Three Takeaways from the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)

There are a number of important points made by Luke in Acts 15, but three stand out for brief mention here, especially when considered in light of Paul’s recently written Letter to The Galatians (which I take to be written in A.D. 48, a year or so before the Jerusalem Council convened). Paul, Barnabas, along the with apostles (James and Peter) and the elders of the Jerusalem church (including Judas called Barsabbas and Silas) were present to debate the matter of whether circumcision was required of Gentile converts to Christianity, if they were to be saved (Acts 15:1-2).

First, despite the ethnic and cultural differences between Jew and Gentile, both groups were equal and full members in the Israel of God which is Christ’s church (cf. Galatians 6:16). As Paul made clear in his Galatian letter, the gospel is not based upon human obedience to the Law of Moses or submission to circumcision (“works of the law”—Galatians 2:16), which supposedly made the Jew superior to Gentiles. It is clear that the gospel is the preaching of Christ crucified, through which, God in his grace, calls his elect to faith in Jesus Christ, whether they be Jew or Gentile (Galatians 2:20; 3:1).

Peter admits that the Law of Moses had been an unbearable yoke for the Jews (Acts 15:10). It was given by God to Moses precisely for the purpose of showing the people of Israel their sin and driving them to seek the coming savior (Galatians 3:21-29). To turn around and insist that unless a Gentile kept the law and was circumcised in order to be justified, was to deny the gospel. God had blessed the Gentile mission. No one could deny this. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and even James, were in full agreement that the age of the Spirit had dawned (Acts 15:8). The Judaizers and those Pharisees sympathetic to them, were fully and completely repudiated by the assembled church, all of the apostles, and the elders. Justification, sola fide, is the doctrine of the apostolic church. Therefore, James 2:14-26, must be understood in light of Acts 15 and Romans 4, not the latter in light of the former.

Second, the church was clearly given birth by the proclamation of the gospel, so that the assembly which met in Jerusalem renders its judgment upon those who deny what the Scriptures clearly teach–the gospel revealed by Jesus to his apostles. Despite the contention of the Roman church that this text shows the supposed equality of the authority of the church with that of the authority of Scripture, the exact opposite is true. The Jerusalem Council makes its determination from the Scriptures or as directed by the Holy Spirit (in words which are now Scripture). When Peter speaks of Paul’s letters as Scripture, (2 Peter 3:16), he is likely referring to the fact that the epistle to the Galatians, and the gospel of justification sola fide, was that to which the Old Testament Scriptures pointed all along. There is no sense that the church has authority over Scripture merely because it has apostles.

Acts 15 is also problematic for advocates of congregational, and independent forms of church government, because the argument that the local church has no organic connection to other congregations, or that individual Christians are not under authority of a plurality of elders, does not comply with the formation, purpose, and decisions of the council. Despite not possessing Robert’s Rules, the Jerusalem Council clearly demonstrates the rule of elders; men who are on the same footing as the apostles when the church as a whole assembles to resolve this important dispute. The apostolic church, then, is neither Roman (episcopal) nor congregational in its government. It is ruled by elders and therefore Presbyterian/Reformed in its polity. The assembled council rendered a decision on a vital doctrine which was binding on the churches and which pleased the Holy Spirit.

The practical consequence of the Jerusalem Council is that the preaching of the gospel creates the church and gives us a new identity. Despite all our personal differences, our disagreements, our cultural diversity, when we gather together around the proclamation of Christ crucified, are baptized into Christ, receive the sacrament of his body and blood, we who are diverse, become one—the people of God. If Jesus Christ is at the center of our faith because he is the Lord of all, we do not need to look alike, think alike, vote alike, or eat the same food, to have the kind of unity which the Scripture says is characteristic of Christ’s church. All of us are under the authority of Christ–exercised through his word, sacraments, and keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:19), manifest in each local congregation by ministers and elders, who rule to ensure the fidelity of teaching and preaching to Christ’s word in Scripture wherever Christ’s people gather as a church.

Third, we also learn from the Jerusalem Council that preaching the gospel precludes us from putting stumbling blocks in the way of those who are not Christ’s and who need to hear the preaching of Christ crucified. James’ speech indicates that while we need not give up our individual cultural preferences and habits, nor be forced or shamed into doing those things which violate our own consciences, we are not to let these things get in the way of our collective mission as the Church of Jesus Christ. If non-Christians are to hear the gospel from our lips, then we must not place our own agendas and foibles in the paths of those who are perishing in their sins. The offense of the church is to be the gospel it preaches, not the conduct of its members. Unfortunately, the opposite is often the case. Non-Christians are often driven away because we offend them through stumbling blocks of self-righteousness and sinful behavior. This is a shame. If people hear the gospel and are offended, so be it. Let the scandal of the cross be the offense, not us.

Acts 15, and Luke’s account of the Jerusalem Council reminds us that the apostolic church placed its confidence for all of its life and missionary endeavors clearly in the gospel of free grace and justification sola fide. Paul’s gospel was revealed to him by Jesus. As evident in Acts 15, it is the church’s gospel. Let us do as the first church did, place our confidence in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who comes to us through his word and confirmed in his sacraments. This same Jesus was preached by Paul, James, and Peter, and still feeds us with the manna from heaven–his own body and blood. Through faith in Jesus, we who are many become one. Our sins are forgiven. We are accounted righteous before God because Christ’s righteousness is now ours, through faith in the same Jesus who was preached by Paul, Peter, James, and affirmed by all the elders at the Jerusalem Council.

God’s promise to bless the nations through Israel is a reality, and the countless Christians living today are the proof.