Shepherding for Strength

Introduction

When is the last time you asked a fellow church member a question that you knew would be uncomfortable… for both of you? When is the last time you disagreed with a church member, but the solution to your disagreement was commendable by other church members? When is the last time you knowingly set aside your own freedoms or willingly suffered some pain of loss for the sake of showing love for fellow Christians… or even non-Christians?

Oh, friends… my heart is heavy today. There are certainly many reasons to be heavy-hearted after last week. My heart breaks for those families who lost children at the hands of a wicked young man in Uvalde, TX. My heart rages at the thought that there may have been protocols or even cowardice that prevented law enforcement from stopping him sooner. And my heart grieves that we live in a fallen world, where human dignity and life itself has to be defended with violence.

But there was other news this last week that also hits close to home and also contributes to the weight upon my heart this morning. During the 2021 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, the messengers present overwhelmingly approved of a third-party investigation into the dealings of the Executive Committee of the SBC with regard to evidence of unaddressed sexual abuse among SBC churches and agencies. Not only did that report come out last week, but it was also horrifically damning. The report shows undeniable evidence that there has been an intentional and consistent effort on the part of those who knew the most to evade further investigation and to limit liability, rather than to deal with sin and to minister to those who have been victimized.

In addition, some of the staff of the Executive Committee and/or the lawyers they kept on retainer, we now know, were keeping an unofficial record of abusers, spanning the last 20 years, which totals more than 700 names… all pastors, staff, or church volunteers and leaders who were credibly accused or, as in most cases, actually convicted of some form of sexual abuse. At the very least such a list could have been used to make it harder for convicted abusers to jump from one church to another without dealing with their sin. Let me just say clearly here, this is wickedness and sin of the most heinous type. When those who ought to be most trusted with the care of souls violate that trust by abusing those under their care, it is monstrously wicked.

But the truth is, local churches are not immune from monstrous wickedness… church members and pastors are not immune from outrageous and scandalous sin. This is why we must not ever pretend that “we’re ok” and “we don’t really need anyone’s help.” If you’ve been the victim of someone else’s sin, or if you are yourself trapped right now in bondage to shameful sin, then don’t be quiet about it… and don’t isolate yourself from the very means of grace God has given you. Come talk to me; call me; call one of the other pastors/elders; call a fellow church member; and let’s deal with sin together.

This is one of the main reasons Jesus instituted the local church in the first place! The author of Hebrews reminds us, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10:24-25). This is a clear admonition to regularly meet together with your church members on the Lord’s Day, but it’s about more than just showing up. These verses assume that the weekly gathering of the saints will serve as a sort of rhythm and hub of life-on-life discipling efforts. Regular Sundays together keep relationships among church members familiar and centered upon Scripture.

All of this is more specific in application than I often am, and I’m still in the introduction. If you have questions about this stuff, if you want to talk more about any of it, then you should know that I’ll probably say more during our upcoming members’ meeting on June 12. This topic will certainly continue to show up in our prayers on Wednesday evenings and during our once-a-month praise and prayer gatherings. But I believe that our passage today speaks directly to the face-saving, individualistic, and self-centered way of thinking and acting that has so pervaded American Evangelicalism to the point where many church members expect to live as isolated and autonomous units, many local churches never publicly address sin, and many churches and Christians (though they would hardly admit it) care nothing about the spiritual well-being of other churches or Christians.

Ok… that’s the end of the unusual part of my intro… but please allow me to introduce our text for today… which (again) I believe at least allows for my unusual content… and maybe it even evokes it.

Our passage today spans the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. The chapter and verse divisions in the Bible aren’t original, so I don’t feel bad for having divided the text in the way I have for our study.[1] In fact, it seems to me that Luke intentionally ordered his content in the book of Acts by using certain phrases and statements to tell us where each section begins and ends. Specifically, Luke repeated similar refrains at the end of each of his sections: he kept saying that the “word of God” or the “church” was “multiplying” or “increasing” or being “strengthened” or “built up” after each segment.

