Acts 15:11
Notes
Transcript
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
The basic question when it comes to salvation:
Is a ritual or ceremony necessary to be saved?
Is a ritual or ceremony necessary to be saved?
The dissenters from the Judean churches were a powerful force, so powerful that their argument and emphasis have continued down through the centuries.
Judaizers— Judaizers—Legalists:
4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
these were Jews who professed Christ but still hung on to their Judaistic religion, in particular to the rite of circumcision and to the law of Moses (see Acts 5:1–35, esp. 1, 24–29).
They believed a man became a Christian …
• by first becoming a Jew. The man was to embrace Judaism with all its rituals and ceremonies and be circumcised, and begin to obey the laws of Moses
• then the man could accept Christ as his Savior
They failed to grasp …
• that Christ was the fulfillment of the law
• that Christ had kept the law perfectly, thereby becoming the Ideal Man, the Perfect Pattern of what every man should be
• that Christ was not only the embodiment of the law, but so much more—the very embodiment of God Himself, the Ideal Man, the Perfect Pattern to whom all men were to look for their salvation and standard
• that Christ, as the Son of God, as the Ideal Man, and as the Perfect Pattern, was the One to whom all men were now to look and obey.
Some Jews were impressed with Christ and professed Him, but they were never able to understand or else were unwilling to accept Christ as the fulfillment of the law and as the Savior of all men. Therefore, they never turned to Christ alone, never broke away …
• from their legalistic religion
• from requiring men (Gentiles) to become Jews before they could become Christians
This was the great battle the church had to fight in its beginning. It was the great problem that faced God: how to break the church away from its Judaistic roots and away from excluding and shutting out the other people of the world (Gentiles). This had always been the problem of the Jews—the problem of keeping the Gentiles away from God and the glorious salvation He had planned for all men.
Now, since Christ had come, God had to lead the early church away from the Judaistic approach, away from making a man become a Jew before he could accept Christ. This just was not the will of God, for God had sent Christ into the world to save all men, not just the Jews. The message had to be carried to all. He had to break the early Jewish believers away from their legalism, away from their …
• making distinctions between themselves and others
• making others become religionists before accepting Christ
• discriminating against others
• building barriers and walls for others to cross (legalistic rules)
• being separatists and being divisive
• being a people of prejudice and bigotry
However, note this: all through the history of the church, extending from the early church up to the present time, there have been some who have refused to follow Christ alone.
Note that the visitors from Jerusalem moved among the Antioch believers and taught their own ideas.
The dissenters were …
• teachers and leaders
• well-versed in the Scripture
• some of the very first believers, considered mature
• elder statesmen
• esteemed highly
Therefore, what they said was considered very important.
The problem was this: if the dissenters were allowed to continue, the believers of Antioch were bound to become upset and confused. The result would have been explosive and devastating: the Antioch church would have been split and its ministry and witness made ineffective.
Scripture clearly declares what the dissension was; there can be no mistake about what was being said: “Except ye be circumcised [undergo this ritual] … ye cannot be saved.”
Note three critical facts.
A person’s eternal fate was at stake.
A person’s eternal fate was at stake.
The dissenters did not say you should undergo the ritual …
• to be obedient to Scripture
• to please God
• to please the church
• to demonstrate your love
• to identify with believers
• to keep from being a stumbling block
The dissenters were saying believers must undergo the ritual and be circumcised to be saved.
They were saying it was the ritual, the circumcision that saved them; a believer was just not saved unless he was ritualized. They were claiming salvation was …
• God’s grace plus a ritual
• God’s grace plus man’s own hand
• God’s grace plus man’s own work
• a spiritual thing (God) plus a physical thing (circumcision)
The issue was not whether a believer should be circumcised.
The issue was not whether a believer should be circumcised.
Paul never said that circumcision was wrong.
He maintained that since Christ had come, circumcision was a personal matter and a matter of conscience.
If a person wished to be circumcised, let him be. Down through the centuries a host of Gentile believers (even two thousand years after Christ) have been circumcised and not become Jews. The physical act of circumcision does not make a person a Jew any more than any other physical ritual makes a person a member of any other race.
It is the nature and commitment of one’s body, mind, and soul that makes a person a true member of a race or of anything else.
Again, the issue was not whether a person should be circumcised or ritualized, but whether a ritual was necessary to be saved. The answer was critical, affecting all generations of believers. The answer would determine a man’s primary relationship to Jesus Christ: Is a man’s confrontation and saving experience to be focused upon Jesus Christ or upon Jesus Christ and something else?
⇒ Is a person’s mind and attention to be upon Jesus alone, or upon Jesus and a ritual?
⇒ Is a person’s faith to be in Jesus alone, or in Jesus and a ritual?
⇒ Is a person’s profession to declare Jesus alone, or Jesus and a ritual?
⇒ Is a person’s life to bear testimony to Jesus alone, or to Jesus and a ritual?
⇒ Is a person’s witness to be Jesus alone, or Jesus and a ritual?
Paul and Barnabas argued time and again against this teaching, declaring that ritual (circumcision) is not necessary for salvation.
