The Book of Acts

The First Church Council

Acts 15:1-21

“As long as most of the first Christians were Jewish, there was little difficulty in welcoming new believers; however, Gentiles (non-Jews) began to accept Jesus’ offer of salvation. The evidence in their lives & the presence of God’s Spirit in them showed that God was accepting them. Some of the early Christians believed that non-Jewish Christians needed to meet certain conditions before they could be worthy to accept Christ. The issue could have destroyed the church, so a conference (council) was called in Jerusalem, & the issue was formally settled there, although it continued to be a problem for many years following.” ^[1]

            There were 3 points of view shared at the conference: The Judaizers (some of the Jewish Christians) viewpoint, the Gentile Christian viewpoint, & Peter and James’ viewpoint. 

The Judaizers felt the Gentiles must become a Jew first to be eligible for salvation. Their reasoning was as follows: They were devout, practicing Jews who had a problem setting aside the tradition of following God’s Law. They thought grace was too easy for the Gentiles. They were afraid of appearing too non-Jewish in the practice of their new Christian faith. Placing these ritualistic demands on the Gentiles was a for them to control these new believers & the movement as a whole.

The Gentile believers saw faith in Christ as Savior as the only requirement for salvation. Here’s why: They felt that if they submitted to the demands of the Jews, it would be the same as doubting what God had already done for them through grace alone. The Gentiles were resisting exchanging their former pagan rituals for Jewish rituals. They desired to obey Christ through baptism instead of circumcision to show the world their new faith.  

Peter & James felt that only faith was required, but there must be evidence of a change in their behavior by replacing their old lifestyle with their new, godly behavior. They also wanted to preserve unity within the body of Christ. Lastly, the Apostles didn’t believe Christianity would survive as just a sect of Judaism. 

James stood & addressed the conference with their judgment regarding the matter. “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.” ^{[Acts 15:19-21]}

What can we take from all this for today? Salvation is by faith through the grace of God & purchased for us by Christ’s blood. That’s it & that’s all. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In his name & for his glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.

^[1] “The first church conference” as seen in the footnotes from Acts 15:1-21 in the Life Application Study Bible, p. 2423.