Spirit-Empowered Salvation: By Grace Through Faith

“We had a few disagreements about the details.”

Paul Van Gorder once spoke of a couple in Detroit, Michigan. After applying for a marriage license, a man failed to reappear at the country clerk’s office until 11 years later to claim the important document. When asked why he and his fiancee had waited so long to get married he explained, “We had a few disagreement about details.”

Conflict i common anywhere you find sinners living with each other. You find disagreement in the home among family members and in the community among civil leaders. the church is not without exception.

In my experience in the church, most disagreements are minor and even unnecessary. pride lurks is ugly head and sin gets in the way of fellowship and love for God and for neighbor. However, there are times when disagreement is good because when, if handled rightly, it moves the church in the right direction making her all the more beautiful and Christ-honoring. That is what is happening in Acts 15:1-35.

We are half way through the book of Acts and find ourselves at a pivotal moment for the church. For the first fifteen years or so, the church has focused primarily on Jerusalem. Jerusalem is where the church began (Acts 1-5). In chapters 6-9, Hellenist Jews helped spread the gospel to Samaria among more Jews living in the area. Peter breaks out of the mold in chapters 10-14, Peter is lead to bring the gospel to a Roman Centurion named Cornelius and hos household. Through Peter, Cornelius, Paul and Barnabas, and the Antioch Church, the gospel began to reach the Gentiles.

Now Jerusalem is fading in the background as the church moves toward the ends of the earth reaching more and more Gentiles. The rest of the book of Acts is primarily about reaching the gentiles.

As you can imagine, some Jewish believers did not want to go gently into the night. They were critical of how the Gentile believers were being brought into the fellowship of the church.

How are Gentiles saved? How do we recognize them in the covenant community?

The answer to these questions are vital to the life and growth of he church. These are questions about salvation. At its very core its asking, “What does it take to be saved from God’s wrath? How does God allow me to enter His fellowship? Is it Jesus and keeping the Mosaic Law?

This morning you will see that Peter, James, Paul and Barnabas, and the church in Antioch all agree that

Salvation is by grace through faith.

The Complaint (Acts 15:1-5)

Acts 15:1–5 ESV

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

Verses 1 & 5, bring the complaint. The complaint is that some Jewish believers were still convinced that in order to be part of the covenant community of God, on had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. They are argue in verse 1, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” In verse 5, they contend, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

Circumcision was an outward sign of belonging to the covenant community of God. As theologian Craig Keener notes, when it comes to Gentiles, many Jewish people believed that Gentiles were saved simply by keeping the seven laws given to Noah (prohibiting idolatry, sexual immorality, etc.); others believed that Gentiles had to convert to Judaism by being circumcised (if male) and baptized (whether male or female). These Gentiles were called were proselytes.

The Jewish believers in Acts 15:1-5, carried this idea over into the church and believed that no Gentile could take part on God’s covenant people apart from being circumcised and keeping the Mosaic Law, both ritual and moral aspects of it. Essentially, this is a Jesus plus works salvation.

Paul and Barnabas disagreed with this group and realized the issue was not going to be settled in Antioch. The understanding of how one is saved and can enter God’s fellowship is to big of a doctrine to let bygones be bygones. The whole church needs to flesh this out. So they decided to travel 250 miles to meet in Jerusalem to have a church wide conference on the issue.

What we see here is the church is a theological center. What I mean is, theology matters in the church, community, and home. Theology, which means the study of God, reveals to us who God is, what he is like, what he expects, and how we can approach him. Theology also explains to us how we relate to Him and to each other.

Everybody is a theologian. The church must teach theology so that it can discern right theology from bad theology. And when bad theology makes its way into the church, the church must be able to work through it in a Christ-honoring manner. That is what we are going to in the following verses.

The Case for Salvation by Grace Through Faith (Acts 15:6-21)

Notice the leadership in verse 6. The apostles and the elders are gathered. We know apostle ministry ends with the last apostle dying. Elders, who are pastors who oversee the church, take their mantle of leadership and lead the church. The bible says

Proverbs 11:14 ESV

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

and

Proverbs 15:22 ESV

Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

and

Proverbs 24:6 ESV

for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

Healthy church leadership is made up of many wise elders. God uses elders to work through bad theology to get to right theology. Wise, bible-believing, God-honoring, Christ-exalting elders unify the church in right theology. That process, according to verse 7, can be intense.

After much debate implies there was a rigorous discussion. There were two sides to this issue. One side was wrong, but to get to the right side, the theology had to be fleshed out with a going back and forth. Eventually, truth wins out as we see in Peter and James’ testimony.

Peter’s Testimony (Acts 15:6-11)

Peter stands up and makes the case for salvation by grace through faith. He pieces together four points to make his case.

God appointed Peter to bring the gospel to Cornelius (Acts 15:7)

Peter begins looking back, possible tens years before, when God sovereignly appointed Cornelius to hear the gospel by bringing Peter to his household through a dream. After his family comes to faith, Peter reminds the Jerusalem Christians that they gave him the green-light to bring the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 11:1-18).

God gave the Holy Spirit to Gentiles just as he did the Jews at Pentecost (Acts 15:8).

