The Incarnation of Jesus

Galatians 4:1-7.  This Christmas sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 24, 2023.

It is an amazing reality that the Creator of all things took on the nature of a human in the man called Jesus. 

It is called the incarnation as a reference to God coming in human flesh.  He did not come merely in the appearance of human flesh.  Neither did he materialize like angels do. I am referring to the fact that angels can take on material form, and when they do, they look like men (i.e., humans).  Yet, it is always clear at some point that they are not men when they do things that men cannot.  A case in point would be the Angel of the LORD in Judges 13.  When the “man” ascends into heaven in the flame of a sacrifice, they know that this is not a human (i.e., a man of human flesh and bones).

This is a very important point.  Jesus didn’t even jump in as an adult.  Rather, he went through the full gestational process, was born, and experienced all the things that we experience as humans.

Have you ever had someone complain that, “You don’t know how it feels to have (insert tragedy here) happen in your life!”  This is often used to shelter a person from any input in their life from others.  There can be some truth to this, but, even with other humans, this is often over-played.  A man doesn’t have to carry a baby for 9 months and birth it in order to understand that this is simultaneously a difficult and wonderful thing.  Yes, he can’t know exactly how it feels, but he doesn’t have to in order to empathize.  If a man has his arm hacked off by a sword, everyone on the planet who saw it, or the aftermath, can empathize with the horror of what has happened and the urgency of medical attention he needs.  We don’t have to have an arm hacked off to deeply understand what a trauma this person is going through.

If this argument fails to completely hold water with humans, how much more the Creator of the Universe?  To everyone who would shout, “God doesn’t know what it is like!”  He is God.  He created all the sensory perception that you have.  Does He not know what you are feeling?  Yet, in the incarnation, God has completely taken it off of the table.  Not only can he understand your pains and difficulties, the chances are that He endured far worse than you did.  Maybe, it is us who can’t understand God.

Still, we should notice that God didn’t have to do this in order to counter our complaint.  Yet, in His grace and mercy, He takes on the nature of a human and goes through life.  In Jesus, God lets us know that He knows it is tough, and that life can cause you to want to quit believing.  Yet, there Jesus is, hanging on a cross, bidding you to pick up your cross and follow him.

Yet, Jesus came to do far more than just let us know that he is aware of how difficult it is.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus came when the time was just right (v. 1-5)

Paul is writing to the churches in the interior of what we call Turkey today.  The Christians there have been told by certain itinerant teachers that they had to obey the Law of Moses in addition to believing upon Jesus in order to be saved.  Paul was writing to counteract this teaching with the truth about why God gave Israel the Law, and how it functions for Jews and Gentiles.

This is an important point because we can have large assumptions about the purpose of the Law without even knowing it.  Did God give Israel the Law to save them?  Were Israelites saved by keeping the Law?

Paul uses the analogy of a tutor, or governess, for a minor child who would first step into the family business at adulthood, and then later inherit it all.  Paul is essentially describing this setting as a picture of what God the Father was doing with Israel His son.  The Law was given to be a tutor, a schoolmaster, to help Israel be ready for the day when they would be ready to step into adulthood.  This is where we are at in chapter 4 of Galatians.

Even though he is an heir, the child has a status that is like that of a slave.  They have to listen to a teacher, who may themselves be a slave of the child’s father.  This status of a slave is temporary and Paul equates it to the period from Israel’s establishment at Mt. Sinai to the presentation of Messiah Jesus.  This is over 1,400 years.  During this period, God has been using the Law of Moses to teach Israel some things so that they will be ready for the day when Messiah appears.

This brings us to the statement in verse 4 that Jesus came at just the right time, “in the fullness of time.”  There is a quantitative aspect to this because it is time, but time is not the essential element.  There is a qualitative aspect that has to do with learning that is even more important. 

We might argue against this claim of perfect timing.  In fact, Israel herself often complained of God’s timing.  They felt God was taking too long.  Perhaps, we feel that he came to soon.  Maybe that is a sign that this was the perfect timing.  Yet, the perfect timing has nothing to do with what we, or the ancients, thought about it.  For us, yesterday is the perfect time for a savior to come forth from God.

This is a statement from God’s perspective.  Notice how verse 2 reads.  Paul states that it is the Father who determines the metrics for the timing of when the young man is ready to step into adulthood.  Though Paul doesn’t mention this, we can also add that this doesn’t mean the son quits learning.  It is simply that he is no longer under the tutor, but begins to help out in the family business. 

From God’s perspective, the Law had taught Israel all it needed to know in order to embrace Jesus as Messiah, and then, to move forward in what God had for them as adults who were no longer in a slave status.

We  have been talking about Israel as a whole, but the truth is that lessons are learned individually as we corporately walk through things.  Not everyone really understands what the lesson was teaching.  Some people perhaps “learn” that they are tired of listening to a boring teacher and would rather do other things.  Others may “learn” things that are quite wrong.

Is the Law necessarily teaching that God doesn’t love the Gentiles because He never gave it to them?  Does it teach that they are irredeemable because they weren’t given the Law? 

In fact, we might ask just how the Law “teaches” us?  I would say that the Law teaches us each time that we sin, and also in the times that others sin.  It teaches us each time the prophet calls us to repentance by pointing back to the Law, and forward to right relationship with God.

This demonstrates the great wisdom of God in setting the exact right timing for the things that He does.  It is right because the experience of the “child” will have done its proper work to prepare them for the decisions to which God will bring them.   Paul boils this argument down in Romans 1 through 3.  In chapter one, he establishes that the Gentiles were separated from God by their own actions of exchanging the One True God for worshipping created things.  Every Jew would be giving a loud amen at this point.  Yet, in chapter two, Paul turns around and demonstrates that the Jews are also separated from God and guilty before Him because they have broken the Law.  Those under the Law are guilty because they have broken the Law, and those outside of the Law (Gentiles) are guilty for reasons outside of the Law.  They are both in the same place of guilt.  Chapter three follows up with a powerful statement of the purpose of the Law in Romans 3:10.  “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”  There you have it.  The purpose of the Law is to show even the relatively “righteous” of the world that they are sinners in need of God’s mercy.  Israel had been under slavery to a law that showed them their failures at every turn long enough.  It was now time to receive God’s mercy in Jesus.

We see this perfect timing concept in other areas.  In Genesis, God tells Abraham that He would give the land of Canaan to his offspring, but not until 400 years had passed.  This was because the “sin of the Amorites” was not yet complete, or full.  They were already sinful, but it wasn’t the perfect time to judge them yet.  God would give them the perfect amount of grace, and even a witness of Yahweh through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his family.

Another example of this is given by Paul in Romans 11.  There he talks about the partial blindness of Israel in rejecting Jesus as Messiah.  Paul tells us that this blindness to Christ would not be forever.  When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then Israel as a whole will have their eyes opened to who Jesus really is.

We could even ask ourselves this.  What if Jesus had been born to Adam and Eve instead of Cain and Abel?  Would they really have understood the depth and the seriousness of the problem of sin and its solution?  I don’t think so.  In fact, as I said above, not everyone learns the lessons as they should.  Even today within His Church, there are those who do not treat the problem of sin as a serious issue.

If God had seasons of learning for Israel under the Law, wouldn’t it make sense that He also has seasons of learning for the Church.  We are waiting for Christ to return, and he will do so at the perfect time.  Yet, that time is connected to God’s people and the world being taught some things.

