in and of themselves are not wrong; it’s when we hold to our traditions as higher than the law of God that we start to have a problem. While the main issue the Acts conference was addressing was whether or not Gentiles could be fully part of the Church without becoming Jews, the secondary issue was the Jew's habit of holding traditions as lawfully binding. Clinging to tradition is spiritually blinding, as we can see with the Jews to this day. For our part, we need to make sure that whatever traditions we have do not interfere with our relationship with God. 

Tradition has always been a major cause of controversy in the Church of God, but we must not let the traditions of men separate us from Christ. Just as in the early Church, we must look to the Bible for our instructions rather than to the traditions of men. 

Colossians 2:8 ESV See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.