Shabbat Shalom.
When I found out I was going to teach today while Stan and several of our members are over in Israel, it didn’t take me long to decide what I wanted to talk about. It is a passage of the New Covenant writings that many of us are familiar with, and one that poses special challenges to our understanding as Messianic believers. I’m speaking of Acts chapter fifteen.
This passage in the book of Acts has become known as the “Jerusalem Council” passage. What we are often taught about the Jerusalem Council is that this is where it was decided that Gentile followers of the Messiah Yeshua can ignore the Torah, because it doesn’t apply to them.
Those unfamiliar with the Messianic viewpoint often use Acts 15 as a basis for labeling us Judaizers. But is that what the Jerusalem Council was all about? Is Acts 15 the chapter that laid the Torah to rest, never to be relevant again?
To find out, let’s take a closer look at this important chapter in the history of the first-century congregations of Yeshua and see if we can determine what’s really going on. We read this in:
ACTS 15:1
Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
OK, let’s stop right here for a moment because there are many elements to this first verse, and if we misunderstand these elements, we will misunderstand the rest of the chapter that follows.
The first and most natural question that occurs to me is, who were these men referred to in verse one who were teaching the brothers? We get some hints later in the chapter. For example, when they appear with Paul and Barnabas in front of the Jerusalem Council, we read this in:
ACTS 15:5
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
We learn two key facts about these men from this passage. First, they are believers. Second, they are from the party of the Pharisees.
For some, that might sound almost like a contradiction. Yet it is an accurate way to understand the identity of these teachers: they were Pharisees who believed in the Messiah Yeshua.
The correctness of this interpretation is confirmed by David Stern in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, where we read this:
STERN, JEWISH NT COMMENTARY, P. 275
But there were in fact some Pharisees who believed in Yeshua. There were not “former Pharisees” but Messianic Jewish Pharisees, just like Sha’ul. “But,” some may object, “these Pharisees were wrong. Their Judaizing view was roundly defeated.” Yes, but they were still believers; not every believer is right about everything! Further, the text does not tell us that all the Pharisees who were believers took this position; but, on the contrary, it does tell us that Sha’ul, who was a Pharisee, took the opposite stand.
Stern’s insight here is perspective-changing. This passage is often interpreted as being between unbelieving Jewish Pharisees and the believing Paul and Barnabas, who represent early Christianity. But that’s not the case.
This is not a dispute among those outside of the congregations of Yeshua! It’s a dispute among those who are inside it and a part of it!
So now we know these men were Messianic Jewish Pharisees. Does the text reveal anything else about them? It certainly does! Even later in the chapter, in James’ letter to the churches, we read this key passage in:
ACTS 15:24
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.
So what this letter tells us about these men introduced in verse one is that they were doing their teaching without authorization. In fact, Stern tells us in his commentary that these men were not violating orders not to teach, but had not been commissioned to teach at all.
This happens all the time in congregations even today, doesn’t it? We’ve all seen it, been part of it, even done it ourselves on occasion, right?
People at Oneg or after a service or study will gather people around them and, rather than discussing the sermon given, they start offering up their own ideas; ideas that can sometimes be at odds with what has been taught from the bema.
I’m not talking about those who discuss the sermon or study; I’m talking about those who start teaching their own lessons, without approval, or teach something contrary to what we hold to as a congregation.
So this is a situation we can now begin to understand a little better. We are presented with a few Messianic Jewish Pharisees who have not been authorized to teach, but who show up in Antioch and start teaching the congregation there anyway! And what are they teaching? Let’s read verse one again:
ACTS 15:1
Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Now, we’re still not done breaking down verse one so that we properly understand it. What are these unauthorized teachers teaching? “Unless you are circumcised, according to the CUSTOM taught by Moses, you cannot be SAVED.”
There are two key words we must notice here to understand this verse, and everything that follows it, properly.
The first key word is the word CUSTOM. That should ring a bell for us right away. If we were talking about the written Torah of God, it would not say “custom” there.
