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September 7, 2023
Key verse 11: "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” (King James Version)
The Bible says that God, the Creator of all things, so loved us and came into the world as a man named Jesus. He took all our guilt and died so that we could be forgiven and saved.
So Jesus Christ came to save us and as many people in the world as possible from sin.
He will save people in the world from the power of sin and to make them God's children.
How can we be saved and become God's children? We want to know this today.
Through the missionary work of the missionaries, many gentile people in the foreign countries came to believe in Jesus Christ.
Two difficulties arose: On the one hand, there were difficulties from the outside, because the non-believing Jews persecuted the gospel workers. On the other hand, there were difficulties from the inside of the church, because these Jews who had become believers held a legal opinion about the way to salvation. They claimed, that faith in Jesus Christ alone was not enough to be saved, but that one must keep all the laws of Moses. They believed that also foreigners must keep Jewish tradition/laws if they want to be saved.
When Paul and Barnabas were staying in the church at Antioch, some Jewish Christians came down from Judea and taught the brethren at Antioch, "Unless you are circumcised according to the order of Moses, you cannot be saved."
Then Paul and Barnabas argued fiercely with them.
So the church ordered Paul and Barnabas and some others of them to go up to Jerusalem and settle this question through the apostles and elders there.
The church in Jerusalem was considered the mother church of all Christian churches. Therefore, Paul and Barnabas traveled to Jerusalem and reported in the church about the conversion of many Gentiles. Then some believers who had been converted from the party of the Pharisees came up and said that the Gentile Christians should be circumcised. A heated discussion ensued whether Gentile Christians should also be circumcised and should the Jewish laws observe or not.
Paul and Barnabas clearly said that people are saved only by the grace of God, because they cannot be recognized by God as righteous by keeping the laws. They went on to say that even the most devout Jews cannot keep the laws perfectly. Therefore, no man can be recognized as righteous by his own deeds. There is only one person who really died for all humankind on this earth. Jesus died not because of his own guilt, but because of our inability to keep all God's laws. He took all the guilt from us and died for us.
The question of how man can be saved by God is very important for all people. The Bible teaches us that God, out of His love, gave us the Bible so that we could find out in the Bible the way of life to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus Christ died because, through his death, he wanted to free us all from our guilt of inability. He actually died in our place so that we can experience the forgiveness of our guilt through his death.
So the gospel is the way to salvation. It is the central theme of the Bible. It would be the greatest tragedy if people take a wrong path. That is why the gospel workers are to show people the right way to salvation.
The church in Antioch could have ignored the question about the right way to salvation. But she made the right decision regarding this important question by ordering Paul and Barnabas and some others of them to go up to Jerusalem with this question and ask apostles and elders. She wanted to use this opportunity to make clear what is the correct Good News that can save all people.
The messengers from the Antioch church were warmly received by the apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church. Paul and his co-workers told them how much God had done through them among the Gentiles. They told of the wonderful conversion of the Gentiles on the island of Cyprus, in Antioch and Iconium through the gospel. They probably also told of how Paul had survived stoning in Lystra.
"Then some of the Pharisees stood up and said, 'We must have the Gentile Christians circumcised and command them to keep the law of Moses'" (verse 5).
These people claimed that Christians should first keep Jewish laws in order to become God's children and have eternal life.
Then the apostles and elders came together to discuss this important issue. (Verse 6).
At first, there was a long argument. The legal-minded people said that Gentile Christians must keep all the Jewish laws in order to be saved. But Paul and his coworkers said that all men are saved by the grace of God alone, that is, through faith in the gospel, and that keeping the laws, e.g., circumcision, was not necessary for salvation.
So the apostles and the elders heard enough what the two camps of the dispute meant.
When the two camps had argued for a long time, Peter stood up and spoke to everyone present. He told of his experience with the conversion of Cornelius. Peter had been deeply imprinted by Jewish law from an early age. According to the Old Testament law, all animals with non-split hooves (=animal toes) or with non-ruminant stomachs should be unclean. A pig has cloven hooves, but does not chew the cud. Therefore, a pig should be unclean, and one must not eat pork.