The early Church saw persecution up into the early AD 300’s.  Think about the lessons regarding enduring persecution and the reward for those who are faithful until death.  By the end of the 300’s things changed drastically as Theodosius I became the emperor of the Roman Empire.  He was raised a Christian and even outlawed paganism.  This is why historians to this day will treat this era as the end of the Roman Empire and speak of a “Byzantine Empire.”  Pagan Rome under pagan Caesars was very different from the Christian Empire.  Yet, they are one and the same.  This season of the Church seems to teach some new lessons.  What will Christians do when they are in charge of the Empire? 

Christianity was very successful within Europe due to this turn of events.  It is interesting that Christians continued to be enamored with kings, monarchies, and emperors, and it makes sense.  God allowed Israel to have kings, and Jesus is the king of kings.  Yet, we see over and over again that no amount confessing Christ, or becoming the “Defender of the Faith,” can make a man really be like Jesus.  For 1400 years Christianity doubled down on kings, until 1776.

Did American independence transition us into a new period of learning about self-governance under “No king, but King Jesus”?  I think so.  I believe that God allowed us to establish a new kind of government that was not the failed democracies of the past, and uniquely modified the Republics of the ages.  We would now be a self-governing people with constitutions that put our servants on notice of how they were to operate.  The true human sovereignty was now collectively held by The People.

What lessons are we just beginning to understand now?  It is easy to say, “No king, but King Jesus!”  However, it is harder to live that out.  Is Jesus the king of America?  Yes, he is in position by God’s decree, but not in practice of its people.

The return of Jesus has an aspect to it in which there are lessons that we need to learn.  Yet, it also has an aspect of the fact that God will not judge the world until the sin of the nations has reached its full.  May God help us as believers to be learning the lessons while rescuing sinners out of a spiritually decaying humanity. 

This Second Coming of Jesus is a transitional point for the world.  Yes, it seems like God is taking too long, but in truth, God has just the perfect time for it to happen.  It is not ours to worry about the timing, but to be faithful to what God has given us to do for now.

Is it possible that I am spending far too much time complaining to God that He is taking too long?  Perhaps, I even have hints of threatening to leave the faith under my complaints?  Would I not do better to spend more time seeking the Holy Spirit to open my mind to the lessons that God is teaching us through His Word, and through the history and activity around us today?  Yes, I am very sure that I would.

Jesus was sent forth to redeem us

It was at this perfect time that God sent forth Jesus in order to redeem us.  There is a lot happening in that sentence, so let’s begin with the fact that Jesus was sent.

The Gospel writer clearly show that Jesus was not doing his own thing.  He was on a mission for God the Father.  Of course, this is a common problem of all the human servants of God, mixing our plans and purposes with God’s.  This is true even of the political “saviors” who rise up in our Republic, or around the world.  Ultimately, they are doing their own thing and coming in their own name.  Yet, Jesus said that he would only speak and do what the Father had sent him to say and to do (John 5:19-20; 12:49-50).  The cross itself becomes the proof that he was not just talking smack.  He put his body where his mouth was.

God wanted something done, and it wasn’t pretty.  Have you ever had something that you knew God wanted you to do, but it was a difficult thing?  Think about Mary and Joseph.  As the angel explains to Mary that she will become pregnant, but not by a man, rather, a miraculous conception, she can look ahead and see all the ways in which her society will not accept such an explanation.  She can imagine the heavy price that she is going to pay if she goes along with this.  Yet, she responds, “Let it be to me according to your word.”  Similarly, the angel appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife.  Joseph knows exactly what others will say and do, if he marries her.  They will see it as admission of unrighteous, sexual activity.  He too will have to pay a price.  Yet, he marries Mary anyways.

Now, Israel knew that Messiah was coming, but they believed his mission would be all about putting down the Gentiles and lifting Israel up over them.  To be sure, that is part of the work of Messiah.  We can be guilty of crying out to God for help with a long list of the things that we think He should do.  Yet, many times we do not understand what is best for us.  The first coming of Jesus is a rebuke that tells us that our greatest enemy is our own sin and its spiritual tyranny.  Only having defeated that enemy can we even talk about tyrannical forces outside of us.

This is politics in our Republic, and in any nation end up being.  A stomach churning event in which we all point the finger at the other side, or other nation.   “You are the problem!” “No, you are the problem,” comes the reply.  “Let’s lock up those people, kill that guy, etc.”  Of course, the targets of today will change tomorrow in a never ending circus of avoiding the true enemy, the sin of my own heart.

In the Bible, deliverance from spiritual tyranny is pictured as redemption.

Just what is redemption?  It starts with a person who has fallen into a state in which they have lost their inheritance, and are too poor to redeem it back.  That is, they are unable to pay the price to get it back.  The book of Ruth pictures this perfectly.  Ruth will not only be unable to pay for her husband’s inheritance in order to get it back, but she has no children to give it to.  The solution in that case had to be another Israelite who was a near kinsman, and who would be willing to pay the price of buying the land and marrying her in order to raise up a son to inherit it.

If we take that story and lay it over humanity and our sin problem, then you begin to understand why God’s solution involved incarnation.  Sin is so bad that we are debtors to God with no means of making it right.  The problem is that many humans do not believe that they are that sinful, or that sin is a big deal.  We have been cut off from our inheritance as humans (not just a problem for Israelites) because of our sins.  We are spiritually poverty-stricken and are in need of a redeemer.  This is where Jesus steps in.

Jesus qualifies to redeem us.  He is a kinsman (for Israel, a fellow-Israelite, and for the rest of humanity, a human).  This is why Paul emphasizes in verse 4 that Jesus came forth “born of a woman and born under the law.”

Being born of a woman, ties back to the original promise of God when He cursed the serpent.  He said that the seed of the woman (one from her line) would crush his head, even though he would crush the seeds heel.  This mortal wound versus an injury is the promise that a deliverer would come.  Jesus qualifies as a seed of Eve.  God could not just wave a scepter and whimsically decree that sinful humanity should have its birthright back.  A price had to be paid, and we had to agree to the terms of that payment.

Being born under the law, ties back to the covenant that God had made with Israel.  Israel saw itself as righteous among the nations.  They could understand that some Israelites needed redemption, but that as a whole, the nation was righteous before God.  It was really Gentiles who needed redemption.  Yet, the death and resurrection of Jesus under the law, and the rulers of the Law at that time, is proof that perfect laws (a divine source) can not make us righteous, or help us to inherit eternal life.  The sin-problem has to be solved.  Of course, humanity seems intent on not hearing this lesson that God has been showing us.  We appear to be doubling down on fixing things by  more and more human laws.  It won’t work because those who operate the system are just as much sinners as those who come under their purview.

Even the Millennial Kingdom shows that if we had a perfect Executive (Jesus), perfect laws, and glorified, perfected administrators (the resurrected believers), it still would fall apart if God wasn’t restraining evil.  The problem will always reside in our mortal hearts, and in the heart of the spiritual interlopers, the devil and his angels.

America is part of God’s argument to humanity about freedom.  It is great to be freed from under a tyrannical power, but now you are responsible.  You can’t blame it on King George III any more.  Politically, we haven’t gotten out of bed in order to go to work.  We’ve allowed a new tyrant class of criminal “servants” to rise up over us.  Freedom is easier said than done.

We have received the adoption of sons (v. 6-7)

We have received the adoption of sons because of what Jesus has done, because of his redemption.  In Ruth, the solution was marriage.  This image is also used of Jesus and the Church, the Bride of Christ.  However, in Galatians the solution is the Adoption of us into God’s family.  Jesus is the one true son, but we are adopted into the family of God through the work of Jesus.  The true son died in order for you to be adopted into a greater family.  When you place your faith in Jesus as your redeemer, the one who paid the price for your sins, you are then adopted by God as His child.  In fact, you enter as an adult-child.