For example, Christianity grew first in Jerusalem (after Pentecost), but there arose a fundamental threat the unity of the church when there was an administrative bottleneck in the daily distribution of the resources. Some church members were being overlooked in a very practical way, and the problem was solved by appointing a handful of godly deacons… which, I think, is always a good way to solve practical problems in the church (Acts 6:1-7). Luke tells us that afterwards, “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly” (Acts 6:7).

The next threat was from persecution. In Acts 8, the church in Jerusalem was being persecuted terribly, and a man named Saul of Tarsus was leading way. But the risen Lord Jesus confronted Saul personally, and saved his wretched soul, such that Saul became the leading Christian evangelist and missionary. And afterward, Luke said, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied” (Acts 9:31).

This same result happened when God stopped Herod Agrippa (King of Judea) from persecuting what was apparently the same population of Christians. God supernaturally “struck him down” at the very moment when Herod seemed to be most powerful (Acts 12:1, 21-23). And after that, Luke said, “the word of God increased and multiplied” (Acts 12:24).

Do you see the pattern emerging? The churches are growing, the gospel is being preached, sinners are being converted, and then some threat to the universal Church arises. Then God resolves the threat – either supernaturally, or by directing His people – and the churches grow all the more, the gospel is preached all the more, and sinners are converted all the more. That’s where we are in this fourth section of the book of Acts this morning.

If you were here last week, or if you’ve been reading through the book of Acts between Sundays, then you might remember that Acts 15 dealt with yet another major threat to the universal Church’s unity. Some preachers “from Judea” were teaching a Faith Plus Works gospel,[2] telling the Gentile believers that they could not be “saved” unless they were “circumcised” and “kept [or “observed”] the law of Moses” (Acts 15:1, 5). This was a direct contradiction to the gospel of God’s grace which is to be received through Faith Alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, which the Apostles had been preaching from the beginning. And, therefore, it was another fundamental threat to Christian unity, but this time it was theological and pastoral, not merely administrative and practical (as in Acts 6).

So, the Apostles (who were still mostly living in Jerusalem), along with the elders and members of the Jerusalem church, decided to send a letter to the largely Gentile churches who were being “troubled” by the Faith Plus Works teachers (Acts 15:24). The letter clarified that Christian unity was not to be found in observing the Mosaic law but in clinging to Christ and following Him. The letter also reaffirmed the Christian unity that was shared between Jews and Gentiles, and it asked Gentile Christians to lovingly bear with their Jewish brethren who had a hard time letting go of the ceremonial laws that impacted their lives for so long.

This letter was sent by the hands of Paul and Barnabas, as well as Judas and Silas, who were leaders among the Jerusalem church (i.e., they were Jewish Christians with a good reputation and pastoral heart). And when the letter was received by the churches in Antioch, Syria, Cilicia, and elsewhere, the result was “rejoicing” (Acts 15:31) and edification (see “strengthening” in Acts 15:41 and 16:5). In fact, Luke concluded this fourth section of Acts in the same way as the previous three. Luke wrote, “So [or “therefore” or “thus”] the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5).

But that’s where our passage ends. It begins with a pastoral visitation, it progresses into a practical disagreement, and it shows us what prudent discipleship can look like. Finally, in the end, our passage promotes unity and growth in the kingdom of Christ, even across geographical and ethnic barriers.

Let’s stand together as I read Acts 15:36-16:5… and then we will consider all of this together.

Scripture Reading

Acts 15:36–16:5 (ESV)

36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”

37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

Main Idea:

Real Christian living is messy, and it requires wisdom and humility, but it produces lasting growth.

Sermon

1. Pastoral Visitation (15:36)

Acts 15:36 says that “after some days” wherein Paul and Barnabas were “teaching and preaching the word of the Lord” in Antioch (Acts 15:35), Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” This is something like what Paul and Barnabas had done before, but it was also different.

