The Acts 15 Council’s Decrees Are Obvious: Many Still Get Them Wrong One Way or Another

About 12 years after the Christian church began in Acts chapter 2 the Apostle Peter was sent to a Roman centurion named Cornelius, a man who feared God which for some reason had not become a Jew through circumcision (circumcision was basically the chief ceremonial law which came to represent the entire package of the Jewish ceremonial laws). We read in Acts chapters 10 that when Peter preached the Gospel to Cornelius, and those who were with him, the Holy Spirit fell on them in an unmistakable way. This was shocking since there hadn’t been an uncircumcised Gentile Christian up to that point. Peter had them baptized with water immediately without simultaneously circumcising them. The Christians at Jerusalem thought such a baptism to be unthinkable- yet upon hearing Peter’s account they took this as proof that God had granted physically uncircumcised Gentiles repentance unto life (Acts 11:18). Then in the following verses in Acts 11 you read about how there were Christians of Cyprus and Cyrene who had been living at Jerusalem, but were scattered due to persecution that arose in relation to the death of Stephen (referring back to earlier in the Book of Acts). These had been preaching the Gospel to none but Jews only- yet they eventually spoke to Grecians (uncircumcised Gentiles) which then believed in Jesus Christ.

It is seen later in Acts chapter 11 that Barnabas goes to Tarsus to seek Saul (i.e. Paul), and he brings him to Antioch. They assemble for a whole year with the church there and teach the church. After Paul and Barnabas go on a mission trip to Jerusalem to bring funds for the poor brethren there (recorded in Acts chapter 12), they then return to Antioch. They are afterwards sent out on a long journey where they plant many churches in Gentile cities consisting of Jews from the local synagogues and local Gentile converts who were not circumcised (i.e. Judaized) upon their conversion to Christ. This is recorded in Acts chapters 13 and 14. At the end of Acts chapter 14 Paul and Barnabas are back in Antioch declaring what God had done with them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27).

As Acts chapter 15 begins, there is a group from the church at Jerusalem visiting Antioch, but not representing the leadership of the Apostles. These essentially say what the Judaizers are still saying today. Did these men not know what the Apostles had learned through how God dealt with Cornelius? No one is going to have any excuse to Judaize Gentiles after what unfolds in the rest of Acts chapter 15.

Reading Acts 15:1-10: “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.And when there had been much disputing, 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?”

The Jews in general had been over-scrupulous about the Mosaic ceremonies and many wrongly saw exact adherence to them as a means of justification. In that way, the Mosaic ceremonies would have been impossible to bear. Peter is basically saying that there is no need to even expose the Gentile Christians to this realm of problems which were among the Jews in relation to these ceremonies when God has already accepted them by His grace apart from the Mosaic ceremonies.

Acts 15:11: “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”

The Apostles and all the Jewish Christians themselves were still observing these ceremonies. They still understood that they were bound to observe the Mosaic ceremonies and had not been released from obligation to them. However, they were not looking to them for atonement from sin that they might earn justification through them. Jewish Christians then (while the Temple yet stood) were obligated to keep the Jewish ceremonies as works of faith due to what they signified- not because they were supposed to think that they actually atoned for sin. In AD 70 the Temple was destroyed and there was no more Levitical Priesthood functioning anymore. This meant that the Jewish Christians could not keep the Jewish rituals properly anymore- so they were at that time also practically released from keeping these rituals. That is why no one should keep the Mosaic rituals at all now. Yet a Jewish Christian before AD 70 would have done so- not to replace Jesus- but to point back to Him. We should still learn from the Passover now and apply the principles from it to properly receiving Jesus- yet we should not ritually observe the Passover.

Acts 15:12-18: “Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:Simeon (i.e. Peter) hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”

The Lord intended to count physically uncircumcised Gentiles among His faithful worshipers from the beginning of the world. He even intended to count them as such after He had bound Israel under circumcision and all the Mosaic ceremonies. This quote from Amos was looking forward to such a time.

Acts 15:19-20: “Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.”

These are not just stipulations for facilitating peace between Jewish and Gentile Christians. They are entrance requirements for Christian baptism and church membership. They are also not a summary of everything Christianity requires. There is still the need for teaching and discipleship after entering the church. The thought is basically that while you don’t have to circumcise them and make them practicing Jews outwardly for them to be Christian church members, you do need to be absolutely sure that they have indeed broken off from idolatry, fornication, and eating blood (and eating blood would also include eating things strangled- since strangling is a way some kill animals so they can be eaten with all their blood in them). The Gentile converts need very specific instruction and warning about how these things are not consistent with Christianity. This is no less true today. The Acts 15 council is not teaching that anyone is released from the moral aspects of the Law of Moses. Idolaters, fornicators, and others which transgress God’s moral law will still go to hell- whether they profess faith in Jesus Christ or not (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:5-6, Revelation 21:8, etc. all prove this).

While the Judaizers which try to bring Christians under the Mosaic ceremonies rebel against the verdicts of Acts chapter 15, those who say Christians are not bound to the moral law of God do the same. Acceptable faith in Christ is subject to Him; being subject to Him is inseparable from repentance from sin. 1 John 3:4 makes it clear that sin is the transgression of the law; and 1 John 3:8 says that he that commits sin is of the devil. As Jews were bound to keep the Mosaic ceremonies by faith while the Temple stood, those who tried to bring Gentiles under those ceremonies after this clear verdict in Acts chapter 15 were also committing sin, as is anyone who tries to bring anyone under the Mosaic ceremonies now after the Second Temple was destroyed in AD 70.

