The Acts of the Apostles 59
Pastor Marty Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 1:03PM Subtitle: The Jerusalem Council II
Acts 15:13-21. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 15, 2023.
We continue to look at the gathering in which the First-Century Church settled the question on what Gentiles had to do in order to be saved.
Let’s make it clear that the Church and its leaders do not have the authority to promote anything but what God is saying and doing. The Church is not a business that Jesus started and current leaders can choose to do something different. Salvation is not a product that we can tweak in order to be more profitable, or any other human aspiration.
In reality, the leaders in this gathering were seeking to discern and come to agreement upon what the Lord Jesus wanted them to do and to teach.
This is an important distinction because, when you look at the history of the Church, you will find that over time leaders began to look more to human reasoning to lead them than to the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Like ambassadors of a great king, we are to rightly represent Him to the world. This is important in general, but it is especially important to those who are responding to the Gospel of Jesus. We do not want to be guilty of misleading those whom God plans to save.
Last week, we looked at Peter’s testimony, and then we looked at the testimony of Barnabas and Paul. Now we are going to look at the testimony of James, the brother of the Lord.
Let’s look at our passage.
They gather to make a decision: James’s testimony (v. 13 -21)
Luke only gives the name of James without any other description. This is not the apostle James, the brother of John, sons of Zebedee. James was put to death by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2. He was the first of the apostles to die, and his brother was apparently the last (separated by around 45 years or so).
This could make us question God. Why?
There is a certain amount of testing that we all need, and yet there are also a variety of the kinds of witness and testimony that we can be. Sometimes God simply lets certain things happen and play out as people intend, and yet other times He has something more specific that He wants to happen, so He intervenes.
We must be careful of thinking God will always part the Red Sea if a person really knows Him, or if He is really involved in a matter. Of course, God can do a dramatic miracle any time He pleases. Yet, we can take a clue from the New Testament story of the resurrection of Lazarus. Four days after he died and was buried, Jesus showed up and miraculously raised him from the dead. Yet, even Lazarus came to death’s door a second time and Jesus didn’t come down from heaven to raise him up. There were probably a few people keeping watch for at least 4 days, just in case.
Yet, Jesus didn’t show up. Why not? Our inheritance is not living in a mortal body forever. Lazarus had lived a full life and it was time for him to rest from his Gospel labor, and enter into the joys of the Lord.
My main point is that we can over promote the miraculous, or the providence of how long we live. Israel’s problem was never that they didn’t have enough miracles. Their problem was walking in faith with God after the miracle. In fact, that is not just Israel’s problem, but a human problem. In fact, we often have trouble trusting God even as He is doing the miraculous in our lives.
God does miracles from time to time, but the longer period is walking in trusting faith in between. The tension of having an impossible mission is punctuated by God showing up from time to time in amazing ways. Yet, we need to walk in faith regardless.
Tradition has always held that this is the half-brother of Jesus, though there are some groups that try to make out that Mary did not have any other kids after Jesus. The record shows that Joseph was not a biological father to Jesus (the Holy Spirit created a child within Mary). Yet, he and Mary did have children later: James, Jude, Joses, and others. None of the brothers of Jesus believed in him until after the resurrection. Once they believed, they quickly became pillars in the Jerusalem church.
The only place in the Bible where it mentions that James was a brother of Jesus is in Galatians 1:19. James, who wrote the book of James, never calls himself the brother of the Lord. He calls himself, “James, a bondservant [slave] of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…”
For some people that was big doings. But, Paul makes the point in Galatians 1 through 2 that such is not important before God. James is not taking the place of Jesus, as if he were in a line of succession. No man will ever succeed the Lord Jesus who reigns forever and ever.
James starts out by referencing the testimony of Peter. It is clear that James agrees with Peter’s conclusions and that his purpose is to give supporting evidence and then offer a solution. He mentions in verse 14 that Peter had described how God had visited the Gentiles in order to take out of them a people for His name. This helps us to see what James is focusing on, Gentiles belonging to Yahweh like Israel did.
It is interesting that Peter’s testimony focuses upon the power and work of the Holy Spirit in teaching him, and powerfully working among the Gentiles through him. He gives testimony to the supernatural move of God, and is very practical, focused on activity of the Spirit of God.
The testimony of James is more theological, and looks to Scripture. Most likely, James did not have any visions himself. We are not told whether Jesus appeared to him during the 40 days following the resurrection. Regardless, James knows the Scriptures, and he sees a connection between Scripture and what Peter is saying.
