Acts 15:13-29 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage, Acts 15:13-29, is not the easiest passage in Acts to interpret, but there are some powerful lessons for those willing to dig deeper. Let’s go!
Acts 15:13-18 (NIV)
13 When they finished, James spoke up: “Brothers, listen to me.
14 Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself.
15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
17 that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’
18 that have been known for ages.
On verses 13-18: James, the brother of Jesus and a leader in the church in Jerusalem, continues the discussion about whether Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians should be subject to the law of Moses including Jewish requirements like circumcision. James acknowledges what Peter had just shared in verses 7 to 11, how Peter had personally seen God choosing Gentile Christians and giving them His Holy Spirit as much as He did Jewish Christians. While Peter referred to his own personal experience to support the idea that God had chosen believers from among the Gentiles as well, James refers to Scripture, quoting Amos 9:11-12 and showing that there is Scriptural support for the same idea that God had chosen believers from among the Gentiles.
What can we learn from this? When trying to figure out a difficult topic, don’t just refer to personal experience alone, but also refer to Scripture. If you want God’s perspective on an issue, ask “What does the Bible say about this issue?”
Acts 15:19 (NIV)
19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
On verse 19: Since the Scriptures show that God has chosen for Himself people from among the Gentiles, James, agreeing with Peter, offers the best judgment he can about what the apostles and elders should do in this situation: don’t make it difficult for Gentiles to turn to God. That’s a great principle for us to follow: through our actions, words, policies and decisions, let’s not make it difficult for people around us to turn to God by making the Christian faith seem unnecessarily confusing, boring, or legalistic. Since through Jesus Christ God has removed every barrier He could remove so that we could turn to Him, may we be in the business of removing every unnecessary barrier that we can remove and that keeps people from God, whether that barrier is cultural, technological or something else.
Also, notice that after James quotes Scripture, he says, “It is my judgment that”. After referring to Scripture, we need to make a judgment. We need to exercise the faculties of our mind in deciding how best the principles we read in Scripture can be applied to our present situation. That is why we need to pray often for wisdom to know how to read and apply Scripture so that we can make right judgments.
Acts 15:20 (NIV)
20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
On verse 20: Why does James specifically single out these four things that he thinks the Gentiles should abstain from? Was James’ concern here moral (i.e. trying to lay down moral laws that should apply to all Christians everywhere for all time) or ceremonial (i.e. trying to law down some guidelines for how Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians could spend time together considering how many ceremonial and ritualistic customs Jews needed to follow under the Law of Moses)?
Some believe that James is laying down timeless moral laws that Christians back then and Christians today should follow for all time. While that can be said about abstaining from sexual immorality, which is affirmed repeatedly and elsewhere in the New Testament, the same cannot really be said about abstaining from food offered to idols, the meat of strangled animals and blood, since a strong argument can be made that the New Testament elsewhere gives Christians the freedom to eat these three things. Also, if James is laying down moral laws for the Gentile Christians to follow for all time, why specifically these 4 things and nothing else? Third, given James’ seemingly tentative tone, he sounds more like he is giving guidelines for their current situation and less like he is laying down commands to be followed for all time.
Another view, according to some scholars, is that James is trying to solve the practical problem of how Jewish Christians who followed the ritual requirements found in the law of Moses could practically hang out (fellowship) with Gentile Christians who did not observe the same ritual laws without being ceremonially defiled in the process. So James offers a practical solution: instead of requiring the Gentile Christians to observe all the law of Moses, he suggests that they tell the Gentile Christians to abstain from four things that law-abiding Jews back then were especially sensitive toward. The first is food offered to idols, since Jews who followed the law of Moses did not want to have anything to do with idolatry and would find it difficult to eat with a Gentile Christian who ate food that had been offered to an idol. The second is eating blood, since Jews who followed the law of Moses saw blood as representing life, refused to eat anything with blood still in it and would have difficulty associating with anyone who ate blood. The third is eating the meat of strangled animals, perhaps because such animals were killed in a way that left the blood still in the meat and thus raising the concern about eating blood. The fourth is sexual immorality, likely because Gentile customs and conventions regarding sex were more lenient compared to the standards found in the Law of Moses. So here is James, a leader of the church in Jerusalem who is especially knowledgeable of what Jewish Christians back then were sensitive to, laying down guidelines that would enable Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians to eat at the same table together harmoniously. As John B. Polhill of the New American Commentary says, “The four requirements suggested by James were thus all basically ritual requirements aimed at making fellowship possible between Jewish and Gentile Christians.” (Polhill, John B. New American Commentary – Volume 26: Acts. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.)
To go with James’ suggestion would require both Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians to meet in the middle and compromise their preferences just enough so that they could all get along. It goes to show that for two to get along, there needs to be a meeting in the middle, a give and take.
Acts 15:21 (NIV)
21 For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
On verse 21: To us this comment might sound a bit obscure. Why mention this here? One interpretation is that James is basically saying, “When we tell Gentile Christians that they should abstain from these four things, they will understand and it will make sense to them, because they would have heard these requirements preached on and read out every week in the synagogue. So these requirements will not come as a surprise to them.”
Acts 15:22-29 (NIV)
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers.
23 With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.
25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul–
26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.
28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:
29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
On verses 22-29: Consistent with all that Peter, Paul, Barnabas and James were saying, all the apostles and elders decide to send a letter to the Gentile Christians in Antioch to give them the guidelines that James had suggested. Notice that the church didn’t just send a letter, but the church also sent reputable, trustworthy people to attest to that letter.
Likewise, to reach the world with His message, God didn’t just send a written message in the form of Scripture, but He sent Jesus Christ for us. And now God also sends you and me. We in fact are God’s love letter to a lost world. When it comes to sending a message to the people He loves, God’s favourite method of transmission is personal delivery: delivery through a person.
Holy Spirit, thank You for every powerful lesson we can learn from Your Word today. In figuring out how to think about a difficult topic, may I not rely on personal experience alone but consult Your Word. Please give me wisdom to know how to read and apply Your Word well to daily situations, that when people see me they would see Your message being clearly and powerfully communicated through my life. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
