The Jerusalem Council - The Book of Acts

In this Bible Story, we learn about certain Jewish believers forcing Gentiles to be circumcised to be accepted into the family of God. Outraged by this, Paul and Barnabas hold a council of all the leaders in Jerusalem. They debate whether Gentiles should be forced to follow the Jewish customs laid out in the law. This story is inspired by Acts 15:1-35. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is Acts 15:19 from the King James Version.

Episode 230: The lies that began in Antioch continued to spread throughout the Christian communities causing division between Jewish and Gentile believers. So Paul and Barnabas called for the apostles and pastors to hold a council around this issue. In the middle of this debate, Peter stood and addressed the crowd reminding them what God has done among the Gentiles in their presence. In the end, James and the leaders wrote a letter of encouragement to clear up the confusion for the Gentile believers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray. Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble
not them, which from among the gentiles are turned to God,
Acts fifteen nineteen. As I am being transformed into your likeness, Jesus,
I consciously make the choice to let go of past

(00:22):
rules and outdated mindsets that stand in opposition to the
new way of being. I am freely able to live
by the work of Jesus. I am now saved by
grace through faith keeping. Traditions that hold me bound to
the past can no longer serve in my new life. Therefore,

(00:48):
like the multitude of counsel and Acts fifteen, guide me
Holy Spirit and reveal to me what needs to stay
in my life and what needs to go. Reveal to
me in your Holy Word the ways I'm called to live,
so I may experience the life in abundance that you

(01:10):
died to give me. Lord in Jesus name, Amen, thank
you for making prayer a priority in your day. To
learn more about the Bible, stay tuned for today's story,
brought to you by Bible in a year dot.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Com the Jerusalem Council.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
In our last story, Paul was nearly stoned to death
by Jewish Christians, who sought to control gentiles by the law.
They were dangerous and controlling, Yet Paul did not let
the stones stop him. Now we see a move of
God's spirit as he guides the apostles and leaders to
address the problems ahead. If gentiles are to be brought

(02:04):
into the family of God, they are going to need
to learn to let go. Inspired by the Book of.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
Acts, Hello, I'm Jack Graham with today's episode of the
Bible in a Year podcast. But before we begin, I
want to let you know about a unique ebook that's
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(02:31):
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org slash stress. That's Jack Graham dot org slash stress.
In yesterday's episode, we heard about the persecution brought upon

(02:52):
Paul and Barnabas by those who wish to silence the
message of Jesus. Twice I had escape those who wish
them harm. But finally in Listra, Paul was seized by
angry men who stoned him and carried him outside the city,
leaving him for dead. But the disciples came to his aid,
and Paul rose up to continue preaching and teaching, and

(03:13):
many more came to Christ as a result. Today we'll
hear how christ following Jews attempt to add to the Gospel,
trying to make Gentile believers follow Jewish religious traditions such
as circumcision. We'll see Paul and Barnabas journey to Jerusalem
and convene a council of the apostles and elders of
the Church to stand against these doctrines that threatened to

(03:35):
rob the Gospel of his power. Let's listen now to
today's reading from the Book of Acts.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
The toxic doctrine of the Church and Antioch was spreading.
Jews who had become Christian considered themselves more complete and
holy followers of God. They lorded their heritage over the gentiles.
Many of them even taught that a gentile could not
become a follower of Jesus unless he circumcised. This was

(04:02):
in direct opposition to what Jesus had spent years battling against.
He died so that nobody would be judged on the law,
but on the righteousness given to them through His sacrifice.
So Paul and Barnabas called for the apostles and pastors
of the church together to discuss these teachings. Since the
early Church was mostly made up of Jews, it was

(04:24):
hard for them to comprehend a faith in Jesus without
embracing the Jewish culture. So they prayed and bore their
heads before God and one another. They argued and debated
the law of Moses and the law of liberty established
by Christ. Then, in the midst of the arguments and debates,
Peter stood up before the room. Everyone paused as Peter

(04:47):
paced the room. He stood with authority. He was no
longer the scared fisherman. He was a man of quiet strength,
a man who knew Jesus deeply. My brothers, Peter said,
I have been a witness to what God has done
to the gentiles. God has met them and given them
his spirit. He has made no distinguishing between us and them.