Although Peter had experienced the miracle of Pentecost, he was not freed from his traditional, legalistic imprint. He considered the people who did not keep Jewish laws as those who had not received forgiveness of sins and had not yet been saved.
Then God showed Peter a cloth from heaven in a supernatural vision. In the cloth were various unclean animals.
God said to him, "Peter, slaughter them and eat!"
When Peter replied, "Lord, I must not eat unclean animals!"
God replied to him, "If I declare them clean, man must not call them unclean."
And immediately the messengers of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, knocked at the door of the house to invite Peter to Cornelius.
Through the vision and through this invitation, Peter recognized the will of God, that God wanted to send him to Cornelius.
He went to Cornelius and told the gospel to all the people gathered. He saw that because they believed the gospel, they received the Holy Spirit. Then Peter realized that God makes no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. All people, regardless of their ancestry, can be saved and become God's children if they repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why Peter baptized Cornelius and his relatives.
I will now tell you again about the discussion at the apostles' meeting in Jerusalem.
Peter said to the assembled people, "Brethren, you know that long ago God ordained among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the hearts, testified to it, and gave them the Holy Spirit as well as us, and made no distinction between us and them, having purified their hearts by faith. Why then do you try by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Rather, we believe to be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they also were." (7-11).
In verse 11, Peter emphasized:
"Rather, we believe to be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they also were."
We can be saved from all the curses of the law through faith in Jesus Christ and be richly blessed as God's children. God had given Peter the understanding through the vision of unclean animals in a cloth and the conversion of Cornelius that man is saved simply by the grace of the Lord, that is, through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by keeping the laws.
When Peter explained this, all the assembled apostles and elders were silent and listened to what Paul and Barnabas told them about the works of God.
James confirmed Peter's statement based on the word from the Old Testament and suggested that the converted Gentile should not be obliged to keep the Jewish laws. Then all agreed with him.
Therefore, the apostles, elders and the whole church decided to give a written report of the decision to the church in Antioch. For this purpose they sent Judas and Silas along with Paul and Barnabas.
The letter reads: "We, the apostles and elders, your brothers, your brethren, wish salvation to the brethren from the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Because we have heard that some of our own, to whom, after all, we commanded nothing, have been misleading you with doctrines and confusing your souls, we have gathered together with one accord, decided to choose men and send them to you, with our brothers Barnabas and Paul, men who have laid down their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we have sent Judas and Silas, who will tell you the same thing verbally. For it pleases the Holy Spirit and us to lay no further burden upon you than these necessary things: that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from choking, and from fornication. If ye keep yourselves from these things, ye do right. Farewell!"
Through this decision, the gospel could be preached to all nations without hindrance. Overcoming the obstacles of Jewish laws was necessary for the salvation of the nations through the gospel.
This incident is of great significance for the work of salvation throughout the world, because obstacles to the gospel were removed through this assembly of apostles.
Not only Jewish laws are obstacles to the gospel, but also our legal mindset. For example, we often accuse our situation, our past, or our fellow human beings and blame them for making us unhappy for their sake. Psychologists believe that our thoughts, behavior, and ultimately our lives are determined by our past. Life, they say, is like a tree. If it has grown crooked, it remains crooked.
But the Gospel proclaims to us the liberating Good News. God gives the Holy Spirit to all of us who believe in the Gospel, and this Holy Spirit frees us from all negative past. God guides us in such a way that we can say with firm confidence that our God is our dear Father and that He works all things for the best for those who believe in Jesus Christ and love God (Rom. 8:28). This is salvation from all curses. This is the blessing of God through the gospel.
We must firmly believe in the gospel. We are to firmly believe in the truth that we are free from the laws. We are to free ourselves from the legal mindset and enjoy the grace of God properly. That is a wonderful grace of God. We are to praise God, give thanks to Him, and live and work happily for the glorification of God. Amen!
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