First James points out that the words of the prophets (plural) agree with this idea of the Gentiles becoming a people belonging to God. James is going to quote one of those prophets, but the verse he is going to quote is merely representative of a large number of other places he could have gone to and quoted. He could have mentioned God’s promise to Abram that through him the nations would be blessed. He could have quoted Moses telling Israel that God would make them jealous through a foolish nation. He could have quoted Isaiah saying that the death of God’s servant would be to precious to only redeem Israel, but that he would also become a light to the Gentiles.
However, James thinks of Amos 9:11-12. This passage clearly pictures the Gentiles being called by the name of the LORD.
By the way, in general, quotes of the Old Testament that are given in the New Testament are clearly from a Greek translation called the Septuagint that was made in the 200’s BC. (also designated as LXX for the 70 scholars who worked on the project), Long story short, there are sometimes where the LXX differs from the Old Testament texts in Hebrew that the Pharisees maintained from the first century down to now. The reality is that not everyone read and wrote in Hebrew. The Bibles of the early Church were the LXX and Greek copies of the Gospels and Letters of the Apostles. These were later translated into Syriac and Latin, among other languages. Even though there may be some differences in word choice between the LXX and the oldest Hebrew manuscript that we have, those differences do not change anything that is essential.
I bring this up because Amos 9:11-12 has a few differences from the LXX. We will deal with them as we come to them.
Amos first talks about the fallen tabernacle of David. God will raise it back up and repair its damage. What is this tabernacle of David? Moses had built a tabernacle, a tent, to house the ark of the covenant. This was used by Israel in the desert and brought into the promised land. The tabernacle was set up in a few different places, but Shiloh becomes the main place from the time of Joshua to Samuel. Eli’s sons try to use the ark of the covenant as a talisman against the Philistines, and it is captured in a defeat. At the same time, Eli falls and dies. This appears to taint the place of Shiloh, so the tabernacle is moved to Gibeon, but the ark never returns to it.
David wanted to build a temple, but God would not let him. His son would do it. Thus, David put up a temporary tent in Jerusalem in order to house the ark until the temple was finished. This would be the closest thing to a literal tabernacle of David. However, the temple replaced this tent. It is quite clear that this is not about raising up a literal tent that had belonged to David.
This is where we must recognize that God used a word play in 2 Samuel 7 when he told David that he could not build the temple. Instead of David building a house (temple) for the Lord, God would build a house (dynasty) for David. In fact, one of the offspring of David would be a son to God and God would be a father to him. This son would inherit a forever kingdom and restore Israel. The prophets all picked up on this theme of a Messianic Son of David who would raise up Israel and subdue the Gentiles. However, God continued to add more to these prophecies. The main point is that the “tabernacle of David” had fallen a long time ago. The last Davidic king was taken out by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. No Son of David sat on a throne over Israel for the last 600 years. This is what is meant by a broken down and ruined tabernacle. Who could raise up such a thing? Only Messiah.
James clearly sees the raising up of Jesus as a fulfillment of this raising up of the tent of David. Though Jesus was not ruling in Jerusalem, he is at the right hand of the Father awaiting the day in which it is time to make his enemies his footstool (Psalm 110). The line of David had been restored, and the glorified Jesus can never die again. He is both the restarting, and the true end of the Line of David.
This leads to the second part of the prophecy in Amos. The broken tent is raised up in order to “possess the remnant…all the Gentiles who are called by My [the LORD’s] name.” There is a question on whether it is the remnant of Edom or the remnant of Adam (i.e., humanity). Hebrew originally had no vowels and they have the same consonants. However, because there is a parallelism here, the next phrase that is not in question settles it, “the Gentiles” are intended. Since we end up in the same place (the Gentiles), I am not too worried about whether Amos 9:12 should read “the remnant of Edom,” or “the remnant of mankind.” Both ultimately say the same thing.
The next issue is to notice that in Amos the tabernacle of David is raised up to possess the remnant, and the quote from James says that the tabernacle is raised up “so that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD.” This may seem to be contradictory at first, but give me a second and I will show you that they are two sides of the same coin.
Notice that the Messiah coming forth would both raise up the line of David, but also have an impact on the Gentiles. Let’s start with the verb possess. The Messiah would possess, or take possession of, the remnant of the Gentiles. A remnant is always a small faithful group in the midst of a larger group that is not. It can also mean a small group that survive a judgment of God, and thus are the blessed of the LORD. We should also notice that the second part of Amos 9:12 is that the remnant are “called by My name.” Who is the ruling Messiah of Israel? It is Jesus who even now is possessing the remnant of the Gentiles and will possess the remnant of those who miraculously survive the Great Tribulation.
The point is that “possess” does not essentially mean to stomp on, destroy, dominate, or tyrannize. It essentially means to inherit. It is not a negative thing for the Gentiles here, it is a positive thing. How does the Bible describe Gentiles (and Jews) as a possession of God? We are called a “Treasured Possession,” also “Jewels.” The flip side to Jesus inheriting the remnant of the Gentiles concerns what it takes to be part of the remnant. Those who are seeking salvation and believe on Jesus become his possession. Thus, to possess and to seek are merely two sides of the same revelation. There is both seeking and possessing going on.