It is one thing to be 19, 22, even 26, stepping into adulthood for yourself.  However, there is still a whole range of adulthood before you with a number of seasons filled with a number of lessons that you will need to learn.  So yes, a new Christian is a baby-adult.  We are not under the Law of Moses and so we are adults, but we have a lot to learn through the world and the Word of God, both by the Holy Spirit’s help.

We still have a lot to learn, and we are not in our glorified bodies yet.  We need to pay attention to Jesus because he is preparing us for an eternity with the Father.

Notice in verse 6 that the same words used of Jesus are used of the Spirit.  He is sent forth by the Father.  The Holy Spirit is on a mission for God too.  When you are adopted into God’s family, His Spirit takes up residence within you in order to help you become like Jesus.  Just as Jesus was on a mission of redemption, the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us to help us walk in faith through the wilderness of this world, this new adulthood.  He helps us to overcome our own sins and to become an incarnation of Jesus by proxy to the world around us.  This is referred to as a down payment on the fullness that we will receive at the resurrection.  So, think about that!

Through Jesus, God has brought you into a familial relationship that is intended to be intimate.  The Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are a child of God, and He helps us to cry out to God in intimate terms, “Abba, Father.” 

It used to be very popular to emphasize that Abba is equivalent to “daddy” or “papa,” something a very young toddler would use.  Of course, that is a beautiful picture, and the word was (and still is) used by little kids for their fathers.

However, we should notice that it is used by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to the Father.  He was asking if the cup of crucifixion might be avoided.  Regardless, we see him resigning himself to doing the will of the Father.  “Not my will, but Yours be done.”  Jesus sweat great drops of blood as he was praying this.  This is no little kid crying out papa in the night.  This is the eternal son of God gearing up to go to war against our deadliest enemy by dying on the cross.  This is one warrior speaking to another warrior.  The word essentially means Father, but it carries with it the complete intimacy of a son, whether child or adult. 

We too can cry out to God in the midst of our difficulties and know that He hears us with full love, even when a difficult task lies ahead (especially when so).

To the world and worldly Israelites, the death of Jesus was proof that He was a sinner and not loved of God.  However, they don’t understand that this is not about the Father’s love.  His love has never been in question.  It has always been our love that fails.  No, the crucifixion is proof of the Son’s perfect love for the Father, and the resurrection is the response of the Father.

Paul ends this section by concluding that the Galatians, and we who believe in Jesus today, are no longer slaves under the Law of Moses.  We no longer need God to give us a bed-time (a superficial law that points to something deeper).  Rather, as adults, we tell ourselves that we had better go to bed because we have a lot of work to do for God in the morning.  We have stepped into the relationship of adult-sons.  We are not running the business yet, but we get up each day and report in to Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  What are going to do today, Lord?

There will be another transition to our relationship with Christ.  Whether we die or not, the resurrection will forever deal with our sinful flesh.  We will have glorified heavenly bodies and be like Jesus, perfectly in his image.

Those lessons learned by Israel over 1400 years of servitude must be absorbed by us today, while also learning the lessons taught by the Lord to his Church over 2,000 years of working for him.  In fact, we need to remind ourselves over and over again.  Praise God that His Holy Spirit helps us to war against sin in our own hearts and minds, and then helps us to be a help to others.  Christians are a people who have learned to go to war, and are still going to war, against the sin of their own flesh.  It is in that bloody battle that the grace of God brings us through, and it helps us to minister to others.

The problem today is that too many people are on the warpath to fix the sin in your life, or worse metaphorically crucify you for it.  Yet, they lack Jesus because they haven’t lifted a finger to fight sin in their own heart and mind.

All through this, Paul has referred to us as heirs of God.  We are spiritual adults, but we have only received a portion of what we will inherit.  It is not yet fully manifest what we are and shall have.  We are to show ourselves faithful with the little that we have, so that God will reward us with much by His grace.

Let every day be an adventure of discovering even more that, if it wasn’t for Jesus, we would still be stuck in a poverty-stricken state of being a slave to sin, and judged by the Law of God as unworthy.

Praise be unto Jesus!

Incarnation audio

The Acts of the Apostles 62

Subtitle: Faith Working through Love

Acts 16:1-10.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 5, 2023.

Paul and Silas have started on Paul’s Second Missionary Journey, due to a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas about John Mark.

Today, we are going to look at this question.  What is the motivation behind what you do?  Two people (or more) can do the same action, but for very different reasons.  We could boil them all down to good motivations versus bad ones.  Of course, when we come to faith in Christ, we find out that Jesus isn’t content with only changing our outward actions.

Yes, he wants us to stop sinning (“Go and sin no more.”) because our sin causes pain and suffering to us and to the people in our lives.  God loves us and them too much to be content with us continuing to sin with impunity. 

Yet, if you only change the activity without changing the heart behind it, it will not be good enough.  It won’t work for very long.  Eventually, such people grow weary of “doing” good, and fall away from actions of righteousness.  So, Christ is not content to affect our activity.  He wants to change us from the inside out.

Let’s look at our passage.

Paul’s second missionary journey reaches Asia Minor again (v. 1-10)

Luke’s narrative jumps to the area of Derbe and Lystra in the middle of Asia Minor (Turkey today).  In short, they are going to travel between 750 to 800 miles in these 10 verses.

It is at Lystra that Paul recognizes a young man named Timothy, and he desires Timothy to join them.  Of course, Timothy is not just “joining” a missionary group.  He  really is entering into a lifetime of ministering for Jesus.  He becomes a son in the faith to Paul a father figure.  The dynamics here are significant.  Silas is a peer of Paul’s.  He is like a brother in the Lord, similar to Barnabas.  However, young Timothy is more like a son.  He will be mentored by Paul and Silas (really by the Holy Spirit through them).  In fact, there are two books of the New Testament written by Paul as a fatherly figure to Timothy (1 and 2 Timothy).  In fact, 2 Timothy has the feel of a father telling his son to stay strong as he is about to exit this life.

From these two letters (1 and 2 Timothy), we know that Timothy’s mother and grandmother have been strong believers (2 Timothy 1:5).    His mother, Eunice, had married a Greek man who clearly was not a convert to Judaism as we will soon see.  His grandmother Lois and her daughter Eunice most likely believed in Jesus during Paul’s first missionary journey through Lystra.

By the way, we should guard against the idea that Judaism and Christianity were two separate religions.  Jesus did not come to start a new religion.  He was the Messiah, the fulfillment of all that the Law of Moses was pointing to.  The people of Israel had waited for Messiah to come for centuries.  Thus, we would not say that Lois and Eunice were saved, but that their saving faith in Yahweh to send Messiah, had now made the proper transition to faith in Yeshua, whom the Father had sent.  The early Jewish believers were simply obeying the Holy Spirit by getting up and following Jesus.

This brings up an issue.  We can be guilty of giving lip service to God’s promise of sending Jesus back again.  This was on display in Israel in the first century.  Many of them would give lip service to the idea that Messiah would come and set all things right some day.  However, most had given up faith that he would actually show up.  They had the correct doctrine, but their faith was gone in their hearts.

Yet, one day Jesus did come.  He caught most of them by surprise, or better, he caught them spiritually sleeping, spiritually intoxicated, and spiritually dead. 

