Acts 15:1

THE TROUBLES OVER CIRCUMCISION AND THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL

Acts 15:1-35

1.

FALSE TEACHERS TROUBLE THE BELIEVERS. Acts 15:1

Acts 15:1

And certain men came down from Judaea and taught the brethren, sayings Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

Acts 15:1 It is very difficult for us to truly understand the vast importance of the law to the Jew. What would it mean to give up their allegiance to that divine injunction they had revered for so long? Only by thinking What it would mean to give up the most treasured of earthly law or government could we approximate the position of the Jew. In reading upon this subject I ran upon this very splendid statement by Cunningham Geikie:

The religions of antiquity were, in all cases, intensely ritualistic. A sacrifice or a private function must, alike, be carried out in exact accordance with prescribed rules if it were to have a claim on the gods, but when everything had been done as required, they were put under an obligation to answer favorably which they were bound to honor. Yet, in the sphere of ordinary life, nearly all races of men were free. They could eat and drink as they pleased, mix with their fellowmen, perform the common offices of daily existence, or of social intercourse, without interference from the priest. Among the Jews, however, as among their ancient fellow-countrymen in Mesopotamiathe Accadians, or as among the ancient Egyptians, with whom they had lived for centuries before the Exodus, not only every detail of religion, but every minute particular of ordinary life, was the subject of religious prescriptions, believed to be divine, and therefore to be obeyed, on peril of offending and even insulting the Higher Powers.
The Jew must bear on his person the mark of a holy observance, must perform endless cleansings of a more or less formal nature, must repeat, at prescribed times, each day, so many prescribed prayers, must eat and drink only prescribed supports and refreshments, prepared in prescribed modes, must submit from his cradle to his grave to -customs-' and -traditions-' sacredly binding authority at every step of his daily life, this authority faced him. He must perform prescribed pilgrimages from any adopted country, however distant, to the national shrine at Jerusalem to satisfy what he conceived the demands of Jehovah.

498.

How could we approximate the position of the Jew in his giving up the law of Moses?

499.

How was the religion of the Jews like all religions of antiquity and yet different?

ANTIOCH OF SYRIA

Situated 300 miles northwest of Jerusalem, on the Orontes sixteen miles from its mouth, Antioch was founded by Seleucus Nicator about 300 B.C. It was the capital of Syria under the Seleucidae and also of the Roman province of Syria. In population and importance it was the third city in the Roman Empire, ranking next to Rome and Alexandria. Its principal street was lined from end to end with Colonnades. The city was called Antioch the Beautiful and The Crown of the East. Its great trade drew to it many Jewish colonists, who enjoyed all the privileges of citizens. The city was notoriously immoral, and yet it is famous as the birthplace of Gentile Christianity. The people of Antioch are said to be noted for their low wit. (Historical Geography of Bible Lands. p. 82.)

Among the Western races, Paul had to discuss questions of doctrine, such as the resurrection and immortality, or the grounds of a soul's justification before God, and had to denounce gross sins and novel and equivocal innovations, of which he had to say, -We have no such customs, neither the churches of God.-' In Palestine and among the Jews everywhere, the burning question of the age, was the position of the uncircumcised converts to Christianity, toward circumcision. Could they be saved without becoming, at least to this length, Jews, or even without further observing the whole Jewish Ceremonial Law? Or would they be accepted by God though they lived without recognition of either? (Hours With The Bible, pp. 317-318).

There were those in the church in Jerusalem who were not only persuaded that no Christian could be saved without being circumcised and keeping the Law of Moses but they felt it their divine responsibility to so teach others. Word had evidently come to these in Jerusalem of the results of the first missionary journey. Even as word of the conversion of the Gentiles in Antioch had come to them some years before. (cf. Acts 11:22).

This time the ones who left Jerusalem to visit Antioch were not sent out by the apostles but took it upon themselves to represent them none the less. Upon entering Antioch they immediately began to throw the minds of the Christians there into utter confusion: teaching that except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses ye cannot be saved. Note that the mere teaching of circumcision as a religious rite was not the point of difficulty, but rather that it was being layed upon them as a test of fellowship. Paul practiced circumcision as a matter of expediency (cf. Acts 16:1-2) but when it came to binding it as a matter of salvation he would not allow itno, not for one hour.

Into the peaceful and happy atmosphere of the congregation in Antioch there was brought by these that came from Jerusalem the stench of strife and dissension. It would be natural that Paul and Barnabas led in defending their position, but no definite conclusion could be reached. When there is not authority present that is recognized by both parties of a dispute then it becomes impossible to reach a satisfactory decision. This seemed to be the situation in Antioch.

500.

Who were the Accadians? (Look it up in a Bible dictionary).

501.

What was the difference in the questions and problems of those in the West and those in Palestine? What was the Burning Issue in Palestine?

502.

What caused the Judaizers to leave Jerusalem and to come to Antioch to teach their doctrine?

503.

If it were not the mere teaching of circumcision as a religious rite that constituted the difficulty what did?

504.

Why could not Paul the apostle settle this difficulty in Antioch without going to Jerusalem?