The Book Of Acts: Lesson 32

Acts 15:13-34: Magna Carta of the Gentile Church

Introduction:

Gestalt Shift

A Gestalt shift refers to a sudden change in perception, when the way you see or interpret something is reorganized into a completely different whole.

Key Features:

Gestalt Psychology Origin

From Gestalt (German for “form” or “shape”).

Gestalt psychology emphasizes that people perceive objects and experiences as unified wholes, not as isolated parts.

Shift in Perception

A Gestalt shift occurs when the same sensory input is suddenly seen in a new way.

Classic example: the duck-rabbit illusion — you may see a duck at one moment and, suddenly, a rabbit the next. The picture doesn’t change, but your perception of the “whole” does.

Examples

Mary and Joseph Stamp

Nativity Scene and T-Rexs

One you see that God’s plan always included the nations along with the Jews from the beginning, you can’t not see it.

Ephesians 3:10 “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

Acts 11:1–18 (ESV)

Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” But Peter began and explained it to them in order: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

I. James’ Judgment and Scriptural Confirmation (vv. 13–21)

Acts 15:13–21 “After they (Paul and Barnabas) finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, “ ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent (house) of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, (Christ) that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’ Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble (unnecessary burden) those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols (given, dedicated, or sacrificed to idols), and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For (causal clause) from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.””

James’ Call for Attention (v. 13)

James (the Lord’s brother, leader in Jerusalem) asks the assembly to listen.

Summary of Peter’s Testimony (v. 14)

God visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for His name.

V. 14b offers a further striking, or even startling, usage. Instead of the usual term for Gentiles (εθνη), λαος is used not of Israel here, as usual elsewhere in Acts (cf.Acts 2:47; 3:23; 4:10; 5:12; 7:17, 34; 13:17), but to refer to Gentiles as a group from among whom God chooses a “people” (cf. Acts 18:10).

Zechariah 2:11 “And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.”

Scriptural Confirmation (vv. 15–18)

James cites the prophets (Amos 9:11–12) to show God’s plan always included Gentiles.

God’s purposes are ancient, sovereign, and unchanging.

Hosea 3:4–5 “For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.”

Jeremiah 12:15–16 “And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.” Zechariah 8:22 “Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.” Isaiah 45:20–23 ““Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’”

In other words, the eschatological restoration of God’s people was always intended to attract Gentiles to seek God.

Gen 3:15, Gen 12:3, Ex 19,

Acts 17:6 “And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,”

in this text the Pharisaic Jewish Christians are the ones who feel threatened. If Gentiles are acceptable to God by grace through faith without circumcision or keeping of the Mosaic Law, if they are becoming part of the people of God without such things, then where does that leave the ethnic exclusiveness of various aspects of Judaism?

The important point here is that they will do so as Gentiles and not as Jewish proselytes. As Paul says clearly in Romans 11:17–21, the Gentiles will be grafted into God’s olive tree along with the Jews to become a single people of God.

James’ Judgment (vv. 19–21)

James articulates what all the apostles and elders had agreed.

Do not trouble Gentiles with the law.

Require abstinence:

pollution around Idols (pagan worship) - eidolon (given, dedicated, even sacrificed to idols) / Corban - Mark 7:11 “But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)—”

Sexual immorality - porneia / sacred prostitution

Meat of strangled animals

Blood (symbolic of life)

Furthermore, the issue is not just where one might find one or another of the four elements of the decree in isolation, but in what social setting one might find them together. Here the answer is again likely to be in a temple, not in a home, and in particular at a temple feast.

“For the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the Gentiles, who dallied with prostitutes and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and besides brought in things for sacrifice that were unfit. The altar was covered with abominable offerings that were forbidden by the laws.” (2 Macc 6:4-5)

These requirements foster fellowship between Jews and Gentiles in mixed communities, since Moses has long been read in synagogues everywhere.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,”

1 Corinthians 10:28 “But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—”

In other words, mere food is not the issue and can be contrasted with ειδωλοθυτον, which must be abstained from at all costs since it entails or involves pagan worship.

II. The Council’s Unified Decision (vv. 22–29)

Acts 15:22–29 “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:

Acts 15:29 “that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell (Ronnymi, Valete).””

The Delegation Chosen (v. 22)

Apostles and elders, with the whole church, choose Judas (Barsabbas) and Silas to accompany Paul and Barnabas.

Judas (Jewish0 and Silas (Roman)

Acts 15:40 “but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.”

The Letter Drafted (vv. 23–29)

Greeting from the apostles and elders to Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

Clarification: false teachers troubled you, but they were not sent by us.

We must not trouble people with unbiblical advice that may place unnecessary burden upon them.

having come to one accord (homothymadon - agreement)

Affirmation: Barnabas and Paul are beloved, faithful servants of Christ.

Confirmation: Judas and Silas will verbally confirm the letter. (oral testimony)

Instruction: You are not bound to the law of Moses but should abstain from idolatry, blood, strangled meat, and sexual immorality.

Encouragement: “If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.”

James points out in the letter that they were led by the Holy Spirit to make this decision as a church. (Matthew 16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”” Matthew 18:18–20 “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.””

The overall impression left by the letter is that the Jerusalem leaders are making every effort to communicate in an authoritative form and fashion that would be well received by the Greekspeaking Christians in Antioch.

III. The Reception of the Letter and Encouragement (vv. 30–34)

Acts 15:30–34 “So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.”

Delivery in Antioch (vv. 30–31)

The letter is delivered to the believers.

The church rejoices greatly at the encouragement it brings.

Ministry of Judas and Silas (vv. 32–33)

They encourage and strengthen the believers with many words. (Catholicity among churches to encourage and strength one another)

After some time, they are sent back in peace by the brothers.

The Ongoing Ministry of Silas (v. 34, some manuscripts)

Silas remains in Antioch, setting up for his later missionary work with Paul.

This decision by God through the church is the crux to the great mission work that Paul, Silas, and Timothy will construct for the reminder of the testimony by Luke.