(05:11):
He gives the same spirit to both. And we are
to not call unclean what God has cleansed. Do we
not still believe that we are saved by grace? Should
we not believe the same is true? For them. The
room fell silent, and Peter sat down. Then Barnabas and
Paul recounted the violence of the Jewish Christians in Antioch.

(05:32):
After this, all looked to James, the brother of Jesus.
He stood to his feet. There was silence, and James
looked deep in thought. My judgment is this, we should
not bind the Gentiles to laws that bring them no
closer to Jesus. We should write to them to encourage them,
to guide them, to restore them. But we should also

(05:55):
inform them on the things from the law they ought
to keep, for such is our burden. As leaders. All
were in agreement, so they forged a letter of encouragement
to the Gentile believers, and thus the first major conflict
within the Church was solved by a multitude of voices.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
In today's scripture, we find Paul and Barnabas at odds
with some Jewish Christians who came from Judea and began
to teach that gentiles must first be circumscised in order
to be saved. Paul and Barnabas saw this for the
false teaching, that it was a burden on the Gentiles
that Jesus never meant for them to bear, and they
debated them with passion. It was no small matter, and

(06:42):
a rift was beginning to form in the church. So
Paul and Barnabas wisely traveled to Jerusalem to meet with
Peter and the other apostles, along with elders in the church.
These were people who had lived alongside Jesus and heard
him preach. If anyone could rule on this matter, it
would be them. As it turned out, this was not
simply a question on the fringes. There were many Jews

(07:06):
in Jerusalem who believed the same things that gentiles had
to follow Jewish laws and customs and become circumcised. Of course,
it was a deeper issue than circumcision. This was a
fundamental misunderstanding of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the freedom that he gives to all who follow him.
After a great deal of debate and discussion, Peter stood

(07:28):
and spoke with confidence. I can imagine that as he
addressed the gathering, he was recalling the day on the
roof when the vision of unclean animals came to him
and he heard God tell him to rise, kill and eat.
How after he protested, God told him that he was
not to call anything unclean that God had made clean.
And how just after he awoke from his vision, men

(07:50):
came to bring him to a centurion named Cornelius, a
gentile who came to faith in Christ. Peter had led
this man and his whole family to faith in the Lord,
and there had been no need for circumcision. Salvation came
through faith in Christ alone, by God's grace alone, to
these gentiles who heard the word of God and the

(08:10):
message of salvation, and the same Holy Spirit had been
given to them as was given to Peter and other
believing Jews. To Peter, the matter was settled. God made
no distinction and had called all nations and all people
to himself. So in Acts fifteen ten and eleven he concludes, Now, therefore,

(08:30):
why are you putting God to the test by placing
a yoke on the back of the disciples that neither
our fathers nor we have been able to bear. But
we believe that we will be saved through the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as they will. Paul
and Barnabas then began to tell those gathered what the
Lord had been doing among the gentiles who were coming

(08:52):
to faith. In the Lord. Finally, James, Jesus's own brother,
stood and testified that what Peter, Paul and Barnabas were
saying did not contradict Old Testament prophecy, but rather supported it.
This is so important that we remember this today as well. Yes,
God uses experiences to shape and inform us in our walk,

(09:14):
but our experiences do not trump God's revealed word. God's
word is our final authority for faith and practice, and
as James concluded, God did not intend for gentiles to
become Jews, so rather than burden them with religious requirements
of the law, they should instead exhort them to abstain

(09:35):
from things like sexual immorality, and other practices that would
violate God's moral law, ultimately hindering their fellowship with God
and other believers. This Jerusalem Council then drafted a letter
to send out to believers, resolving the matter and encouraging
them to have unity in the faith. This was the

(09:55):
first major disagreement in the church resolved through wise counsel, discernment,
understanding of God's word and prayer. It would not, however,
be the last division in the Church, and as we'll
discover in our next episode, Paul would remind believers again
that righteousness and freedom come not from good works, but
through faith in Jesus Christ by God's grace. We'll learn

(10:18):
more about that the next time. Let's pray. Dear God,
we thank you for the gospel that your grace is
available to all, that this is not a religious experience,
but a life changing transformation by the power of the
Lord Jesus Christ. May we always judge our experiences