They were so used to being the ones who  had the truth, that they had lost their ability to repent and follow God.  How do you exercise your ability to repent and follow the Holy Spirit, rather than resisting and rebelling against Him?

In short, you spend time seeking God in the word and in prayer.  You give him your whole heart in truth.  You seek what He is saying to you through the Holy Spirit and what He saying to you, where He is leading you.  Such a relationship will teach you to exercise faith as the Holy Spirit puts His finger on areas of your life that need to change.  If you will give yourself to this, you will find all sorts of ways that you need to repent, and every day.  You will find just how much we need His help, and, praise God, that He is giving it to us all the time, if we will receive it.

It is probably at this time that the elders of the church and Paul gather around Timothy and pray for him as is mentioned twice in Paul’s letters.  We are told that gifts of the Holy Spirit were given to him on that day, and that at least one prophecy was given regarding him.

Now, this is an important point.  They do not take for granted that they are doing God’s work and that He will just show up.  They take this moment seriously and pray over Timothy.  We should never take God’s promised help for granted.  We need to seek it, and pray for it.  What a powerful moment as they pray over this young man.  “Lord, fill him with your Spirit, and enable him to minister with Paul and Silas.  Give him courage and faith.  Give him perseverance, Lord!”  Whether Timothy was already filled with the Spirit at that time, or the Spirit came upon him for the first time, Timothy was readied to go with Paul and Silas.

On the flip side, just because God has enabled you, placed gifts within your life, and filled you with His presence, doesn’t mean that we should take His continued empowerment for granted.  In 1 Tim. 4:14, Paul tells Timothy not to “neglect” the gift that was within him, and in 2 Tim. 1:6 , he tells him to “stir up” the gift that was within him.  The gifts of God are not automatic.  I am not saying that God will withhold from us, but that we can grow stagnant in our spiritual walk.  If we are negligent and lose our passion, then stagnation creeps into our hearts and quenches the gifts of God in our life.  In fact, the greatest gift within any of us, is the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We can grieve the Holy Spirit and squelch His work in our life if we are not purposeful and intentional in prayer. 

How do we stir them up?  We do so through prayer, and prayerful study of the Word.  Also, we do so by seeking the Holy Spirit, and as He leads, exercising our faith through obedience.

We may be taken by surprise that Paul would have Timothy circumcised at this point.  He is carrying a letter from the Apostles in Jerusalem laying out the fact that circumcision is not necessary for salvation.  This may come across to some as a contradiction, but it really is not, if you look closely.

Notice that the issue in Acts 15 was about what was necessary for Gentile salvation.  The council made a clear pronouncement on this issue, but there was still some lack of specificity regarding Jews themselves. Of course, Peter made it clear that none of the Jews were saved by their law keeping, only by faith in Jesus.  Jews and Gentiles were being saved in the same way.

There is some dispute about whether Timothy is considered a Jew or not.  When a person’s parents were both Jewish, there was no question.  They were a Jews.  But, when one of the parents were not Jewish, a question could arise.  Today, Jews teach that Jewishness, or obligation to the Law, follows the mother.  If your mother is Jewish, then so are you.  However, if only your father is Jewish, you are not considered Jewish.  It is not clear evidence that the first century followed a “matrilineal” descent as opposed to a patrilineal descent (from the father).  I don’t think that it makes a difference either way.

I only bring up this issue because it begs the question.  Did the early Church expect, or teach that Jews should circumcise their children and follow the law of Moses?  Did they teach Jewish believers in Yeshua to continue to circumcise new babies?  There would most likely be some ethnic momentum in how Jewish Christians lived.  I doubt that they all started eating pork after Peter’s vision in Joppa.  It just wasn’t part of their culture.  Therefore, we are unable to determine exactly how Timothy was viewed by early Jewish Christians, but we would know how he was viewed by non-Christian Jews.

So we come back to the issue of whether or not Paul is contradicting himself.    Why would he say one thing about Gentiles and another about Timothy?  What is going on here?  As I said at the beginning, motivation is the key.  What is Paul’s motivation?  What is his concern?

Verse three tells us why Paul does this, “because of the Jews who were in that region, for they knew that his father was a Greek.”  Paul clearly wanted to minister to Jews in the region, but also knew that they would know that Timothy was not circumcised.  Most likely, Paul believes that Timothy’s status would become a distraction and get in the way of preaching the Gospel.  The Jews would be so upset by Paul having an uncircumcised Jewish person with him, that they would never get to sharing the Gospel.  Timothy would be a distraction.

I think that Galatians 5 is the best passage for settling this.  There, Paul makes clear the principle that he was following in telling some people not to be circumcised, and yet in this case, circumcising Timothy.

Galatians 5:1-6 has Paul speaking to Gentiles in Galatia (basically the area they are in here in Acts 16).  They were being persuaded by some to circumcise themselves.  In verse 2, Paul tells them that “Christ will profit you nothing [if you circumcise yourself].”  In verse 3, he tells them that if they obey this one point of the Law of Moses then they are “a debtor to keep the whole law.”  In verse 4, Paul says that they are severing themselves from Christ and falling from grace, if they do this.  These are strong words that imply that they could not be saved, if they were circumcising themselves as a necessary act.  Your faith is either in Jesus or in the works of your flesh.  You cannot have both.

You might think of Jesus as Noah’s ark.  You are either in the boat (in Jesus) trusting him for your salvation, or you are outside the boat trusting in your own ability.  However, you can’t be in the boat and not in the boat at the same time.  Faith in Jesus is the ark of the New Testament.

Yet, in verse 6, Paul gives his underlying principle, which allows him to say to one group that they cannot be saved if they circumcise themselves, and yet have Timothy be circumcised.  His principle is not, if you are Jewish, you should be circumcised.  Rather, circumcision or the lack thereof has no power to accomplish anything.  It is quite clear that he is speaking about spiritual matters here.  If you want salvation and spiritual power with God, then your circumcised status is powerless to help you.  Don’t look to that to help you.  Now, you can see why he speaks so strongly to the Galatians.  They were circumcising themselves out of the belief that it would help them with God, but it can’t.

What does have power with God?  Faith [in Jesus] expressing itself through actions of love.  This is exactly what Paul is asking Timothy to do.  Paul is not telling Timothy that he is almost saved, but only lacks being circumcised (an argument that was being made to the Gentiles by the Judaizers).  Rather, he is asking him to be circumcised out of love for the Jews that they will preach to.  It will remove an obstacle that would be hard for them to overlook.  Now, it will not be an issue, and they can focus on the Gospel.  Timothy’s motivation would be love for the Jews that they will preach to.  The Galatians improper motivation was to fulfill an act that they thought was necessary for salvation.

I should say that this is quite a big “ask” of Paul to Timothy.  Yet, love will make great sacrifices for those it loves.  May God help us to remove obstacles in our lives without sinning in order to help others hear the Gospel.  May God help us to make sacrifices of things that are not necessary for salvation, but might be necessary in order for others to be saved.

We are then told that they go through the cities delivering the decrees of the Jerusalem Council, strengthening the churches, and sharing the Gospel.  Note that it says they “increased in number daily.”

They are called to Macedonia (v. 6-10)

As they move from Lystra eastward, they pass through the provinces of Galatia and Phrygia.  At this point (unless they go south), they are at the end of the churches that Paul and Barnabas had started earlier, and towns that they had preached in.  As they reach these borders, it appears that they intend to go southwest into the province of Asia.  This is the area of Ephesus and the 7 churches of Revelation. 