God taught Peter that He is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). God is not concerned about the outside of a person as much as he is about the inside. God looks at your heart. Cornelius showed signs of a circumcised heart. God accepted him on that basis and gave Him the Holy Spirit. God only gives his Holy Spirit to those he has accepted (Acts 10:44, 47; 11:17). This means that God accepted both Jews and Gentiles on the same basis.

God made Cornelius clean by faith (Acts 15:9)

John Polhill notes, “Jewish circumcision was a mark of sanctity and purity, of belonging to God’s people and being acceptable to him. But in Cornelius God had shown Peter that true purity comes not by an external mark but by faith... Cornelius had been accepted by God on the basis of his faith.”

In verse 9, you see that God is the one doing the cleansing. Look back at verse 8

Acts 15:8 ESV

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,

God knows the heart. Now follow the third person singular pronouns referring back to God in verse 9

Acts 15:9 ESV

and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.

God made no distinction between Jew and Gentile and God is the one who cleansed their hearts. How did he do it? He used their faith! Faith is the acting agent. Faith in Christ, his life, death, resurrection and ascension. When you believe that Christ is your only means of salvation from God’s wrath, God uses your faith to justify you an purify your soul. This is important for good theology.

Faith by itself does nothing for you. Our culture accepts the idea of faith. You just have to believe. Believe in what? It does not matter, there is power in faith itself. This is most expressed when people say upon some tragedy, ‘Everything happens of a reason. You just have to believe it will all work out. That is nonsense!

Faith is like a sword. By itself it does nothing but be a piece of shaped metal. Faith in the hands of God severs the heart, killing the power of sin, and gives it new life.

Paul says

Romans 4:3 ESV

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Abraham was saved made clean before God by faith in God’s salvation. Cornelius was saved made clean by God through faith in Christ. You are saved and made clean by faith in God’s salvation through Christ.

God saves by grace (Acts 15:10-11).

Peter asks a simple and profound question that stops Jerusalem in its tracks. Why are you putting God to the test. That is, why are you working against God’s will to bring the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles? How were they doing this? They were trying to place the yoke of the law, that is circumcision and keeping the law, onto the disciples salvation. The same law that they nor their fathers before them were able to keep. Why are you making the Gentiles do what the Jews, for as long as they have had the law, have never been able to do?

The law has proven inadequate to bring about salvation. No on can keep the law perfectly to please God. Don’t misunderstand Peter here. The law is good. Jewish people loved the law and spoke of it in superlatives. It is the greatest thing. Just read David in Psalm 119. Israel loved the law because it revealed God. The law is good for us in that it teaches us how to live rightly before God. But the law can never save you. It can only condemn you.

That is why Peter says

Acts 15:11 ESV

But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

What Peter means “by grace” is by God’s unmerited favor. Salvation will be given not based on good works. None of our works are good enough. Salvation will be a free gift of God to undeserved sinners like you and me. Peter sounds a lot like Paul

Ephesians 2:5 ESV

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

2 Timothy 1:9 ESV

who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

The right theology of salvation taught in the scriptures is man cannot save himself. The law reveals our sin and condemns us to hell because we have broken God’s law. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The wages of that sin is death, birth physical and spiritual (Romans 6:23).

But God demonstrated his love for us that while were sinners he sent His Son to die for us. Jesus tells us that he did this because he loves the world and offers sinners a free gift, his forgiveness if they will believe upon his Son(John 3:16). Those who accept His gift by faith will be saved. Those who don’t will perish. Those who are saved, it i purely Christ’s work and God’s grace. You can boast in nothing about your salvation (Ephesians 2:8).

At this the crowd fell silent. What can you say? Peter spoke the truth. The Holy Spirit brought a testimony by Paul and Barnabas about how God is saving Gentiles by grace through faith.

James’s Testimony (Acts 15:13-20)

James is the half-brother of Jesus. He is a pillar in the church. He defends Peter’s position by restating how God visited the Gentiles and accepted because of their faith, and he gave them his Holy Spirit.

James adds to the discussion by quoting Amos 9:11-12. The main point that James is developing here is that God is making a people for his name. In the Gentiles, God is making a new restored people, both Jew and Gentiles, a new Israel. This is how God will rebuild the house of David. John Polhil says, “From the beginning the Jewish Christians had realized that the promises to David were fulfilled in Christ. What they were now beginning to see, and what James saw foretold in Amos, was that these promises included the Gentiles.”

James offers four requirement s in verse 19-20

Acts 15:19–20 ESV

Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

These were not given for salvation sake, but for fellowship. Essentially, the four requirements are four moral prohibitions: no idolatry, no sexual immorality, no murder, and the golden rule.”

The Conclusion (Acts 15:22-29)

Agreement is reached and the council sends out a letter to the churches reinforcing salvation is by grace through faith. James recommendations are put in place to keep the fellowship between the Jews and Gentiles ongoing.

The Churches Response (Acts 15:30-35)

Acts 15:30–35 ESV

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. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

The church rejoices. Joy is the fruit of good theology. Joy is the fruit of good leadership working out bad theology for the sake of good theology.

Preaching and Teaching resume and the church is strengthened. So much so, that it is ready for another mission trip. Th message of the mission trip will be salvation is by grace through faith to both Jew and Gentile. There is no longer any disagreement in those details.