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  • Apostles Sent to the Gentiles with a Letter of the Council

    Apostles Sent to the Gentiles with a Letter of the Council

    Will any of the Twelve travel to Antioch Syria from Jerusalem? Or will the Apostles send their Epistle to the Gentiles with other reliable messengers?

    A.D. 49 – Jerusalem Judea in Roman occupied Syria

    Who are these Apostles to the Gentiles?

    Recall that the current crisis of the Church involves both Jews and Gentiles and that the Church at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to clarify the Law of Moses.

    A Council of Church Leaders meets under leadership of the Apostles of Jesus, the risen Christ witnessed my the Twelve and many leading men of Jerusalem.

    Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20
    Acts 15:19-20a – James: Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them..

    Acts 15:

    22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers..

    ἀπόστολος – apostolos – apostle

    a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders

    This is exactly what the Council of Jerusalem has ordered.

    in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers

    • of Barnabas
    • of Timothy
    • and Silvanus

    They SEND these apostles with their epistle of encouragement and specific instructions to the Church and its other leading men in Antioch, obeying Christ’s command to go into all the world — theirs, a gentile world — with the Gospel.

    • ἀπόστολος – Apostle
    • a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders
      • specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ
    • ἀπόστολος apóstolos, ap-os’-tol-os; from G649; a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ (“apostle”) (with miraculous powers):—apostle, messenger, he that is sent.

      ἔθνος – ethnos

      The KJV translates Strong’s G1484 in the following manner: Gentiles (93x), nation (64x), heathen (5x), people (2x).

      We have recently spent time on this on Paul’s first missionary journey, but for clarity definitions which apply here:

      • in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
      • Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians
      Acts of the Apostles Missions trips of Paul, Barnabas, Silas and several others
      ACTS on Mission

      Paul

      The Church is already quite familiar with Saul of Tarsus or Paul; who following his first mission from Antioch to the Gentiles along with Joseph of Cypress (Barnabas) has precipitated this Council in Jerusalem.

      In a later Epistle of Paul to the Romans he writes:

      Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.

      Letter of Paul to the Romans 11:13-14 ESV

      Think about it, my fellow gentile brothers and sisters in Christ.

      1. Paul identifies himself as an apostle. The Council sent both Paul and Barnabas as apostles for this next mission to the Gentiles.
      2. The Apostle Paul also magnifies his mission is to the Gentiles (although a remnant of Jews will be saved).

      On their first missionary journey the Apostle Paul had proclaimed Christ to the Jews first and then preached the Gospel to the Gentiles.

      Barnabas

      Acts 9 Joseph of Cypress aka Barnabas 'son of encouragement' meets Saul of Tarsus

      Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

      – Acts 4:36-37 ESV

      It was Barnabas, a trusted Jew of the priestly line, who brought Paul to the Apostles after his encounter with the risen Christ (and having heard their former nemesis preach Christ crucified and risen to the Jews in Damascus).

      When a report came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem after some men of Cyprus and Cyrene spoke to the Hellenists in Antioch (and a great number turned to the Lord), they sent Barnabas to Antioch. – from Acts 11:20

      Judas called Barsabbas

      Βαρσαβᾶς – Lexicon :: Strong’s G923 – barsabas

      Barsabas [or Barsabbas] (i. e. son of Saba)

      (Not to be confused with another important disciple and deacon of the church in Jerusalem * possibly also present with its leading men of the Council, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus [Acts 1:23] put forth along with Mathias as a candidate to replace Judas Iscariot in the Twelve Apostles.)

      2. the surname of a certain Judas: Acts 15:22, (B. D. under the word Judas Barsabas].

      * Could Luke’s wording indicate that both were present & this Barsabbas is Judas son of Saba rather than Joseph son of Saba? (And might they even be biological brothers? [again, my speculation])

      Silas

      Σιλᾶν – Lexicon :: Strong’s G4609 – silas

      Contraction for Σιλουανός (G4610) – Silvanus, the same man who in Acts is called Σιλᾶς (which see): 2 Corinthians 1:19; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Peter 5:12.

      Silas or Silvanus is a Roman Citizen (as is Paul) sent with the Apostle to the Gentiles on this second mission and other journeys to preach the Gospel to all the world of the Roman Empire.

      A.D. 49 – 51 Secondary Missionary Journey with Paul

      The Council Adjourns

      Acts 15:22b-29 Text of the Council’s Epistle

      They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,

      23 with the following letter:

      “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders,

      to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.

      Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

      We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:

      that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

      30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch…

      ACTS of the Apostles TO BE CONTINUED…

      in Antioch Syria…

      map of route between Jerusalem and Antioch where apostles sent missionaries into all the world of the gentiles

      Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

    • Truth for Gentiles who turn to God

      Truth for Gentiles who turn to God

      How will the Jerusalem Council judge Gentiles according to the Jewish Law of Moses?

      Acts 15

      6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

      Simon Peter has testified.

      “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.

      Acts of the Apostles 15:7b ESV

      And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

      Acts of the Apostles 15:12 ESV

      Response of Jerusalem’s Pastor James

      13 After they finished speaking, James replied,

      “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 

      Leaders and Witnesses of the Jerusalem council

      Let’s be clear who is speaking and which leaders have witnessed the truth of events leading to a church meeting about the gentiles.