Paul and Barnabas argued time and again against this teaching, declaring that ritual (circumcision) is not necessary for salvation.
Note the words, “no small dissension and disputation [questioning].”
The arguments …
• were frequent and long
• involved the questioning and challenging of each other as well as dissension
• were unyielding, with neither side giving an inch
The issue was bound to be critical to Paul or else he would not have gone to such limits in arguing the point.
2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
There was the decision of the Antioch church to seek counsel from the Jerusalem church. The Antioch church had no doubt about its position. Note that the Antioch church was not seeking for the Jerusalem church to enlighten them on the doctrine of salvation. The church sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to declare Salvation by Grace through Faith alone.
There were many of the Apostles there and a declaration by the Jerusalem church would provide a great weapon to use in the struggle against “ritual salvation.”
The Jerusalem church was the ritual center, the home base of those preaching the error.
Therefore, if the Jerusalem church would issue a strong verdict denying the necessity of ritual for salvation, the position of “salvation by grace” alone would be greatly strengthened.
3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
The servants utilized every opportunity to preach. As Paul and Barnabas traveled toward Jerusalem, they proclaimed Christ to the believers where churches had been founded. They also proclaimed the great movement of God that had taken place among the Gentiles. Note the “great joy” of the Christian brothers.
4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.
5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
Does a man have to accept the whole law before he can be saved?
Does a man have to accept the whole law before he can be saved?
Note that Paul declared “all things that God had done.” The saving of men “by grace through faith” was not his doing. God was the One who was accepting people through faith alone.
Note that the question in Jerusalem became much larger than mere circumcision.
In Antioch the question had been, “Does a man have to be circumcised to be saved?”
In Jerusalem the enlarged question was, “Does a man have to keep the whole law to be saved and accepted into the church? Does he have to accept the law as well as accept Christ?”
The root question is for all generations.
⇒ Can a man earn the favor of God? Or does he receive the favor of God?
⇒ Is he acceptable to God because he keeps the law? Or is he saved by confessing that he breaks the law and is utterly dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ?
⇒ Does he work to make himself righteous? Or does he cast himself upon Jesus’ righteousness?
⇒ Does he say, “Lord, I come in my own righteousness”? Or, “Lord, I come in Jesus’ righteousness”?
⇒ Does he say, “Lord, I come offering my own package of works”? Or, “Lord, I come needing your mercy for coming short”?
⇒ Does he come to God to be praised for what he has achieved by his own hands and efforts? Or does he come to praise God for what God has done for him in Jesus?
⇒ Is man to receive the glory because he has done good? Or is the glory to be lifted up to God for who He is and what He has done?
This brings us to Peter’s great statement and our memory verse for this week.
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
Vs. 4 they had been meeting. Now they call a special meeting.
7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
Much discussion. Everyone was given an opportunity to speak and discuss.
Peter recalled that it was God and God alone who saved the Gentiles, that is, Cornelius and his house. The event had taken place some ten years before, but it was given and established by God to be the example and the pattern which the church was to follow (v. 10. Note this is important, a critical point for every church to heed in every generation.) The event had been planned, initiated, and executed from beginning to end by God and God alone (see Acts 10:1–48; see outline and notes—Acts 10:44–48 for more discussion).
44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
a. Cornelius and his house had believed the Word while Peter was in the process of preaching the Word. They believed while they were listening and hearing the Word.
8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
b. God had given the Holy Spirit while they were believing the Word. Note how Peter stressed that salvation is the act of God.
⇒ God “knew their hearts,” that they were believing within their hearts. God and God alone knows the heart.
⇒ God bore witness to the belief of their hearts.
⇒ God bore witness by giving the Holy Spirit to them.
⇒ God gave the Holy Spirit by His act alone (not by baptism nor by laying on of men’s hands).
⇒ God gave the Holy Spirit just as He did to the Jews.
9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
c. God cleansed their hearts by faith. The stress is upon the word faith, not upon ritual or ceremony. Again, the stress is upon God. God knows the heart, when a man believes, when a man’s heart is moved toward the Lord Jesus, grasping and believing what Jesus has done for him. When God sees that, He cleanses the man’s heart.
10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
2. Peter confessed the yoke of the law; he confessed man’s inability to keep the law. This was a question, but note it was also a serious charge: “Why tempt ye God?” Peter said that God had already demonstrated the truth about salvation. The matter was made known clearly and unmistakably in the experience of Cornelius. If a person declares that a man is saved by God’s grace plus a ritual or the law, he tempts God; he prescribes and dictates to God.
He questions …
• what God has already done
• if God knew what he was doing
• if what God had done was best
Questioning God is, of course, walking upon sinking sand. It is very dangerous. Note what Peter said about the law.
a. The law is a “yoke,” a burden. The picture is that of the oxen yoke (see Mt. 11:29–30; 23:4; Gal. 5:1). To insist that a man …
• undergo a ritual,
• accept the law
… in order to be saved is to put a yoke upon a man, a yoke that no man can bear.
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
If Grace is Free?
And Grace is a Gift of God?
And we all love gifts?
And there is no cost but a little time, then why are we not giving away grace.