After all, Jesus had observed the Law of Moses (Torah), his apostles had always observed it, and the Jewish Church had continued to observe it. "Doesn't that suggest that the entire Church should continue to observe them?" some of the Jewish members asked. "If we began as Jews, shouldn't Gentiles have to become Jewish to become Christians?" they reasoned. These questions created confusion and divisions within the early Judeo-Christian community. And, with the astounding growth in the number of Gentiles coming into the Church, they were questions that would have to be answered quickly. Gentiles didn't understand Jewish customs and traditions, and Jews regarded Gentile paganism with revulsion and loathing. Thus, the stage was set for a dramatic confrontation between the two sides.
Now, you will recall that Paul and Barnabas had just completed a major evangelistic campaign in the Eastern Mediterranean, and that a large number of Gentiles had been converted to the new faith as a consequence of their efforts (Acts 14:24-28). Continuing then, in that book, we read: "But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.' And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, 'It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.'" (Acts 15:1-5)
Notice, these folks "came down from Judaea" and presumed to teach the Gentile brethren that: 1. They had to be circumcised to be a Christian, and 2. They must also keep/observe the Law of Moses (Torah). These were, after all very basic requirements for folks living under God's covenants with Abraham and his descendants, and both measures were intended to set apart the Jews from the Gentile peoples which surrounded them. Thus, it is incumbent upon us take a time out and more closely examine how these things distinguished the Jews from other folks.
In the seventeenth chapter of Genesis, we read: "And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." (Genesis 17:9-14) Once again, please note that this covenant was between God, Abraham, and his male offspring.
As we have seen, circumcision was one of the signs which God gave to identify "his" people from the other nations of the earth (Gentiles). It was, for instance, a requirement for participation in the celebration of Passover (see Exodus 12:43-49). When Moses received the Law from God, the practice was also made a part of God's covenant with the children of Israel (see Leviticus 12:3). Moreover, circumcision wasn't the only sign which God gave to distinguish his people from the nations surrounding them.
Indeed, ALL of the Mosaic Law (Torah, Pentateuch) was designed to distinguish the Israelites from the nations which surrounded them. In the book of Deuteronomy, we read: "And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them...You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you...See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?" (Deuteronomy 4:1-8) In other words, God's Law distinguished the children of Israel from the Gentile nations which surrounded them!
Likewise, in the eleventh chapter of that same book, we read: "You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you." (Deuteronomy 11:18-23) Clearly, the Law made Israel different!
In this same vein, we read in the book of Exodus that: "the Lord said to Moses, 'You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:12-17) Among the various commandments of Torah, God singled out the Sabbath as a special sign between "himself" and Israel. In other words, the Sabbath was one of the things which distinguished them from the other nations of the earth.
Another series of Torah commandments which distinguished the Israelites from the nations surrounding them were those dealing with what they could and could not eat. In the book of Leviticus, we read: "And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 'Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.'" (Leviticus 11:1-2) Continuing, this passage goes on to inform the Israelites that they could not eat pork, rabbits, shell fish, reptiles, bears, lions, etc. and concludes with "This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten." (Leviticus 11:46-47) Earlier, in the same book, God told Moses to tell the people of Israel that: "you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people." (Leviticus 7:26-27) These dietary restrictions completely distinguished the people of Israel from their Gentile neighbors.
With this important background in hand, we are better prepared to study exactly what happened at the Council of Jerusalem. Getting back to the fifteenth chapter of the book of Acts, you will recall that some of the Jewish Christians were saying that: 1. Gentiles had to be circumcised, and 2. They had to obey the commandments of Torah. In other words, Gentiles would have to become Jewish in order for them to be legitimate Christians! From the perspective of this group, Gentiles would have to follow the example of Jesus, his apostles, and Jewish Christians in following the tenets of God's covenant with Israel! Now, we read that: "The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter." (Acts 15:6)
Continuing, we are informed that Peter rose to speak after there had been a long discussion of the subject and addressed the assembly (Acts 15:7). First, he reminded his audience that God had chosen him to be the first to invite a group of Gentiles into the Church. He also pointed out that it had been God's decision to give them the Holy Spirit. "Why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?" Peter demanded. He then closed by reminding them that humans are saved "through the grace of the Lord Jesus." (Acts 15: 8-11) Next, we read: "And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles." (Acts 15:12) In other words, Peter's words had made it possible for Paul and Barnabas to talk about the work that God had been doing among the Gentiles through them.
When they were finished, we are informed that James stood up and delivered the closing remarks to the assembly. He said: "Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’ Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues." (Acts 15:13-21) James pointed to prophetic fulfillment and argued that Gentile Christians should NOT be required to become Jews. In other words, NO circumcision and NO Torah observance!
Nevertheless, he does identify four things that Gentile Christians should do to make fellowship with their Jewish brethren more plausible and less fraught with cultural prejudice. They were: 1. abstain from partaking of things polluted by idols, 2. abstain from sexual immorality, 3. refrain from eating things strangled to death (which prevents proper draining of blood), and 4. refrain from consuming blood. Why these particular four items? Because these practices made it almost impossible for Jews to associate with Gentiles! After all, Gentile idolatry was condemned throughout the Hebrew Bible, and the children of Israel were repeatedly warned against participating in that vile practice. Likewise, Gentiles of that day and age openly engaged in many sexual practices which were forbidden in the Hebrew Scriptures (e.g. temple prostitution, intercourse with slaves, pederasty, etc.). Finally, Jewish ceremonies and sacrifices used the blood of animals, and the Hebrew Scriptures had identified that blood as being synonymous with its life. Moreover, the practice of strangling animals to death impeded the complete draining of the animal's blood. Hence, things like raw meat, animals that weren't drained properly and things like blood-based soups, puddings, sauces, etc. were considered gross and offensive to Jews.
What's more, we would be remiss not to note that Paul actually confronted many of these practices during his missionary visits to the Gentiles. For example, we are informed by the book of Acts that he found the city of Athens to be literally full of idolatry (Acts 17:16-21). In the first letter that we have from Paul, we find him commending the saints for turning to God and eschewing idolatry (I Thessalonians 1:9). In his letter to the saints at Rome, Paul tied the practice of idolatry to sexual immorality and pointed out that God could be recognized naturally - outside of the Hebrew Scriptures (Romans 1). Likewise, in his letter to the Christians at Corinth, Paul alludes to sexual immorality within that congregation and says that those practices weren't even tolerated by pagans (I Corinthians 5)! In the sixth chapter of that same letter, he warns about the corrupting power of sexual immorality. Finally, in the eighth chapter of this epistle, Paul discussed the subject of eating food offered to idols. The point being that these were practices widespread among Gentiles and were very offensive to the moral and cultural sensibilities of Jews.
Hence, we are not surprised to find these items reiterated in the letter which the Council drafted to Gentile congregations of the Church. We read: "The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." (Acts 15:23-29)
Moreover, Paul's recollection of this event seems to be fairly consistent with what is revealed in the book of Acts about it. He wrote: "Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." (Galatians 2:1-10) Paul's and Barnabas' outreach to the Gentiles had been vindicated by the Council, and Gentiles would NOT have to become Torah observant Jews!
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