This isn’t always easy to pick out in the text because of the first-century Jewish mindset from which it was written. For the Jewish people of Yeshua’s time, and for many traditional Jews even today, there is no separation between the five books of Moses and the oral traditions of the Pharisees. If you come upon a Jewish person studying the Talmud or the Mishnah and ask him what he’s up to, he’ll reply that he’s studying Torah.
That blending the written Torah and the oral traditions has been part of rabbinic teachings since at least the time of the Mishnah. For we read this in:
MISHNAH, PIRKEY AVOT 1:1
Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the great synagogue. The latter used to say three things: be patient in [the administration of] justice, rear many disciples and make a [protective] fence around the Torah.
In this Mishnaic tradition, it becomes clear that the rabbinic mindset sees the oral traditions as inseparable from the written Torah of Moses. That is the basis of their authority, so that is why they call all of it Torah.
Yet remember, these Pharisees in Acts are believers in Messiah Yeshua. They understand Yeshua made a distinction between what was written down by Moses on Mount Sinai, and the many rabbinic teachings that came centuries later.
And so they don’t call this particular circumcision practice a law, but a custom taught by Moses.
Keep in mind the claim they are making. They are insisting that performing this circumcision in strict accordance with a particular oral tradition is necessary for a person to truly be saved!
You know, it is one thing to embrace the Jewish roots; it’s another thing entirely to embrace Judaism over the teaching of Yeshua. And that is exactly what these teachers are requiring. As Stern comments:
STERN, JEWISH NT COMMENTARY, PP. 273-274
These men from Judah are insisting that Gentiles must become in every sense Jews … This condition goes beyond the requirements for individual salvation set forth in the Tanakh, in Judaism or by the emissaries … The Tanakh says, and Peter quotes it at 2:21, “Everyone who calls on the name of The L-RD will be saved.” … The New Testament books of Romans, Galatians and Ephesians have as a central issue the equality of Jews and Gentiles before God, insofar as salvation is concerned; they make it clear that observance of the Torah, as it applies to Jews, is not a condition for the salvation of a Gentile … The correct conclusion is: a Jew who becomes Messianic remains a Jew, and a Gentile who becomes a Christian remains a Gentile.
So these are the stakes at play here. You have a group of Messianic Jewish Pharisees. They believe Yeshua is the Messiah, but they have come to Antioch without authorization to teach and have started teaching something contrary to the teaching of Paul and Barnabas: that Yeshua’s blood sacrifice was not enough to obtain salvation by itself. That obeying not just the direct commands of God in the written Torah, but also the oral traditions of the rabbis – including specific customs about circumcision – was necessary for someone to be saved!
This is what’s at stake.
With all this in mind, what plays out next becomes far easier to understand. Let’s read on in:
ACTS 15:2
This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
I think now we can all understand more deeply why Paul and Barnabas had such a deep dispute with these particular Messianic Jewish Pharisees. This was Paul and Barnabas’ congregation that they were discipling, a suddenly along come some self-appointed experts, people who are not ready to teach, and they start contradicting everything Paul and Barnabas have been working so hard to instill in the believers there in Antioch. Of course that would be upsetting.
Moving on to:
ACTS 15:4-11
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
So Peter here says that the Torah is done away with and irrelevant and we don’t even need to read it anymore, right?
No, of course not! Because that’s not what’s at issue here, is it?
That may be how we’re accustomed to hearing this passage taught, but through our study today, we know better now, don’t we?
Peter’s ruling is focused; he is saying God makes no distinction between Jew or Gentile when it comes to salvation… the same standard applies to all. And that is, that our salvation comes from God and God alone, though trusting in Yeshua as our Messiah.
So what exactly is this yoke Peter speaks of, that he says, “neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear.” Well, what we often are taught is that the yoke Peter is referring to is the Torah itself!
This is why we hear so many people proclaim, “Praise God, we have been set free from the Law!” The trouble is, that’s not what Peter means here by yoke.