We are simply told that the Holy Spirit forbid them to preach the Gospel in Asia.  The Holy Spirit can lead us by forbidding or blocking things.  We are not told exactly how they knew the Holy Spirit was forbidding them.  Such a strong term would indicate that there was some kind of prophecy, word of wisdom, or dream, etc.  Some powerful way that the Holy Spirit made His direction clear to them.

This may cause us to wonder at the idea that the Holy Spirit would forbid any one to preach the Gospel to another.  Yet, we can know by what the Bible says that it has nothing to do with God not wanting them to hear it.  We are not told the reasons, so I want to be careful here.  It is possible that God knows this area will be reached by churches later, or that Paul and company can only do so much.  Limited resources require strategy and timing.  It will be come clear that Paul and Silas were intent on traveling throughout all of Asia Minor, but God wanted them to jump the Gospel over to Greece.  Others would “backfill” ministry into the areas that Paul skipped over.

In such a case, we should recognize that it is not our place to question God.  He has His reasons and they are always righteous and for the good.  In fact, if we refuse to go where God is calling us to go, and persist in going where He has not told us to go, we will be much like Jonah.  Things will go better for you and the people you speak to when you are obeying the Spirit of God.

Paul is obedient and turns to go north into Bithynia and Pontus, but again, the Holy Spirit forbids them to go north.  Thus, they end up on the coast of Asia Minor in the city of Troas.  No doubt, they minister there, but also the question is pondered.  Where do we go now?

Let me insert at this point, that God is not stuck on any one way of leading and directing us.  He spoke to Moses like one speaks face to face with another man.  That is extremely rare.  Sometimes, He speaks to people through angels.  He can speak to us through visions and dreams, through a word of knowledge, or simply by a quiet voice in our heart.  It doesn’t matter how God leads us.  What matters is that He is the One leading.  Don’t  be fixated on needing to have God use any of these.  Simply respond to how He leads in your life.  In fact, notice that Timothy is being led by the Holy Spirit through the man Paul.

It is at this point that Paul has a vision.  In the vision, he sees a Macedonian man pleading, “Come over here and help us!”  Of course, there probably was not an actual man in Macedonia who was doing this.  But, God hears the hearts of a people.  The Holy Spirit was giving Paul a sense of what God saw in this region, a people crying out for help.

Of course, our hearts can cry out for help, but often we don’t even know what that help should look like, especially in spiritual matters.  Macedonia is northern Greece, where Alexander the Great came from.  Just as God used a vision to instruct Peter to share the Gospel with Cornelius in Caesarea, so God uses a vision to stir Paul’s heart for Greece.  This is not because God loves them more.  No, He wants all people to hear the Gospel and come to faith in Jesus.  However, Paul is mortal and cannot evangelize everyone.  The Holy Spirit is strategically leading him to spread the Gospel in a way that is more effective.

I wonder how many people and places are pleading for someone to come and help them, but no one share the Gospel with them.  You will never see it because it is a spiritual things.  And, they won’t even know that you are the answer of the cry of their heart when you first start speaking to them.  However, God sees them, and hears them.  We really need to learn to listen to God and be led by him as we share the Gospel with people.

Notice that Paul didn’t need a vision for everyone he ever shared the Gospel with.  In general, he knew that the Gospel needed to go everywhere.  He was doing God’s will in general until God needed him to do something specific.  This is where we need to trust the Lord.  If He needs to direct us, He knows how to do it.  I should not be paralyzed while waiting for a vision, when I could be doing what I know the Lord wants me to do in general.

I do think that we should develop the practice of talking with God in prayer about our evangelism plans, who we want to talk to, and when.  We should pray for the Spirit to go before us and prepare their hearts, and we should fast and pray for their response to the Gospel.  In short, it should be our faith in Jesus (and his purpose for us) working itself out through actions of love for the lost (sharing the Gospel).

Perhaps, this week, we can spend some time asking God what we can sacrifice, so that others may hear the Gospel.  May the Lord enable us by His Holy Spirit!

Faith through Love audio

The Acts of the Apostles 60

Subtitle: The Jerusalem Council III

Acts 15:22-29.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 22, 2023.

We will finish up our look at the Jerusalem Council, which took place between A.D. 48 to 50.  The decision of this original group should settle the issue of what is required for Gentile salvation because it has the apostles trained by Jesus, as well as the elders and people who witnessed the life, ministry and resurrection of Jesus.  Yet, it is amazing how many ways through the years individuals and theologians of the Church have come up with to go wrong on this issue of salvation.

Down through the ages to our time, Church councils haven’t always done us a favor.  The further you move forward in time from the resurrection of Jesus, the more we see such councils supplanting Scripture with human reasoning.  It may even lead some to see such councils as a mistake, and against the will of God.  Yet, here we have a council set in the Word of God, and it is clear that it is a good thing for the Church.

The problem is not in convening a council to determine what the truth is in a matter, and what should be taught.   When you look through the history of these councils, you will always find an individual, or group, who are pushing a teaching that is new, or novel.  This creates turmoil among the churches as people deal with the confusion that new teaching brings.  They want to know what the truth actually is.  In Acts 15, that problem, or teaching, is the idea that Gentiles have to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses in order to be saved.  Believing in Christ and following him by faith was not enough for them, and it began to cause trouble.

Leaders can cause trouble, but sometimes trouble percolates up through the group and leaders have to step in for the sake of group cohesion.  This is normal and good, if it is done correctly and in the right spirit.  These leaders job is not to determine what is best for the group, but rather to determine what the Lord Jesus is saying through the Holy Spirit.  Thus, we should have some mercy on the generations that convened councils, and stick to criticizing only the decisions, and reasoning behind them.

Thus, you will notice that this first council becomes a good template for how councils should operate.  The people should gather, look to what the Spirit is doing, and what the Scriptures say.  Even then, if we are not actually seeking God like we should, if we are not living in communion with Jesus through the Spirit, our fleshly approach to truth will not follow the Spirit of God, no matter how much we protest that we followed the template.  It is not a scientific formula.  It is a relationship with Jesus.

At the base of errors in doctrine are at least two persuasions.  We can over emphasize the role of human reasoning in coming to truth, even elevating a group or man as the ones, one, who have a sanctified mind for the group.  The more human reasoning is the foundation of our beliefs the more we will be off-track.  The other persuasion is that we can ignore reasoning, and the reasoning of God’s proven Word in Scripture.  This persuasion over-emphasizes the spiritual ability to know truth of the leader, or leaders.  It shuts down all debate because “I have the mind of the Lord and don’t have to answer your critiques.”

Let us recognize that God is the One who gave us our minds.  He does intend us to use them.  However, our minds are not capable of assessing truth in these spiritual matters without God’s help.  At the best, our minds can only help us discern what God is showing us is the truth.  Even then, our reasoning is fraught with pitfalls, and humility is the order of the day.  The Lord has given us a foundation of His thinking in the Old Testament and the New Testament.  We need to take seriously their importance as well as the importance of what the Holy Spirit is doing now.  This will help to guard us from going into error.

Let’s look at our passage.

A letter is sent to the church in Antioch (v. 22-29)

We noted last week that it was James who had brought up the idea of sending a letter addressed to Antioch and the Gentile churches beyond them concerning this debated issue (v. 20).  This is exactly what they do.

Thus, we end up with a decision from a group of people at a particular point in time, and we also end up with a written record.  Paul and Barnabas will be able to tell what happened in Jerusalem, but there will also be an address from the church in Jerusalem describing things from their perspective.