Remember that Paul’s first missionary journey was completed by setting up or establishing “elders… in every church” which he and Barnabas had planted along the way (Acts 14:23). Luke said that Paul and Barnabas also “strengthened the souls of the disciples” and “committed” these young churches “to the Lord” when they left (Acts 14:22-23). When we were studying through Acts 14, I made a point of arguing that this sort of practical and ordinary work – discipling Christians and raising up elders – is the stuff of profound and powerful Christian mission. I also pointed out that this work often feels to be slow and mundane; we don’t often see spiritual growth in terms of days or weeks, but in terms of years and decades. That whole sermon on Acts 14:21-28 still applies with this brief expression in Acts 15:36, “Let us return and visit the brothers… and see how they are.” But today, I want to emphasize the necessity of ongoing pastoral care and Christian discipling.

The phrase, “see how they are,” is so open-ended, isn’t it? I mean, what does Paul want to “see”? Does he want to see if “the brothers” in Iconium are doing well financially? Does he want to see if the church in Lystra is bigger or smaller than it was before? Does he want to see if the congregation in Derbe is being persecuted? Maybe… all of these are important aspects of their lives.

It seems to me, however, that the phrase “see how they are” is generally aimed at their spiritual health. Paul wanted to know, “How are these churches doing spiritually? Is the church in Lystra still united in the gospel? Are the brothers in Iconium loving and forgiving and teaching one another? Is the church in Derbe dealing honestly with sin among its members, or is it naively overlooking some potentially disastrous doctrine or practice?” These are the constant concerns of any good pastor, and these ought to be the focus of every church member.

Some of you already know the New Testament teaches us that pastors or elders are a gift of the Lord Jesus Christ to local churches for the “equipping” of “the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood [i.e., spiritual maturity], [and] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13). This is to say that pastors or elders are certainly to lead in “building up” or edifying the members of the church, but every church member is to actively participate in the “building up” of one another. And we all need to participate in this effort because it is not natural and it’s not easy.

Friends, we all need someone to check in on us, to “see how [we] are.” We need brothers and sisters in Christ to care enough about the well-being of our soul such that they are willing to enter into our lives and poke around a bit. We all need accountability – “Where are you letting sin get the best of you? Let me help.” We all need encouragement – “I see where God is growing you there!” We all need instruction – “This is what the Bible teaches us to do with our time, our finances, our families, our sexual desires, and our aspirations.” We all need discipline – “What you said there isn’t right. What you did there is sin. This is what Scripture says you ought to say. This is what Christ commands you to do and not do.”

And, brothers and sisters, this is not just true of us as individuals, this is true of local churches as well. In our passage today, Paul and Barnabas were planning to travel back through various towns where they’d preached the gospel and established local churches, and their goal was to “see” how those churches were doing. We too – FBC Diana – care about how other churches are doing! We care about Redemption Baptist in Nacogdoches, TX, and their Senior Pastor, Wesley Burke. We care about FBC Salado, where Scott Mescher (with Reaching and Teaching) is a member. We care about Walnut Creek and Shady Grove (both in Diana), New Hope (in Ore City), Harleton Baptist (in Harleton), and many others.

We care about how they are doing because we share the same love for Christ and we share the same Christian mission – to make disciples, baptizing and teaching them, until Christ comes (Matt. 28:18-20). We care about how they are doing because we know something about them, and we have some relational connection with them. We care about all true churches, but there’s a sense in which we simply can’t care for all of them in the same way. Those we know better, we want to know and care for well. We want to pray for them, we want to help support them, we want to encourage them toward faithfulness, and we want to challenge and instruct them in sound doctrine as we have the opportunity.

Friends, the love and care that Paul and Barnabas exemplify when they say, “Let us… visit the brothers… and see how they are” is the sort of love and care that should motivate all of us to take the same initiative. Let’s actively build one another up in the knowledge and grace of Christ, so that on that day when we stand before our King and Savior, we will look back on a life well-spent in service to Him and His people. The Apostle Paul said it like this in Colossians 1, “[Christ] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, [so] that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all [Christ’s] energy that he powerfully works within me” (Col. 1:28-29). God help us.