Ask most Jews, and they will tell you that the Torah is not considered a burden, but a joy! That is also how the first-century believers in Yeshua would have seen the written Torah as well, because they understood that Yeshua was Himself the living embodiment of the Torah.
So, again, what is this yoke? Remember, Peter has just stated that God purifies our hearts when we place our trust in Him. So this is a contrasting statement.
What would be the opposite of following God with a purified heart? Well, quite simply, Peter’s referring to those times when we’re just going through the motions, when we’re not really living out our faith by our actions and trusting God.
Whenever we start doing all the ceremonies of our faith because it’s expected of us, but our hearts are cold to God, that’s when our practices become a yoke, a burden. We all go through this at times; the real problems begin when we get stuck there!
Let’s read what Stern had to say about this in:
STERN, JEWISH NT COMMENTARY, P. 276
[Peter] is speaking here of the detailed, mechanical rule-keeping, regardless of heart-attitude, that some (but not all!) Pharisees, including, apparently, the ones mentioned in verse five, held to be the essence of Judaism. This was not the “yoke of the mitzvot” prescribed by God, but a yoke of legalism prescribed by men! The yoke of legalism is indeed unbearable, but the yoke of the mitzvoth has always required, first of all, love of God and neighbor; and it now implies love toward Yeshua the Messiah. But love can never be legalistic.
Do you see the difference now? Obeying God because we’re passionate about our relationship to him is easy! But going through the motions when our hearts are far from him? Insisting others do the same? That’s legalism. And legalism doesn’t save us!
So can we now agree that no one has declared the Torah done away with at the Jerusalem Council so far?
It’s still intact, isn’t it?
What’s being spoken against is false religion and empty rule-keeping. Let’s move on:
ACTS 15:12-19
The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up: “Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ that have been known for ages. “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”
Now here’s a critical point. James is handing down the final decision of the Jerusalem Council, and it’s important we understand it properly. What he says here is, “We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”
From this wording, what are we often taught? “OK, whatever comes next, this is what we Gentiles need to do and understand. Nothing more. Just this. The Jerusalem Council said so.”
But is that the best understanding of the text? Quoting Joseph Shulam, Daniel Stern points out that there is a different rendering for this verse, one that lends deeper insight:
STERN, QUOTING JOSEPH SHULAM
“Or, ‘the Goyim, while they are turning.’ Joseph Shulam expounds the second alternative thusly: Do not put obstacle in the way of Gentiles while they are going through the process of turning away from idolatry to God. Instead, let them use their spiritual energy in repentance. There will be plenty of opportunities later for them to absorb what Moses has to say.”
And that’s the point here! The ruling of the Jerusalem Council is not meant to be taken as a final word on what Gentiles have to observe to please God, now and forever!
It is merely a starting point. A beginning. A minimum standard so that Gentiles turning away from their paganism and coming to worship God can get along with peaceably, and not offend, their fellow brothers and sisters in the L-RD who are coming to Messiah from a Jewish background!
Let’s read what they required to accomplish this:
ACTS 15:20-21
Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
This is what many people mistakenly rally around as the only rules that should ever apply to Gentile believers in the Messiah Yeshua. That they should stay away from sexual sin, from food polluted by idols or the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
It sounds nice. It sounds Biblical. But I think we’ve explored enough of background on this chapter now to come to an entirely different conclusion than what we are normally taught.
Should we assume, if these are the only rules we Gentiles are to live by, that it is OK to covet?
Is it OK to harbor hatred in our hearts toward our neighbors, in direct violation of Yeshua’s teachings?
Is it OK to steal, since that’s not mentioned either?
I don’t think that’s what Peter and James and the rest of the Jerusalem Council were driving at. If you look at that very next verse again, you’ll notice another key statement.
James says, “For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
Many people wonder what James could have meant here, but I think it’s pretty clear, in context.
He’s saying those who are Messianic Jews have been raised on the laws of Moses! It’s been preached from the earliest times, and still is, every Sabbath!
