I have heard people argue that Gentile believers are only required to obey the 4 commandments
listed in Acts 15, but is that really what the Jerusalem Council decided?
It's time to UNLEARN the lies.
UNLEARN
Hey, welcome to UNLEARN.
My name is Lex, and I'd like to invite you to join us each week as we UNLEARN the lies
and dig deeper into the truth of God's Word.
Now, let's get started.
Understanding the decision of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 is very important, but
did they really decide that there are only 4 commandments that Gentiles must obey?
I think we need to take a closer look at what actually happened and why.
"And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised
according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be SAVED."
Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined
that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the
apostles and elders, about this question..."
- Acts 15:1-2
So, we see right here that the issue they are discussing is if circumcision is required
before salvation.
They are not arguing if Gentiles should ever be circumcised, they are arguing if circumcision
is required for salvation.
So, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to discuss this issue with the other apostles
and elders.
"And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles
and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.
But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary
to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses."
Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter."
- Acts 15:4-6
We see again that this is the matter they are discussing.
Is circumcision required for salvation as the Pharisees were saying, or not?
We are about to see that this was a heated discussion, and there was much dispute about
this issue.
"And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren,
you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear
the word of the gospel and believe.
So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just
as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Now therefore, 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?
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the
same manner as they."
-Acts 15:7-11
So, Peter stood up and explained that God had already given the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles,
so how can their salvation be under debate?
He was basically saying if they received the Holy Spirit before being circumcised, how
can we say that they are not saved?
Keeping the Torah and being circumcised is not required to become saved.
Now, listen to their decision about what is required for those who are turning to God.
"Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning
to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual
immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being
read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
- Acts 15:19-21
So, you see, the 4 things mentioned here are specific requirements for those who are turning
to God.
Basically, they decided that these are the first steps required for new converts.
The former pagans must stop their idolatry, stop drinking blood, stop eating strangled
meat, and stop their sexual immorality.
Those are the immediate requirements for pagan Gentiles who are turning to faith in God.
However, that does not mean they are the only requirements those Gentiles will ever need
to obey.
Look at verse 21 again.
"For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being
read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
- Acts 15:21
Why was this included in their decision?
Well, because they knew that the Gentiles would learn how to live according to the Torah
as they attend Synagogue on the Sabbath.
They didn't want to heap the entire Torah on new believers because it would overwhelm
them.
So, they concluded that those new converts would eventually learn the commandments as
they grow in their walk.
Obedience to the Torah is not required to become saved, but after being saved we are
expected to learn to obey the commandments in the Torah.
We are expected to learn holiness and righteousness as we study the Scriptures and grow in our
faith.
This is the same pattern we see in Abraham who was saved, called, and given promises
long before he was circumcised.
Abraham was 75 when he was called out from his country, but he was 99 when he was circumcised.
Paul explains this in Romans.
"What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before
God.
For what does the Scripture say?
"Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness...
Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?
For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
How then was it accounted?
While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?
Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which
he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe,
though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father
of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in
the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised."
- Romans 4:1-12
Paul also wrote about this in Galatians as well.
"This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith?
Are you so foolish?
Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Have you suffered so many things in vain - if indeed it was in vain?
Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
- just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the
gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."
- Galatians 3:2-8
We see the same pattern in Exodus as well, when God saved Israel by grace through faith
and the blood of the lamb, then gave them commandments about how to live as a redeemed
people after they were already saved.
They didn't receive the commandments before they were set free from Egypt.
They were set free first, then given the commandments.
Are the 4 things mentioned in Acts 15 meant to be a complete list of the only commandments
required for believing Gentile converts to follow?
What about "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal,"
"You shall not bear false witness," or "You shall not covet"?
Are the Gentiles not expected to obey those commandments as well?
What about the Greatest Commandment to "Love God" or the second to "love your neighbor"?
Obviously those commandments also apply to Gentiles as well, so we cannot conclude that
Acts 15 is a complete list of the only commandments that apply to Gentiles.
It is simply given as a starting point for new believers.
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