2. Practical Disagreement (15:37-41)

Paul and Barnabas were perfectly united in their desire to “return… and visit the brothers in every city” where they’d “proclaimed the word of the Lord” (Acts 15:36), but they were not united in their perspective on John Mark. They were so not united about John Mark, that they “separated from each other” over their disagreement (Acts 15:39). But interestingly, their disagreement was resolved in a way that seemed good to the church in Antioch, since both Barnabas and Paul were “commended by the brothers” when they left there (Acts 15:40).

Let’s consider these five verses in three questions: (1) What was their “sharp disagreement” (Acts 15:39)? (2) What was their solution? And (3) why was it “commended by the brothers” in Antioch (Acts 15:40)?

First, what was their “sharp disagreement” (Acts 15:39)? Well, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark along on the trip to visit the brothers, and Paul did not. Verse 38 says, “Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.” John Mark seems to have been part of Paul’s traveling group on his first missionary journey, but John Mark (for one reason or another) “returned to Jerusalem” shortly after the trip began (Acts 13:13). It seems that Paul thought John Mark was not to be relied upon, and Paul didn’t want that sort of guy coming along this time. But Barnabas, who was often extending uncommon grace and charity (Acts 4:36-37, 9:26-27, 11:22-24), wanted to bring John Mark anyway. And, Luke says, “there arose a sharp disagreement” (Acts 15:39).

Second, what was the solution? We’re told in v39 that “they separated from each other” (ESV) or “departed asunder” (KJV) or “parted company” (NIV). Clearly, they could not both have what they wanted, and it was an either-or situation with no compromising option. So, they decided to each go their separate ways, Barnabas taking John Mark with him toward Cyprus and Paul taking Silas (one of the Jewish brothers from Jerusalem) with him toward Syria and Cilicia.

Third, why was their solution “commended by the brothers” in Antioch (Acts 15:40)? Verse 40 indicates that this departure was similar to Paul’s and Barnabas’s first sending off from Antioch (Acts 13:3-4). The whole group, two teams this time, were “commended” by the church “to the grace of the Lord” (Acts 15:40). The idea seems to be that the church in Antioch entrusted both Paul and Barnabas to the hand of the Lord’s providence. There was no obvious sin in either Paul or Barnabas, and the decision was a matter of wisdom. Since there was no way to compromise, they decided to go their separate ways. And the church seems to have understood that the Lord was still in charge, even through disagreement.

Most importantly, the disagreement here neither hindered the mission – “churches” were still “strengthened” (Acts 15:41) – nor did it permanently divide any Christians – both Barnabas and John Mark are later mentioned as Paul’s co-laborers, and Paul even says that John Mark became “very useful…in ministry” (1 Cor. 9:6; Philemon 24; 2 Tim. 4:11).

Friends, is this how you disagree with fellow believers? Does your disagreement with other church members result in a continued advancement of the gospel mission? Do you still count that person who disagrees with you a brother, a sister, a co-laborer in the mission of making disciples? Or are we more prone to cut off those with whom we disagree… and mean mouth about them to others?

Disagreement is bound to happen. But it doesn’t have to be bad, even if it’s sharp… And it doesn’t have to blow everything up. Disagreement on an essential doctrine of Christianity is not ok, but disagreement on a secondary issue may just mean that you need to join another church that lines up with your convictions. And disagreement in areas of prudence or wisdom doesn’t have to separate us at all.

May God help us to know the difference between essentials, non-essentials, and wisdom (or conscience) issues. And may God help us to disagree in ways that can be commended by our fellow church members and even honoring to the Lord.

3. Prudent Discipleship (16:1-3)

From chapter 16 onward, Luke focuses the Acts storyline on the Apostle Paul and his exploits as Christ’s “chosen instrument” to “carry” the “name” of Jesus to the “nations” (Acts 9:15). This was Paul’s calling from the beginning, and Luke shows how that played out in real time in the expansion of early Christianity. So, I don’t think it’s a slight against Barnabas that he drops out of view.