Understanding all the commands of God found in the five books of Moses comes naturally to them! They were raised on it! It’s what they know, and it’s no burden. It’s second nature!
But is that true of the Gentiles who are just beginning to turn away from their paganism, from their idol worship and from the worship of false gods? Have they had Moses preached to them from the time they were children until now?
No! Of course not! They don’t have the same background! They don’t have the same context! They don’t even have the same language, in some cases!
So the desire of Paul and Barnabas and the Jerusalem Council isn’t to do away with the written Torah of God! It’s to ease the transition of these new Gentile believers into the first-century congregations of Yeshua, to give them a bare minimum, a starting point at which their presence won’t be chaotic and disruptive to the rest of the community!
Remember, this part of the ruling isn’t a salvation question; it’s a question of how righteously they have to live in order not to be disruptive to the congregation of Yeshua they are not a part of, until they learn more about living a God-pleasing life. This is about that next step.
Ultimately these Gentile believers will spend more time with their Messianic brothers and sisters. They will be discipled. Are they never expected to advance in righteous living and deeper obedience to the Torah?
No, of course not! As they grow in maturity, more obedience will be expected of them; not as a means of salvation, but as a means of living a purer life, a life empowered by the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit!
God treats all of us the same. He accepts us where and as we are! But He calls all of us to ever-greater obedience, ever-greater trust, as we grow in our knowledge of Him.
I came to know the L-RD personally in college. And I was able to give up some of my sins immediately. But when I look back at how I lived in those first couple years of walking with the L-RD, there was a lot to be desired.
As the years went on, I learned more about prayer, more about distancing myself from various temptations, more about who God really was and what He expected of me. I walked with and grew in the L-RD for almost fifteen years before I ever discovered the Messianic movement.
I’ve been in the Messianic movement for over a decade now. When I first started attending, some things were easy for me to grasp right away, like celebrating the Sabbath on the seventh day.
Others, like avoiding unclean meats or keeping the Festivals of the LORD, took more time for me to get used to. And here’s the thing: both God and the people here at Sar Shalom gave me time and opportunity to grow into greater obedience.
They didn’t chase me off with a stick the second time I walked in the door! They didn’t debate me when I had questions or I stated something that didn’t perfectly line up with our doctrine at KKS. Even after a couple years of coming here, I still had a lot of growing to do! Yet they welcomed me here at Sar Shalom throughout that growing in obedience process, just as God does!
And if God and Sar Shalom were willing to be that patient with me, how can we be any less patient with anyone else coming here for the first time?
See, that’s the real message of the Jerusalem Council! Despite what we may have been taught traditionally, it was not an event in church history where the disciples declared the Torah to be done away with!
It was, more accurately, a ruling against legalism! It was a ruling in favor of patience and tolerance toward all who follow the Messiah Yeshua!
It was a ruling allowing them to grow and mature in trust and love and knowledge and obedience to the L-RD, as He draws us all continually closer to Him, knowing that He will build us always toward a higher standard of obedience, far above the minimum requirements, not a lower standard.
That’s the true heart of the Jerusalem Council. And that spirit of love and mercy, not legalistic observance, is what should be in all our hearts whenever we encounter newcomers. Let’s make them feel at home. Let’s make them all feel as welcome as we did the first time we walked through those doors.
Shabbat Shalom.
Sermon: The Jerusalem Council
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Shabbat Shalom.
When I found out I was going to teach today while Stan and several of our members are over in Israel, it didn’t take me long to decide what I wanted to talk about. It is a passage of the New Covenant writings that many of us are familiar with, and one that poses special challenges to our understanding as Messianic believers. I’m speaking of Acts chapter fifteen.
This passage in the book of Acts has become known as the “Jerusalem Council” passage. What we are often taught about the Jerusalem Council is that this is where it was decided that Gentile followers of the Messiah Yeshua can ignore the Torah, because it doesn’t apply to them.
Those unfamiliar with the Messianic viewpoint often use Acts 15 as a basis for labeling us Judaizers. But is that what the Jerusalem Council was all about? Is Acts 15 the chapter that laid the Torah to rest, never to be relevant again?