We do not know if they had a vote, or people simply quit arguing against the truths that are recorded here.  Yet, they did come to an agreement, and create a letter, which Luke inserted in his Acts of the Apostles.  It is a good thing too because this is how we end up with the actual wording of the letter established for all time.  The church at Antioch was over-run in the 600’s by Muslims, and the original document is lost to us.

Three times in this passage (v. 22, 25, and 28), we have a word that is variously translated as “it pleased…,” or “it seemed good to…”  It is a word that has a range of certainty connected to it, from judging that something is certainly true, all the way to believing that something has a good probability of being true.  I think this passage the council was pretty certain that they had determined the mind of God on this matter.  They were not just giving their best guess, or sheer human reasoning on the matter.

In verse 22, we have listed that the apostles, elders, and the whole church were in on the decision.  The decision and plan to send a letter seemed good to all of them.

The judges in the Old Testament were not supposed to imagine the best solution for a case.  Rather, they were supposed to render the decision of the LORD.  Of course, they would look to what the Law said on a matter, but they would also seek wisdom from God’s Spirit- that is if they had a heart for God.  The Scriptures and the Holy Spirit help God’s people to understand truth when they are truthfully seeking it. 

You may also recognize that there is no sense in the story that an approach is being ramrodded through by leaders.  Even Paul and Barnabas are quite subdued in Luke’s account, only giving testimony to what the Spirit was doing among Gentiles.  I believe that they exercised wisdom to let the Jerusalem church come to a decision without undue pressure from them.  It was important that God showed them the truth.

We can be guilty today of practicing the leadership style of the world.  We can learn how to manipulate the stupid sheep to do what we know they need to do.  It is stylish to build forums and means for the little people to feel like they had a say and participated in the process, but in the end, the group will end up at a pre-decided decision that was made by the ultra-smart leaders.  Such manipulative activity is not of the Spirit of God and is not a proper, godly way to come to decisions.  Of course, this about sums up our politics, and many of our churches in the land.

Praise God that this is not what happened back in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem Council.

In verse 25 it mentions in the letter that “It seemed good to us, being assembled in one accord.”  There is that word again.  They were in one accord.  They had a singular passion for determining what God would have them believe and teach.  They wanted to rightly represent the Lord Jesus, since they were subjected to persecution by people who assumed that they had the corner of the market on representing God.

Many have a singular passion alright, a singular passion for their own way.  If we gather in a group and everyone is fighting passionately for their own way, then we will never have a true spiritual unity.  However, even if we are manipulated into a decision that everyone agrees to, it is not a unity of the spirit, but a unity of the flesh that is guaranteed to breakdown along the way.

We lastly recognize that verse 28 mentions that “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit…”  Of course, God is absolutely sure what the right thing is.  There is no range of certainty when it comes to Him.  The seeming is all on the human side of this equation.  They had come to the conclusion that this is what the Spirit of God was teaching them.  Yet, they are being humble enough to recognize the fact that their reasoning was involved in this process.  Unity must always center upon God’s decisions, and leaders, churches, ought to be very humble in any such process.

They determine that it would be best to send some men along with the letter.  This would give the Jerusalem Church some official representation along with the letter, not that they would doubt the veracity of how Paul and Barnabas portrayed the council to the church of Antioch.  Yet, the original issue had to do with men who had come from Judea, but did not officially represent the church.  The bad experience they had with the earlier Judaizers could be overcome with the good experience of the true, official representatives sent with the letter.

The first of the two men listed is Judas, also called Barsabas.  This is the only time that this individual is mentioned in the New Testament.  The second name helps us to differentiate him from other men with the name Judas (Judah in Hebrew) like Judas Iscariot, or Judas, also called Thaddeus, or Judas (Jude) the brother of our Lord.

The second man listed is Silas.  He is going to become one of the men who helped Paul in his missionary journeys to come.  He will faithfully minister with Paul to the Gentiles.  He is always referred to as Silas in the book of Acts.  However, in his letters, the apostle Paul calls him Silvanus.  Silus is just a shortened form of Silvanus.

What were the qualifications of these men?  They were leading men from among the Jerusalem church.  They had risked their lives for the Gospel (v. 26), which means that they had a vested interest in promoting the true Gospel.  Also, in verse 32, we will later see that they are both prophets, and able to spiritually minister to the group in Antioch.

Luke gives us a word for word copy of the letter starting at verse 23.  It starts out by clarifying that the men, who had “troubled” them about following the Law of Moses, were not sent by Jerusalem.  I am sure that the intent is not only to state the truth for the record, but also to restore goodwill between Antioch and them.  The Jerusalem church had never been behind the attempt to trouble them on this matter.  Yet, they are helping to make things right because of the presence of the apostles of Jesus in their city, as well as many elders who had close connection to the ministry of Jesus.  They have a responsibility to the rest of the Church.

Some point to the words of Paul in Galatians 2:12.  They interpret them to believe that James was at least a stickler for Jews continuing to obey the Law of Moses, which would include separation from Gentiles.  To whatever degree James believed this, something was behind Peter’s change of attitude about eating with Gentiles when “men from James” arrived in Antioch.  We do not know exactly when the Galatians 2 incident happened.  Was it before or after this council?  From the words said and the decision made, you would think that it would have to be before..  However, we do not know for sure.

It is believed that some confusion on what Jews needed to do, may have lead to some over-zealous teaching on what Gentiles needed to do.  Regardless, the decision in the letter is quite clear.  Gentiles do not need to follow the Law of Moses.  Although the Church had never officially taught that Gentiles needed to obey the Law of Moses in order to be saved, it did take about 18 years for the Church to denounce the idea officially.

In fact, close attention to Peter’s testimony will even clarify salvation for Jews.  He questions in verse 10, “Why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?”  Also, he said in verse 11 that “we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”  Earlier he had described that manner as “by faith.”  This council didn’t just hammer out the means of salvation for Gentiles, but for Jews as well.  Even Jews do not need to follow the Law of Moses in order to be saved by Jesus.

The letter next declares that two men named Judas and Silas are accompanying the letter.  This is a first-century security mechanism for validation.

Finally, the letter stipulates the three issues that were being prohibited to the Gentiles (and Jews).  They were to abstain from things offered to idols, abstain from eating or drinking blood (things strangled still have blood in the meet), and they were to abstain from sexual immorality.  They are referred to as necessary, and yet, it simply says that if they will restrain themselves from doing these things that they will “do well.”  It is a burden being placed upon the Gentiles, but no heavy burden as Peter called the Law of Moses.

This is not only wisdom, but also obvious.  If you are following Jesus, then all hint of following idols and the things associated with idolatry needs to drop off.  You cannot have loyal faith in Jesus and still remain attached to idols and idolatry.  This loyalty issue has trust and faith at its core.

The blood issue was addressed last week, but would help Jews and Gentiles within the Church to be able to get along with one another.  Plus, it would retain a clear line around the subject of how we obtain life and power.  The pagans ate and drank animal blood for ritualistic reasons connected to their idols.  Jesus is our source of life, and our sacrifice now.

Lastly, we are told in the New Testament in many places to flee sexual immorality.  The moral components of the Law of Moses are reiterated by the apostles throughout the New Testament and Christians need to obey them, not because we are following the Law of Moses, but rather, because we are following Jesus Christ and His apostles who laid down these necessary things to avoid and necessary things to do.

