Acts 15
– a council of the Apostles in Jerusalem
Arrival of Paul and Barnabas from the Church at Antioch Syria
4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.
Historical context:
In A.D. 49, nearly two decades after the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Christ Jesus, the Church has grown greatly by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Claudius had assassinated Caligula in Rome and is now Caesar of the Empire.
- Herod Antipas, who had ruled Galilee and Perea was exiled and died ten years ago in A.D. 39
- Herod [Marcus Julius] Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, raised in Rome and appointed Ethnarch of Idumea, Judea and Samaria, had died in Caesarea Marittima, Roman port of access to Judea and beyond.
- A.D. 44, in addition to imprisoning Peter, Herod Agrippa had executed the Apostle James in Jerusalem and then traveled bank to Caesarea where he died.
- Herod Agrippa II now governs Syria, Galilee and Perea
- A.D. 49 The Emperor Claudius has just expelled the Jews from Rome (but not Christians)
“Claudius saw the Jews as troublemakers who undermined his right to rule, and he expelled them from Rome. Gentile Christians, however, were not expelled from Rome, which amplified Jewish-gentile animosity in the early Roman church.
Rose Guide to the Book of Acts, p.45
A Council of Leaders addressing issues of Culture
5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”
The Apostles and Elders of the church in Jerusalem had dealt with these issues. Peter has previously addressed the role of the Holy Spirit in accepting gentiles — even Romans of the army enforcing their government of Jerusalem in Roman Syria.
The Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection, strained to enforce Mosaic LAW among the Jews throughout the Roman Empire long before the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of the Christ prophesied throughout Scripture.
The political JEWISH party of the Pharisees chose what they believed was a defining issue of Jewish Law to present to their fellow leaders at this council in Jerusalem.
Saul of Tarsus — Paul — had been zealous for the Law as a Pharisee and understood detailed application of the Law of Moses; but he and Barnabas had also been persecuted in Asia for their proclamation of grace through the blood of Christ in accepting gentiles into the worship of God Almighty, Father of our Lord Jesus who became the redemption for the sins of Jews and gentiles alike.
6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.
Illuminating the Authority of Church Councils
(from the Greek) συνέδριον –
We gentile Christians may not quickly make the connection of the importance and authority of this meeting from the Hebrew traditions of Jerusalem.
I didn’t.
Transliteration
synedrion (Key)
The KJV translates Strong’s G4892 in the following manner: council (22x).
- any assembly (esp. of magistrates, judges, ambassadors), whether convened to deliberate or pass judgment
- any session or assembly or people deliberating or adjudicating
- the Sanhedrin, the great council at Jerusalem, consisting of the seventy one members, viz. scribes, elders, prominent members of the high priestly families and the high priest, the president of the assembly.
- a smaller tribunal or council which every Jewish town had for the decision of less important cases.
Obviously this group is NOT the seventy members of the Jewish Sanhedrin which condemned the Lord Jesus and now still decide religious issues twenty years later in similar gatherings of leadership on behalf of the Temple.
The council of Jerusalem is a smaller group of Christian men with authority over the Church anointed by the Holy Spirit.
Luke does NOT call this key meeting of Christian leadership in Jerusalem a synedrion or council (though it is).
Many Bible translations accurately add a heading to ACTS of the Apostles 15:
The Jerusalem Council [ESV], The Council at Jerusalem [NIV], The Council in Jerusalem [NASB]
Circumcision – Not Really the Issue
Recall that Peter, Paul and many leaders of the Church must address MANY issues at odds between the opposing cultures of the Jews and the Greeks, Romans — any gentiles seeking to worship the Lord God.
Is the issue food?
Who should worship the Lord?
Where? When? What will our corporate worship gathering look like each week?
How will gatherings of worshipers of different cultures agree as a ‘church’ to follow and teach only certain rules or doctrine?
As a reminder to my fellow gentile Christians, a quick look at circumcision: περιτέμνω - Lexicon :: Strong's G4059 - peritemnō - cut off one's prepuce (used of that well known rite by which not only the male children of the Israelites, on the eighth day after birth, but subsequently also "proselytes of righteousness" were consecrated to Jehovah and introduced into the number of his people) - since by the rite of circumcision a man was separated from the unclean world and dedicated to God, the word is transferred to denote the extinguishing of lusts and the removal of sins
10:12 וְעַתָּה יִשְׂרָאֵל מָה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ שֹׁאֵל מֵעִמָּךְ כִּי אִם־לְיִרְאָה אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בְּכָל־דְּרָכָיו וּלְאַהֲבָה אֹתוֹ וְלַֽעֲבֹד אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.. Deuteronomy 10:12 ESV
10:16 וּמַלְתֶּם אֵת עָרְלַת לְבַבְכֶם וְעָרְפְּכֶם לֹא תַקְשׁוּ עֽוֹד׃
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
Deuteronomy 10:16 ESV – the word of the Lord through Moses
The issue presented to the council is not the actual symbolic act OR the Law of Moses OR one culture being cleansed to become as the flesh of another. Circumcision is NOT the issue, but the underlying stubbornness of the hearts of believers and worshipers to agree.
Peter’s Leadership of the Council at Jerusalem
The church at Jerusalem is now being led by James son of Joseph and Mary.
It has its own elders as well as deacons anointed by the Holy Spirit to serve under the Twelve (which now includes Mathias).
Peter understands that in these times of persecution other Apostles will also be killed as was the James the greater by Herod and other leaders such at Stephen.
We learned during the first mission trip of Paul and Barnabas how they modeled leadership of the the local churches after the church at Antioch Syria, not actually the church in Jerusalem where this council has gathered.
Simon Peter’s Instruction to the Council
ACTS 15:7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them,
“Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck 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 the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
12 And all the assembly fell silent..
Here is true leadership by the Apostle, even though technically Peter has no active role in leadership in Antioch, any of the Asian churches or even the Apostle’s own local gathering in Jerusalem.
What else could this diverse group of leaders do? They fell silent, withholding their former opinions and cultural differences concerning worship.
NO, circumcision was not really the issue — other than the circumcision of their own hearts which the Apostle has just cut to the quick.
Therefore the council now listens to the evidence presented to them (which Luke has already outlined from the recent first mission of Paul and Barnabas) with ears to hear.
.. and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
A Pastor’s Response
NEXT we will take a look at the leadership of Jerusalem’s Pastor James after Paul and Barnabas finished speaking.
ACTS of the Jerusalem Council TO BE CONTINUED, God-willing…