Basically James is saying that the Bible prophesies what Peter is describing.
Then, James says, “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” In a sense, this is not a new thing to God. It may seem shocking and surprising to them, but God had been planning and leading up to this moment long before He even laid the foundations of the earth.
Again, James cannot be clearer that he agrees with Peter that they are seeing the prophesied move of God to take a people for Himself from among the Gentiles. It is also good to see the Church working together paying attention to what the Spirit of God is doing now, and also what the Scriptures say, i.e., the sure and proven work of the Holy Spirit in the past. We can become off-base when we emphasize one over the other. We need both working together because the same Holy Spirit is behind both.
At this point, James puts forward a solution, or resolution in verse 19. He says, “I judge…” Some people read far more than they should into this. James is not giving a decision for the whole group. This could just as easily be interpreted as “I opine (it is my opinion)…” James has made up his mind and is completely convinced by the evidence. There are two main aspects to the resolution that James puts forth.
He determines that Jewish believers should not trouble the Gentile believers who are turning to God. Essentially, he is referring to requiring them to obey the Law of Moses. Troubling those who are turning to God, or have already turned to God, is something that we would associate with the wicked, and not God’s righteous people. Though the terminology of James is not as dire as Peter’s (“why do you test God putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples…”), he still uses a disparaging term, “trouble.”
Troubling people who are coming to faith in Jesus can be a problem for the Church today. We can try to stipulate things that God never commanded. However, some groups seem to believe it is troubling people to put the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles before them. We should say no more and no less than what the New Testament puts before us.
The wicked do not realize the danger they are in when they trouble God’s people. In truth, they bring trouble upon themselves and will perish in the way if they do not repent.
The second part of James’ resolution is to write to the Gentiles that they abstain from three things. It lists four, but two of them are two aspects of the same issue. He believes that Gentiles should only be told to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating things strangled, and from ingesting blood.
Why these three things and where is James getting this? Some see a connection to Leviticus 17 and 18. In this section, God recognizes that there will be people who are not Israelites living among them. He does not require them to follow all the Law of Moses if they are going to live among His people, but He does place some prohibitions upon them. Leviticus 17 brings up the issue of idolatry. If they want to do a sacrifice, it can only be at the tabernacle, and it can only be a sacrifice to Yahweh. All of Leviticus 18 deals with the sexual immorality that was rampant among the Canaanites. No foreigner who lived in Israel was to be involved in any sexual immorality. Lastly, Leviticus 17 talks about blood issues. The pagans often drank blood and used blood in their rituals as a way of gaining power and life. For Israel, the blood of the animals was closely associated to the offerings before Yahweh. He commanded them not to eat meat with the blood still in it, which would also prohibit straight out drinking blood. Strangulation does not allow an animal to bleed out, which causes the blood to coagulate in the vessels and tissue of the animal. No foreigner was to eat meat that had not been properly drained of its blood.
Coming back to James, he ties these prohibitions in verse 21 to the fact that Moses has been preached in many cities throughout many generations. Though some differ as to how this is a “because” to the prohibitions, I believe that it has to do with Gentiles coming to the Lord being around Jewish people. The Church is going to grow and expand into cities where there are Jews who need Jesus too. Perhaps, James sees this as wisely removing some barriers to Jews and Gentiles coming into the Church together. The Gentiles would not be trying to keep the Law, and the Jews could see God’s word instructing the minimum that they need to do.
Regardless of whether this is all how James thought about it, there is more than one way to support abstaining from anything associated with idols, sexual immorality and eating/drinking blood. Simply following the “Law of Love” will teach you that sexual immorality is a selfish way of life that brings great sorrow into relationships, families, and societies. The moral issues of the Old Testament were all reiterated by God’s apostles in the New Testament and are binding upon the believer today. I don’t have to go to the Law of Moses to know and believe that God does not want me to murder, and if I do, I will not be right before Him.
We will finish this next week, but let me end with this. We have the same Word of God, and the same Holy Spirit today. Yes, many denominations and leaders in the Church have made ungodly decisions throughout history. However, we must not let that sidetrack us from looking to God and seeking His leading. We can throw up our hands saying that “it doesn’t work anymore!” Or, “God doesn’t care.” Yet, we would be wrong. God cares deeply and is always ready at every moment to lead us by His Spirit. It is we who become hurt, apathetic, and uncaring about seeking Him. May God help us to be a people of the Word who are also seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we will do this, then He will lead us forward and help us to reach others.