Let me close by revisiting this issue of dead works versus works of faith.  We can fall into two extremes if we are not careful.  On one hand, we can be so against “dead works” and working for salvation that we promote doing nothing, even sinning.  However, on the other hand, we can be so intent against sin that we make a long list of things people have to do in order to be truly saved.

We need to go back to the Word of God.  What does it say is necessary for salvation?  It is to believe in Jesus, to put our trust in Him.  We then follow Jesus, who gave us the apostles and the Holy Spirit, and they gave us the New Testament.

This calls for humility in any issue.  I can be wrong and should not stir up trouble within a church.  Yet, whole churches and denominations can be wrong because they have inherited a system that has error riddled within it.  Only Jesus can save us, and it calls for faithful, courageous trust in Jesus, both to save us and to help us come to the knowledge of the truth.

None of us can do enough to save ourselves.  We can only put our faith upon Jesus.  However, once Jesus has accepted my faith and put me in a safe place, I can do good works that are clean before God.  What makes them clean?  They are clean because they are not done out of the selfish reason to make ourselves look good to God.  Rather, they are done out of thanks to Jesus for salvation and the belief, the faith, that He is helping us to become like God through the works He leads us to do by His Word and by His Spirit.

So, when you help people, or go to church on any particular day, and you do it because you love Christ and want to honor him, it can be a clean work acceptable unto God and makes you more like Jesus.  However, if I do these things because I believe I have to do these things to achieve my way into heaven, then they become dead works.  They are not really done in Christ by the Spirit, but in the flesh.

May God help us to come alive to Jesus by the Help of the Holy Spirit in order to do the works that He has created us to do.  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  (Ephesians 2:10).

Jerusalem Counsel III Audio

The Acts of the Apostles 58

Subtitle: The Jerusalem Council I

Acts 15:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 8, 2023.

The early Church was spreading rapidly, and it was becoming clear that there were some very different ideas on what Gentiles had to do in order to be saved. 

Of course, God was never confused, or unsure of their salvation.  It was the preachers, teachers, and elders who had some conflicting ideas.  To be fair, most of the conflict is caused not among the apostles, but from a group of Pharisees who had become believers in Jesus as the Messiah.

The church in Syrian Antioch had become the main hub of ministry to the Gentiles, specifically through the missionary work of Paul and Barnabas.  Thus, they are the ones who are going to present this conflict before the apostles and elders of Jerusalem because the Church needed to be united on such an important doctrine, salvation itself.  However, that unity needed to be founded upon what the Lord would have them teach.

This issue of unity is important.  Unity is good when it is united upon a good thing.  However, unity around a bad thing is at best a house of cards.  This world cannot deliver anything without God, but an implosion of ideas, activity, and culture.  In reference to the end times, Paul tells the Thessalonians that when the world says, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them.

The key here is determining what God expects from the Gentiles who are coming into the new covenant.  This will even have implications on what God expects from Jews as well.

Let's look at our passage.

A conflict arises regarding Gentile salvation (v. 1-5)

At the end of chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas had come back from their missionary journey in Asia Minor.  They reported to the people all of the amazing things God had done among the Jews and Gentiles there.

It then says that they stayed there "a long time."  Luke is good at giving general statements that make it hard to nail down a perfect timeline.  However, from analyzing the book of Acts along with passages in Galatians that giving timing information, we can determine that within the next year certain people from Judea arrive in Syrian Antioch.  They have some strong opinions on what Gentiles need to do to be saved, which causes a big conflict.

Before we look at this conflict, I want to point out one of the schemes of the devil.  Whenever God's people see a big victory, there will always be a spiritual counter-attack from the kingdom of darkness.  Another thing to keep in mind is that he doesn't always use pagans, witches, and satanists to do his bidding.  Of course, he does use them.  Yet, at the same time, the devil is always on the prowl for unstable Christians who are not grounded in the Word of God, and are not led by the Holy Spirit.

The devil finds fertile ground in these men to stir up conflict in the church even though they are believers in Jesus.  This is why it is important for us to pay attention to what the Bible says about our relationships in the Church.  We do need to be forgiving and work for reconciliation, but we also need to be firm on the truth.  This helps to defend against the devil's ability to find leverage within someone's heart and mind.  He knows how to ask slippery questions that get us second guessing, and thinking that we know what others are thinking and what their motivations are.

These Jews from Judea, the area surrounding Jerusalem, were teaching that a Gentile had to be circumcised in order to be saved.  However, circumcision was just the cause célèbre, the tip of the conflict.  Notice that verse 1 mentions that the custom of Moses is why they think that.  Of course, Moses instituted other customs as well.  We will see in verse 5 that they believed Gentiles should obey the whole Law of Moses in order to be saved.

It is important to understand what they are doing.  If you think about it as a formula, it would look like this.  Obeying the Law of Moses + Believing in Jesus = Salvation.  To them, Jesus is simply an addendum to the Old Covenant made with Israel through Moses.  They fail to see that this is a new covenant altogether.  It is based upon God writing laws upon our heart instead of on stone tablets.

Verse 5 also relates that the source of this persuasion are a group of Pharisees who had become believers.  Of course, the apostle Paul had also been a Pharisee who came to believe in Christ.  However, Paul learned his lesson about kicking at the goads of the Holy Spirit the hard way.  They on the other hand have not. 

Now at the first, this argument of the Pharisees might sound wise.  They would just cast the aspersion against Paul and company that if a person is merely saved by faith in Jesus, then they can sin with impunity.  Of course, this would be an error.  You can say that you believe in Jesus, but have you really put your faith in Jesus?  God knows.  He is not playing a game of words.  He deals in reality and truth.  However, let's keep walking through the passage.

Paul and Barnabas quickly get wind of what these guys are teaching and a strong dispute breaks out between them.  Neither side is backing down.  

Let me just remind us something Paul taught in Acts 13:39 when he was in Pisidian Antioch.  He said, "and by Him [Jesus] everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."  So, Paul does not just see this as an issue for the Gentiles.  He sees it as critical to understanding even how Jews are made right before God.  There were certain things that the Law of Moses could never justify.  Only God's perfect sacrifice could make right those things, and that is Jesus.  The Law's weakness is not what it says, but that I cannot fulfill it in the flesh.  I need a redeemer, and that redeemer alone can make me right with God.

As I said before, if we make unity the cardinal doctrine, we must make it a unity upon what God is saying and doing.  This is why it is a good thing, a necessary thing, to stand strongly against those who teach error, especially when they claim to be believers.  These men were in danger of supplanting the truth in the hearts and minds of the believers of Antioch, and anywhere else they would go.

In Galatians 2, Paul refers to these men as false brothers (in the same fashion as the Bible speaks of false christs, false prophets, and false teachers).  He most likely did not call them that up front.  But later, he would see that many of them never truly embraced the grace of Jesus.  They were more about keeping the Law and its traditions than they were about coming into the new covenant.  In Galatians 2, Paul says that they did not submit to those false brothers for even one hour.  In our day, he would probably say not for one nano second.

When it is clear that neither side intends to relent, the church of Antioch decides to send Paul, Barnabas, and some others to Jerusalem in order to talk with the apostles and elders there.  This issue had to be ironed out now.

It is interesting to me that Paul and Barnabas did not jump on a ship to Jerusalem, which would have been quicker.  Instead, they travel down the coast through Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon) and Samaria (northern Israel).  As they travel, they share with the churches they find about God's gracious work among the Gentiles.  We are told that this brings great joy to the believers.  It is always wonderful to hear stories of God moving powerfully anywhere in the world today.