To find out, let’s take a closer look at this important chapter in the history of the first-century congregations of Yeshua and see if we can determine what’s really going on. We read this in:
OK, let’s stop right here for a moment because there are many elements to this first verse, and if we misunderstand these elements, we will misunderstand the rest of the chapter that follows.
The first and most natural question that occurs to me is, who were these men referred to in verse one who were teaching the brothers? We get some hints later in the chapter. For example, when they appear with Paul and Barnabas in front of the Jerusalem Council, we read this in:
We learn two key facts about these men from this passage. First, they are believers. Second, they are from the party of the Pharisees.
For some, that might sound almost like a contradiction. Yet it is an accurate way to understand the identity of these teachers: they were Pharisees who believed in the Messiah Yeshua.
The correctness of this interpretation is confirmed by David Stern in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, where we read this:
Stern’s insight here is perspective-changing. This passage is often interpreted as being between unbelieving Jewish Pharisees and the believing Paul and Barnabas, who represent early Christianity. But that’s not the case.
This is not a dispute among those outside of the congregations of Yeshua! It’s a dispute among those who are inside it and a part of it!
So now we know these men were Messianic Jewish Pharisees. Does the text reveal anything else about them? It certainly does! Even later in the chapter, in James’ letter to the churches, we read this key passage in:
So what this letter tells us about these men introduced in verse one is that they were doing their teaching without authorization. In fact, Stern tells us in his commentary that these men were not violating orders not to teach, but had not been commissioned to teach at all.
This happens all the time in congregations even today, doesn’t it? We’ve all seen it, been part of it, even done it ourselves on occasion, right?
People at Oneg or after a service or study will gather people around them and, rather than discussing the sermon given, they start offering up their own ideas; ideas that can sometimes be at odds with what has been taught from the bema.
I’m not talking about those who discuss the sermon or study; I’m talking about those who start teaching their own lessons, without approval, or teach something contrary to what we hold to as a congregation.
So this is a situation we can now begin to understand a little better. We are presented with a few Messianic Jewish Pharisees who have not been authorized to teach, but who show up in Antioch and start teaching the congregation there anyway! And what are they teaching? Let’s read verse one again:
Now, we’re still not done breaking down verse one so that we properly understand it. What are these unauthorized teachers teaching? “Unless you are circumcised, according to the CUSTOM taught by Moses, you cannot be SAVED.”
There are two key words we must notice here to understand this verse, and everything that follows it, properly.
The first key word is the word CUSTOM. That should ring a bell for us right away. If we were talking about the written Torah of God, it would not say “custom” there.
This isn’t always easy to pick out in the text because of the first-century Jewish mindset from which it was written. For the Jewish people of Yeshua’s time, and for many traditional Jews even today, there is no separation between the five books of Moses and the oral traditions of the Pharisees. If you come upon a Jewish person studying the Talmud or the Mishnah and ask him what he’s up to, he’ll reply that he’s studying Torah.
That blending the written Torah and the oral traditions has been part of rabbinic teachings since at least the time of the Mishnah. For we read this in:
In this Mishnaic tradition, it becomes clear that the rabbinic mindset sees the oral traditions as inseparable from the written Torah of Moses. That is the basis of their authority, so that is why they call all of it Torah.
Yet remember, these Pharisees in Acts are believers in Messiah Yeshua. They understand Yeshua made a distinction between what was written down by Moses on Mount Sinai, and the many rabbinic teachings that came centuries later.
And so they don’t call this particular circumcision practice a law, but a custom taught by Moses.
Keep in mind the claim they are making. They are insisting that performing this circumcision in strict accordance with a particular oral tradition is necessary for a person to truly be saved!