Note also that it was James who gave the sentence at the Acts chapter 15 council instead of Peter. If Peter was the first pope as the Catholics claim, he would have been the one to give the sentence here since the Catholic Church also claims the pope has full, supreme, and universal control over the entire church.

Acts 15:21: For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.”

The books of Moses include the Book of Genesis where eating blood is forbidden; and the moral aspects of God’s law are taught throughout the books of Moses. This instruction about what faithful worship must necessarily involve was known in virtually every city of the Roman Empire already through being read in the synagogues. The lack of the need to circumcise someone doesn’t relieve them of the need to follow this instruction. Authentic conversion to Christ rather enables one to understand it better and to fulfill it.

Note also that Jewish synagogues, before the inevitable split which had to occur among them had been fully realized, were potentially much better than what they became after this split (referring to the breakup of the congregation between faithful Jews who received the Jewish Messiah and unfaithful Jews who rejected Him). Though the following words Jesus spoke in the Gospel accounts have application to every group of people at every time, they were especially true concerning Jewish people in the first century AD.

Luke 12:51-53: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.”

Continuing in Acts 15:22-32: “Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren:And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.”

There you have it. The Apostles of Christ, through the obvious implications of what God had already done among them, and through the prophecy of Scripture itself, decreed that imposing the Jewish ceremonies upon Gentiles was to cease. At the same time, their understanding was clearly that subjection to God’s law is necessary for one to be in His grace. Yet henceforth (and already at this point in Acts 15) Gentiles could become faithful Christians with subjection to moral law and Christian ordinances without also being subject to Jewish ordinances (the ceremonial aspects of the Law of Moses). Since ceremonial laws are things which are only right and holy by God’s appointment, unlike moral laws which are inherently right and holy, then He can choose to cease causing ceremonial laws to be binding whenever He sees fit. That is obviously something which He could not, and would not, do regarding moral laws.

Yet in the 1st century, and up until today, many do not accept this God-ordained verdict regarding Judaizing. There are very bad reasons for this. This is what the Book of Galatians is dealing with. Galatians proves that the Mosaic ceremonies were not prescribed as an alternative form of justification to the faith of Abraham (which anticipated the then future redemption which Jesus Christ would purchase on the cross), they were never intended to be such, and to take them as such is to preach another gospel.

The Book of Galatians does not teach that we do not need to obey Jesus and be subject to His moral law. Galatians, when you actually read it in its entirety (and I think many don’t- even many pastors), is ultimately an exhortation to walk by faith in Christ in order to fulfill His law instead of walking after the flesh. Walking after the flesh is transgressing His law while fulfilling His law is equivalent to fulfilling the morality prescribed in the Law of Moses (as Romans 8:4 demonstrates).

In Acts chapter 16 the Apostle Paul goes on a second missionary journey and gives this Apostolic decree to the churches he had founded on his first missionary journey. On that journey he recruits Timothy to join him and he circumcises him because of the Jews in the area they were in. He likely only did this because a case could be made that Timothy should have been circumcised before anyways. Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Jewish upbringing, though his father was a Gentile. Paul was not compromising nor violating the decree of the Apostles which he had been delivering to the churches by this action- since that decree only released Gentile Christians from the Mosaic ceremonies while Jewish Christians still kept them then since the Temple still stood.

In Acts chapter 21 Paul again visits the Christians in Jerusalem and meets with the leadership of the Jerusalem church. They had been informed that Paul was telling the Jews in the churches he had planted to forsake the Mosaic ceremonies. This was a false accusation. The leadership in Jerusalem had stuck to its decree and Paul had also been faithful to it. Some think that Paul was being deceptive in the passage which is about to be read, but he wasn’t. The Jewish Christians, including Paul and the Jewish Christians he had personally taught, had indeed continued to practice the Mosaic ceremonies. They could do this for the right reasons since God hadn’t released them from those yet.

Acts 21:17-26: “And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.”

Paul was also acting totally consistent with his own writings here.

1 Corinthians 7:18: “Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.”

Many Judaizers actually claim that Paul was a false Apostle and that his epistles are not God’s inspired Word. That is a ridiculous claim. They also don’t take into account Paul’s unity with the other Apostles nor how the same Apostles he was in unity with also were involved in the writing of the Gospel accounts.

And by the way: It is not hypocritical to say that all of the 10 commandments are binding now except for the Sabbath.

Ezekiel 20:12 says “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.”

Since the Sabbath days were obviously specific to Israel, such are an aspect of the ceremonial law rather than the moral law. The obligation to keep the Sabbath would thus end in being released from the Mosaic ceremonies. The Israelites were not already familiar with the Sabbath in Exodus chapter 16 when the Lord introduced it to them (shortly before He gave the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20). That is because the Sabbath which God prescribed for the Jewish nation when His worship was centered among it is not something which people would know they ought to observe if they were not specifically told that they must do so. The same cannot be said of any and everything which pertains to His moral law.

It is logical that going wrong in understanding the Acts 15 council would likely be related to neglect of the reason the council happened. Acts 15:1: states it plainly: “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” The issue at the council was not whether the moral law of God is binding nor can the other ceremonial ordinances in the Law of Moses be rightfully separated from circumcision. All of the ceremonial laws had been appointed to Israel as a package.