I think the main purpose was to counteract any of the false teaching that may have happened by this group of men who had stirred up so much conflict in Antioch.  By the way, the term "Judaize/Judaizer" is often used of Christians who teach others to obey the Law of Moses in addition to believing on Jesus for salvation.

This group from Antioch is received by the Jerusalem church like any group of believers coming from abroad.  Paul and Barnabas share all that God was doing through them, particularly among the Gentiles.

This initial report is quickly resisted by a group of Pharisees who were now Christians.  In verse 5, we have their main argument.

First, they state that "it is necessary..."  Necessary things have no wiggle room.  They are not saying that they think it is wise for Gentiles to do this.  There are thing that I myself choose not to do out of wisdom, not because I believe they are necessary.  I will not drink alcohol because of the damage it did in my life before I surrendered to Jesus.  I do this not because it is necessary for salvation, but as a matter of wisdom.  I've never looked back.  Yet, they are emphasizing that there are some things that the Gentiles necessarily have to do.

Now, let's be honest.  There are some things that God says are necessary, and when He does, we do well to pay attention and obey.  Acts 4:12 says, "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  Jesus is a necessary condition to salvation.  This cannot be rejected without losing salvation.

Second, the first necessary thing is circumcision, according to the Judaizers.  Circumcision was a sign that you were under the covenant of Moses.  They believed it necessary for Gentiles to be circumcised to be saved.

Third, which actually incorporates the second, the Gentiles should be commanded to obey the Law of Moses.

This contention precipitates a gathering of the apostles and elders.  It is not referred to as a council in Acts, but historically it is viewed as an official gathering of the leaders of the Church to hammer out doctrine, so it qualifies as such.   They gather to determine exactly what should be taught to Gentiles in regard to salvation.

We should note that the kingdom of God is not about a democracy where everyone votes, and each votes is equal, regarding what we are going to teach.  What we teach must be based upon the decrees and work of God, and it should be led by spiritually mature believers.  Like a family, we would not expect the toddlers to help with the security and provisioning of the household.  Moms and dads are accountable before God to make decisions that are in conformity with God's Word for the sake of the children in their home.  Similarly, the apostles and elders are supposed to be a safety, and a help, to the new believers coming into the Church.  Of course, those elders would one day pass on, and young believers would become the elders of tomorrow.

They gather in order to make a decision (v. 8-12)

Luke tells us that there was much dispute, and then he gives us three testimonies that seem to have helped the group make their decision.  It is not important what all the intricacies of the arguments were.  Rather, Luke gives us the important testimony.  He gives us what we need to know.

The testimony of the apostle Peter is given first.  He was one of The Twelve taught directly by Jesus, and God had worked powerfully through him in Jerusalem and the surrounding area.  He also did not represent the "extreme" of the position of Antioch.  He was from Jerusalem, not one of "them."  Of course, the position of Paul and Barnabas, even that of the Antioch church, was not "extreme."  It is only extreme to a person who is unwilling to listen to God, and continues to resist what He is doing.  If God is moving and we are dead set on staying still, then even He will seem extreme to us.

So, what is Peter's argument, and which side does he take?

Peter points out that God's ministry through him made no distinction between Gentiles and Jews, especially in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  They knew the story of Peter's vision of the sheet let down from heaven and how God told him to go to Caesarea and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles there.  In fact, even before he finished his sermon, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon those Gentiles in the same manner as had happened to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost.  Peter says that God, who knows the heart of a man, poured out the Spirit upon them.

How do you argue against that?  So, you are left with disagreeing that God had actually led Peter to do this.  However, that leads you to having to deny that they actually received the true Holy Spirit.  They would have to reject Peter's clear ability to know what God is doing before everyone.

Peter was not participating in an intellectual exercise of who-can-outwit-whom.  He was dealing with the reality of what God was telling Him, and what God was doing among Gentiles.  Jesus was saving and filling Gentiles with the Holy Spirit without them being circumcised.  This is a bigger deal than we might think.

Peter then says that God purified their hearts through faith (verse 9).  How could God take up residence in an unclean vessel (Gentiles were considered such under the Law)?  God had to purify them first.  On what basis?  Purely on the basis of their faith in Jesus.  There is no way theologically around this except calling Peter a liar, which would not be based in reality either.

In verse 10, Peter clearly separates himself from those who are pushing for Gentiles to be circumcised and follow the Law.  He asks them why do they "test God" by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples that even we Jews couldn't carry.

This phrase "testing God" is loaded with the connotation of Israel in the wilderness where they tested God.  Those who tested God in the wilderness perished while others went into the Promised Land without them.  These Pharisees may not have known it, but they were acting the part of their forefathers in the wilderness.  They were rebelling against God.

Peter could not have put this in clearer terms.  He is firmly on the side of Paul and Barnabas, but really on the side of Jesus.  He believed it to be dangerous to persist in requiring Gentiles (or Jews) to follow the Law of Moses in order to be saved.  Why would it be dangerous?  This is the argument Paul makes in the book of Galatians.  It is dangerous because it teaches you to lean upon all the wrong things for your salvation.  It diminishes Jesus to something less than your total hope of salvation.  Salvation belongs to the Lord, and is not a work of man, though we can work with the Lord in it.

Peter ends his testimony in verse 11 by giving a summary that parallels that of Paul in Ephesians 2:8,9.  "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they."  When you couple that statement with the statement earlier that they were purified by faith, we see the grace of God working through our faith in Jesus to save us.  "Not of works lest any man should boast," as Paul would later say.

Peter had come to see salvation as a gift, a grace, of Jesus, and that even Jews are saved in the same manner as Gentiles.  There are not two paths to salvation: one for Jews, and another one for Gentiles.  In Jesus Christ, we are saved the same way, into one body, the Church (English), the Ekklesia (Greek), the Qahel (Hebrew), the People of God.

After Peter's testimony, we then have Barnabas and Paul testify.  Instead of focusing on a biblical argument, they give evidence of the work of God among the Gentiles.  In a sense, they are packing the testimony of Peter, which involves the work at one point in time among one group of Gentiles, with that of many groups of Gentiles, and many points of time, and many different places.

This creates a mounting question that is harder and harder to overlook.  Why would God fill Gentiles with the Holy Spirit and do miracles among them, if they now needed to be circumcised?  If circumcision was needed at all, then God would not do the other.  They would not be fit for service, and for His presence.  A holy God filling an unclean vessel would have been a concept that was anathema.  The vessel is cleansed first, and then it can be holy unto the Lord for His work.

The Pharisees are faced with either obeying God in this matter, or continuing to hold on to their traditions and points of pride.

We will finish up with the council next week.  Yet, let us notice that the freedom of Christ for believers is often put in contention with obeying the Word of God.  However, this is a false dichotomy.  We who have put our faith in Jesus have been purified by faith and now stand in a place of safety, on a foundation of salvation.  From that safe place of Jesus, we are enabled to partner with the Holy Spirit and follow the commands of Christ.  We are enabled to walk out the righteousness of Christ by the grace of God.

You will notice that the moral aspects of the Law (forbidding sexual immorality, murder, hatred, dissensions, etc.) are all restated in the New Testament.  However, the dietary laws, the temple ordinances, the special days of observance, et. al. are not reiterated as obligations of believers.  However, regardless of this, even the moral requirement to love one another is not a work I am doing to obtain salvation, but an act of love out of thanks for salvation.  Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commands."  Let us love the Lord our God with all our heart.  And, if we stumble, let us confess our sin, repent of it, and let him do his work of cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

Jerusalem Council I