You know, it is one thing to embrace the Jewish roots; it’s another thing entirely to embrace Judaism over the teaching of Yeshua. And that is exactly what these teachers are requiring. As Stern comments:
So these are the stakes at play here. You have a group of Messianic Jewish Pharisees. They believe Yeshua is the Messiah, but they have come to Antioch without authorization to teach and have started teaching something contrary to the teaching of Paul and Barnabas: that Yeshua’s blood sacrifice was not enough to obtain salvation by itself. That obeying not just the direct commands of God in the written Torah, but also the oral traditions of the rabbis – including specific customs about circumcision – was necessary for someone to be saved!
This is what’s at stake.
With all this in mind, what plays out next becomes far easier to understand. Let’s read on in:
I think now we can all understand more deeply why Paul and Barnabas had such a deep dispute with these particular Messianic Jewish Pharisees. This was Paul and Barnabas’ congregation that they were discipling, a suddenly along come some self-appointed experts, people who are not ready to teach, and they start contradicting everything Paul and Barnabas have been working so hard to instill in the believers there in Antioch. Of course that would be upsetting.
Moving on to:
So Peter here says that the Torah is done away with and irrelevant and we don’t even need to read it anymore, right?
No, of course not! Because that’s not what’s at issue here, is it?
That may be how we’re accustomed to hearing this passage taught, but through our study today, we know better now, don’t we?
Peter’s ruling is focused; he is saying God makes no distinction between Jew or Gentile when it comes to salvation… the same standard applies to all. And that is, that our salvation comes from God and God alone, though trusting in Yeshua as our Messiah.
So what exactly is this yoke Peter speaks of, that he says, “neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear.” Well, what we often are taught is that the yoke Peter is referring to is the Torah itself!
This is why we hear so many people proclaim, “Praise God, we have been set free from the Law!” The trouble is, that’s not what Peter means here by yoke.
Ask most Jews, and they will tell you that the Torah is not considered a burden, but a joy! That is also how the first-century believers in Yeshua would have seen the written Torah as well, because they understood that Yeshua was Himself the living embodiment of the Torah.
So, again, what is this yoke? Remember, Peter has just stated that God purifies our hearts when we place our trust in Him. So this is a contrasting statement.
What would be the opposite of following God with a purified heart? Well, quite simply, Peter’s referring to those times when we’re just going through the motions, when we’re not really living out our faith by our actions and trusting God.
Whenever we start doing all the ceremonies of our faith because it’s expected of us, but our hearts are cold to God, that’s when our practices become a yoke, a burden. We all go through this at times; the real problems begin when we get stuck there!
Let’s read what Stern had to say about this in:
Do you see the difference now? Obeying God because we’re passionate about our relationship to him is easy! But going through the motions when our hearts are far from him? Insisting others do the same? That’s legalism. And legalism doesn’t save us!
So can we now agree that no one has declared the Torah done away with at the Jerusalem Council so far?
It’s still intact, isn’t it?
What’s being spoken against is false religion and empty rule-keeping. Let’s move on:
Now here’s a critical point. James is handing down the final decision of the Jerusalem Council, and it’s important we understand it properly. What he says here is, “We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”
From this wording, what are we often taught? “OK, whatever comes next, this is what we Gentiles need to do and understand. Nothing more. Just this. The Jerusalem Council said so.”
But is that the best understanding of the text? Quoting Joseph Shulam, Daniel Stern points out that there is a different rendering for this verse, one that lends deeper insight:
And that’s the point here! The ruling of the Jerusalem Council is not meant to be taken as a final word on what Gentiles have to observe to please God, now and forever!
It is merely a starting point. A beginning. A minimum standard so that Gentiles turning away from their paganism and coming to worship God can get along with peaceably, and not offend, their fellow brothers and sisters in the L-RD who are coming to Messiah from a Jewish background!
Let’s read what they required to accomplish this:
This is what many people mistakenly rally around as the only rules that should ever apply to Gentile believers in the Messiah Yeshua. That they should stay away from sexual sin, from food polluted by idols or the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
It sounds nice. It sounds Biblical. But I think we’ve explored enough of background on this chapter now to come to an entirely different conclusion than what we are normally taught.