But, in v1 of chapter 16, we meet another “disciple” who becomes even more familiar to us as Paul’s co-laborer. This is where Paul met Timothy, the young man who seems to have been one of Paul’s closest friends. In missionary efforts and pastoral ministry, Paul both sent Timothy ahead (Acts 17:14; 1 Cor. 4:17; Phil. 2:19; 1 Thess. 3:2) and left him behind (Acts 18:5; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2). It seems that Timothy was laboring faithfully in all the same ways which Paul himself did so well, and Timothy was a marvelous Christian leader.

Here, in Acts 16, our first introduction to Timothy is as one who was already “well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium” (Acts 16:2), and eager to join with Paul in his ministry efforts (Acts 16:3). Most strikingly, and not a little ironic, Timothy also shows himself to be completely selfless and invested in the work of effective ministry… so much so that he is willing to be circumcised.

The irony is that Paul was carrying a letter which explicitly said that Gentile believers did not need to be circumcised in order to be true Christians. And yet, Timothy volunteered to be circumcised in order to join Paul in evangelistic ministry. But why? Well, Luke tells us in v3. It was “because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.” Timothy had a Jewish mom, but his dad was a Greek (or Gentile), and Timothy’s Genitileness might have put roadblocks in the way of his evangelistic efforts.

The short of it is that Timothy was wisely putting into practice the very heart of the letter Paul was carrying. The letter explicitly freed Gentiles from the Old Testament law, but it also asked them to bear with the sensitive consciences of their Jewish brethren. Timothy was a half-Jew, so the Mosaic law was a tradition that he shared at least in some sense (though Luke isn’t clear on how much Timothy was raised in Mosaic covenantal Judaism). And rather than turn his nose up at his Jewish Christian brethren for their weakness in wanting to still keep certain Mosaic customs, instead Timothy subjected himself to a personally costly procedure that would graciously show his love toward those he wanted to see converted and matured in the faith.

Brothers and sisters, this is wise or prudent discipleship… this is gracious and loving Christianity. Timothy didn’t have to do this, but he did it because he and Paul thought it would eliminate an obvious hindrance to ministry. But is this how you think about your Christian freedoms? Is this how you think about “living under grace and not law”? Are you eager to set aside your freedoms, or at least to be quiet about them, for the sake of others who may not understand or for the sake of those whose consciences might be pricked differently than yours? I wonder how our Christian witness might be improved if some of us were more willing to endure discomfort and more willing to personally sacrifice for the sake of showing love and patience toward those we know are needlessly offended… both inside and outside of the Church.

4. Promoting Unity (16:4-5)

After Paul and Barnabas went their separate ways, and after Paul snagged Timothy (who embodied the spirit of the letter Paul carried), Paul and Silas and Timothy “went on their way through the cities,” and they “delivered to them [i.e., the churches] for observance [or for “keeping” or “obeying”] the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem” (Acts 16:4). Their goal was to “visit the brothers,” to “see how they are,” and to “strengthen the churches” by explaining, exemplifying, and calling those church members to obey the contents of the letter from the Apostles (Acts 15:36, 41).

Isn’t this a wonderful picture of pastoral ministry here? They carried the authoritative word of God in the form of an apostolic decree. We have today the complete collection of God’s words through the Apostles in the New Testament. And the pastoral mission today is the same as Paul’s and his companions’. We point to the contents of the divinely inspired word… we explain what’s there as best as we can… we aim to live out the implications of God’s word as consistently as we may in our own lives… and we call our hearers to do the same.

Brothers and sisters, is this what you expect of your pastors? Brothers, those of you who serve as pastors beside me in ministry here, is this what you are committed to doing?

This sort of ministry necessitates humility, both on the part of the pastors and on the part of the church members. Church members must humbly admit that they need help understanding and applying God’s word to their lives. They must humbly expect that some of their present beliefs will be discovered to be wrong, and they must humbly expect that some of their present actions and desires will prove to be sin. And they must be willing, with humility, to open themselves up to instruction and correction.

So too, pastors must show great humility in this kind of biblical and faithful ministry to church members. Pastors must humbly accept that some questions about applying Scripture are not as easily and clearly answered as others. A pastor must humbly call church members to repentance when they are clearly out of step with the teaching of Scripture, no matter what those church members might think of him. And yet, pastors must also humbly refrain from demanding repentance when what they think they see is a lack of wisdom but not necessarily sin.