      Simon Peter.

      In verse 14 the King James and English Standard versions translate Συμεών from the Greek as Simeon; however the NKJV, NIV and other versions use “Simon” while the NLT uses the most familiar identification of the Apostle, “Peter.”

      Barnabas and Paul

      Their mission journey has brought about this council and clearly both are leaders in their testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles and leadership of the church at Antioch Syria.

      James

      And let’s not miss who now speaks a the representative pastor and leader of the local church at Jerusalem where the council meets.

      It is none other than James brother of Jesus who was raised with the Lord, yet did not believe that his half-brother was the Christ, the prophesied Son of God until after Jesus’ resurrection at which time James became a faithful disciple called to lead the Jerusalem Church.

      Witness of the Prophets

      James refers to the Prophet Amos from ~760 BC and Samuel Prophet of David three hundred years before that.

      “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

      16 “‘After this I will return,
      and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
      I will rebuild its ruins,
           and I will restore it,
      17 that the remnant[a] of mankind may seek the Lord,
          and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
           says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’

      In A.D. 49, James witnesses the promises of God to David a thousand years before. Now it seems that the kingdom promised to David is all but defeated.

      The Temple of Solomon was destroyed, the Jews were captured and taken to Babylon and Persia. The distant hope witnessed by Amos and the Prophets seems near to slipping away once more at the hand of Rome (which will again destroy Jerusalem and Herod’s temple in A.D. 70).

      Yet Scripture is true and God’s word comforting to those faithful few who wait for the Lord to save — for the Lord to redeem the captives who hold to His Name — saving them from God’s judgment of sin and eternal punishment and granting His true worshipers the glory of the kingdom of the root and the son of David. Yes, even the Nations of the world beyond the hills of Jerusalem.

      Amos 9:

      I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
      “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
      and shatter them on the heads of all the people;
      and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
      not one of them shall flee away;
      not one of them shall escape.

      8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,
      and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,
      except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
      declares the LORD.

      “For behold, I will command,
      and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
      as one shakes with a sieve,
      but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

      All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
      who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

      This was just one judgment of Jerusalem!

      Amos had prophesied it.

      Twenty years earlier, the Sanhedrin of Herod which meets in this same Jerusalem as today’s council had crucified Jesus Christ, brother of James and Son of David. The leaders of a semi-captive Israel disregarded the revealed will and written word of the Lord God.

      The Jewish council of Herod’s Temple had also slain the Apostle James by the sword, another politically expedient death which it thought would prevent the sword of Rome from overtaking their city of sin.

      It didn’t. (For as most of us know Rome would destroy Jerusalem just twenty-one years from this time of the Christian Council in Jerusalem.)

      Amos 9:11-12 (to which James refers)

      “In that day I will raise up
      the booth of David that is fallen
      and repair its breaches,
      and raise up its ruins
      and rebuild it as in the days of old,

      that they may possess the remnant of Edom
      and all the nations who are called by my name,”
      declares the LORD who does this.

      kingdom Saul David Solomon & surrounding kingdoms of Ammon, Edom and other gentiles

      It is a remnant of Edom. Yes even a remnant of Judah and Israel after these many centuries — only a remnant who remember the Lord their God and look for the redemption paid on the Cross for “all the nations who are called by my name, says the LORD.”

      Judgment for the Gentiles

      You have probably never thought of James, brother of Jesus, pastor of the Jerusalem church and author of a New Testament letter to the church as a Judge.

      But this is his role here with the Council at Jerusalem.

      The accusations (concerning circumcision) have been presented. Several witnesses have presented evidence about the truth of events where gentiles have interacted with Jewish witnesses (including the Apostles).

      A defense of the truth by Barnabas and Paul recounts incidents for which some Jews have accused them of breaking the Law of Moses.

      Pastor James, head of this Christian Sanhedrin gathering of Apostles and other leaders has even preceded his decision as Judge with Scriptural prophesy of their very actions concerning the gentiles. So here is his verdict speaking on behalf of this council at Jerusalem as its leader:

      19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God

      Acts of the Apostles 15:19 ESV – Verdict of the Council of Jerusalem pronounced by James

      The verdict pronounced by James on behalf of the Council at Jerusalem, however, is conditional. Addressing the concerns of which Gentiles have turned to God by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, he continues with clarification of what the Council must do to go into the Gentile world with the Gospel.

      NEXT, God-willing, we will join James and the Council of Jerusalem as they take action by way of a letter and messengers sent on another mission trip to the Gentile Nations.
    • A.D. 49 – the Council at Jerusalem

      A.D. 49 – the Council at Jerusalem

      Acts 15

      – a council of the Apostles in Jerusalem

      map of route between Jerusalem and Antioch where apostles sent missionaries into all the world of the gentiles
      between the Church at Antioch & the Council at 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.
      What happened to Peter?
      King Herod Agrippa I Acts 12:19 .. he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.
      • 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. 

      Church doctrine a line in the sand. - How will a leader or council of leaders choose what the Church will teach?
      How will a leader or council of leaders decide what the Church will teach?

      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.

      An Antioch Blueprint of Church Evangelism
      Antioch Syria where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians became a model for church leadership in Asia and Greece.

      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…

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