(མཛད་པ། 15:1-5)

 

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)

 

Some Jewish believers had come to Antioch and were teaching, “For your salvation by Jesus you must also keep traditional Jewish customs.”

So important did they feel it to be, it was decided that the matter needed to be discussed with the church leaders. Then in Jerusalem also some stood up to argue in the same way that the keeping of the Jewish circumcision rite was necessary for the salvation of non-Jews. [It was a little bit like saying to Tibetans, “Believe in Jesus as Saviour, but you must also keep on reciting ‘om mane padme hum’ in order to gain merit before God”]

So what did the apostles and elders decide? would non-Jews be forced to become Jews as it were? Read on to find out.

(མཛད་པ། 15:6-11)

 

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, 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? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15:6-11)

 

Peter spoke up to support Paul and Barbabas. “Remember”, he said, “how God gave special sign of accepting non-Jews when I also preached to them and they believed (Acts 10:44-46), just as He had done when Jews believed (Acts 2:1-41). So how can we now force God, as it were, to differentiate through our heavy traditional Jewish rules between who is , and who is not, saved! Of course not! He knew and showed that their faith was true faith; therefore their belief in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was and is quite sufficient for salvation.”

(མཛད་པ། 15:12-21)

 

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. After they finished speaking, James replied, “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 15:12-21)

 

After Peter’s words – silence! Then Barnabas and Paul were allowed to tell their story in full, and how God had shown his acceptance of their preaching by granting signs (as at Iconium, see Acts 14:3).

Finally James, respected leader of the Jewish Church, spoke up to give his judgment: ‘This story is both exactly like that first occasion which Peter, one of us, has just described, and, further, it agrees with the  prophecy which says that God would act to restore salvation to us Jewish people, and as a result also call out a people for himself from those seeking him in the rest of the world.’

And he suggested writing just four rules for Gentile membership of the church, and that circumcision should not be needed.