Both pastors and church members must humbly put down tribalism and anything remotely like an us-vs-them mentality. We are not voting constituents that must be wooed by one party or another; we are all citizens of the kingdom of Christ who must give ourselves wholeheartedly to believing and obeying His word. Furthermore, we must all be lovers of the truth – whatever that might be – more than we are fearful of the consequences. And this is particularly true when we feel ourselves trying to “save face” or preserve our reputation.

How many churches and Christians have earned a reputation for being hypocritical and uncaring and selfish because they’ve been unwilling to humbly admit sin and to deal with it openly? This seems incredibly relevant to the issues among the SBC Executive Committee right now, but we (FBC Diana) do not have a perfect record on this either. May God help us to be honest about sin, to deal with it humbly and openly. May God help us (as a church) to humbly walk together, all aiming to better understand and better apply God’s word to our lives. And may God help us to enjoy the good fruit that comes from such efforts.

Look with me at Acts 16:5, and let’s see what were the results of Paul’s and Silas’s and Timothy’s pastoral ministry among the Gentile churches. Luke wrote, “So [or “therefore” or “thus”] the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” The Greek underneath makes the cause and effect relationship more emphatic; v5 happened because of what was done in v4. It was because Paul and Silas and Timothy “delivered to them [i.e., the churches] for observance [or for “keeping” or “obeying”] the decisions that had been reached by the apostles” (Acts 16:4) that then “the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5). Their pastoral ministry, exemplifying and applying the divinely inspired apostolic word, promoted (or produced) strength and growth among the churches.

Conclusion

Friends, we have again observed ordinary and mundane Christianity. Recently, it was making disciples and raising up elders (Acts 14:21-28), and today, it’s been pastoral ministry and humble Christian living. We’ve seen that Christians don’t always agree, and we’ve thought about ways that mature believers can bear with their weaker brothers and sisters (and even non-Christians) out of love and wisdom. We’ve thought about some implications for faithful pastoral ministry and the need for humility and honesty among both pastors and church members.

The kind of Christianity we’re seeing on the pages in Acts isn’t the sort of marketable and measurable Christianity we might be used to seeing in modern America. No newspaper headline is going to read, “Pastor faithfully explains Scripture with appropriate nuance and care.” And no journalist is going to want a story about how three Christian ladies helped each other resist sin more consistently over the last two years. But this is the sort of Christianity that will make us stronger and more numerous over time.

May God help us to show love by invading each other’s lives. May God help us to disagree with humility and love. May God help us to set aside our own preferences and comforts for the sake of Christian witness. And may God grant us much fruit from our efforts.

Endnotes

[1] I think this brief article at Bible Gateway is helpful in describing where chapter and verse divisions came from: https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2016/12/where-do-verse-and-chapter-numbers-come-from/. And this other article is also helpful in connecting verse divisions (as well as the common order of books) with the compiled Greek text of the textus receptus: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/5-minutes-in-church-history-with-stephen-nichols/robertus-stephanus. [2]The labels I am using here – Faith Plus Works and Faith Alone – are a continuation of the way I labeled these two gospels during my sermon on Acts 15:1-35. In short, Faith Plus Works was the gospel of the “men… from Judea” (Acts 15:1), since they seemed to teach that a sinner must believe or have faith in Jesus Christ and also live in keeping with the Mosaic law in order to receive the forgiveness of sins (Acts 15:5). Faith Alone, on the other hand, was the gospel which had been proclaimed and reaffirmed by the Apostles, wherein the message of Jesus as the Christ called for repentanceand faith (Acts 2:22-41, 3:12-26, 10:36-43). Of course, repentance and faith are not empty terms. Repentance is turning away from unbelief and turning toward Christ as King, and faith is trusting in Christ’s finished work of atonement upon the cross and living under Christ’s rule as Messiah. The apostolic call to repent and believe is clearly differentiated from any requirement of Mosaic covenantal obedience.

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