Acts 15:10

Acts 15:10. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples? To impose new obligations upon these Gentile churches founded by Paul and Barnabas would be nothing else than tempting or trying God by demanding new proofs of His will, God, who in the case of the uncircumcised Cornelius had clearly signified His intention that the Gentiles who believed should be partakers with the Jews of all the blessings which, through the Redeemer, flowed into the Church. Now to determine that these Gentile believers must, before they could be admitted into the Church, submit to the burdensome Mosaic law, would be to throw a doubt upon God's former decision, and the miraculous signs which accompanied it as the seal of Divine approval; which miraculous signs had again, in no small measure, been repeated during the Gentile mission of Barnabas and Paul.

Which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. These words do not refer to circumcision only, but to the whole Mosaic law viewed as a condition of salvation an insupportable burden. Peter's words here are not a complaint against God as a severe Master, but are a touching confession of man's weakness. His appeal here has been well paraphrased: ‘Men and brethren, speak the truth, and candidly tell me, have you kept the law?' ‘When oxen,' wrote Luther, ‘have long borne the yoke, and dragged heavy weights, all that they earn by their work beyond their daily food is to be struck on the head and be butchered: such is the experience of those who hope to be justified by the law. They are taken captive and burdened by a heavy yoke, and then, after they have long and painfully laboured to do the works of the law, all that they finally earn is to remain eternally poor and wretched servants.'