Should we assume, if these are the only rules we Gentiles are to live by, that it is OK to covet?
Is it OK to harbor hatred in our hearts toward our neighbors, in direct violation of Yeshua’s teachings?
Is it OK to steal, since that’s not mentioned either?
I don’t think that’s what Peter and James and the rest of the Jerusalem Council were driving at. If you look at that very next verse again, you’ll notice another key statement.
James says, “For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
Many people wonder what James could have meant here, but I think it’s pretty clear, in context.
He’s saying those who are Messianic Jews have been raised on the laws of Moses! It’s been preached from the earliest times, and still is, every Sabbath!
Understanding all the commands of God found in the five books of Moses comes naturally to them! They were raised on it! It’s what they know, and it’s no burden. It’s second nature!
But is that true of the Gentiles who are just beginning to turn away from their paganism, from their idol worship and from the worship of false gods? Have they had Moses preached to them from the time they were children until now?
No! Of course not! They don’t have the same background! They don’t have the same context! They don’t even have the same language, in some cases!
So the desire of Paul and Barnabas and the Jerusalem Council isn’t to do away with the written Torah of God! It’s to ease the transition of these new Gentile believers into the first-century congregations of Yeshua, to give them a bare minimum, a starting point at which their presence won’t be chaotic and disruptive to the rest of the community!
Remember, this part of the ruling isn’t a salvation question; it’s a question of how righteously they have to live in order not to be disruptive to the congregation of Yeshua they are not a part of, until they learn more about living a God-pleasing life. This is about that next step.
Ultimately these Gentile believers will spend more time with their Messianic brothers and sisters. They will be discipled. Are they never expected to advance in righteous living and deeper obedience to the Torah?
No, of course not! As they grow in maturity, more obedience will be expected of them; not as a means of salvation, but as a means of living a purer life, a life empowered by the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit!
God treats all of us the same. He accepts us where and as we are! But He calls all of us to ever-greater obedience, ever-greater trust, as we grow in our knowledge of Him.
I came to know the L-RD personally in college. And I was able to give up some of my sins immediately. But when I look back at how I lived in those first couple years of walking with the L-RD, there was a lot to be desired.
As the years went on, I learned more about prayer, more about distancing myself from various temptations, more about who God really was and what He expected of me. I walked with and grew in the L-RD for almost fifteen years before I ever discovered the Messianic movement.
I’ve been in the Messianic movement for over a decade now. When I first started attending, some things were easy for me to grasp right away, like celebrating the Sabbath on the seventh day.
Others, like avoiding unclean meats or keeping the Festivals of the LORD, took more time for me to get used to. And here’s the thing: both God and the people here at Sar Shalom gave me time and opportunity to grow into greater obedience.
They didn’t chase me off with a stick the second time I walked in the door! They didn’t debate me when I had questions or I stated something that didn’t perfectly line up with our doctrine at KKS. Even after a couple years of coming here, I still had a lot of growing to do! Yet they welcomed me here at Sar Shalom throughout that growing in obedience process, just as God does!
And if God and Sar Shalom were willing to be that patient with me, how can we be any less patient with anyone else coming here for the first time?
See, that’s the real message of the Jerusalem Council! Despite what we may have been taught traditionally, it was not an event in church history where the disciples declared the Torah to be done away with!
It was, more accurately, a ruling against legalism! It was a ruling in favor of patience and tolerance toward all who follow the Messiah Yeshua!
It was a ruling allowing them to grow and mature in trust and love and knowledge and obedience to the L-RD, as He draws us all continually closer to Him, knowing that He will build us always toward a higher standard of obedience, far above the minimum requirements, not a lower standard.
That’s the true heart of the Jerusalem Council. And that spirit of love and mercy, not legalistic observance, is what should be in all our hearts whenever we encounter newcomers. Let’s make them feel at home. Let’s make them all feel as welcome as we did the first time we walked through those doors.
Shabbat Shalom.
Tags: Acts 15, Jerusalem Council
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