Acts 15:5-29 “But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Law of Moses." (6) Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. (7) And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren … (13) and after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me: … (24) Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised and keep the law"--to whom we gave no such commandment--… (28) For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: (29) that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
Before we discuss the above quoted passage of scripture it is important to note that there are a total of 613 laws listed in the Old Testament, which can be divided into two main categories i.e. moral laws and judicial (ceremonial) laws. The moral laws of the Old Testament are summed up in the Ten Commandments, which in turn can be summed up in the New Testament with our Lord’s commandment to love one another (Romans 13:10). And so it is self evident that Gentile believers who keep the New Testament commandment of love, in effect keep all of the moral laws listed in the Old Testament. It was therefore the judicial (ceremonial) laws of the Old Covenant that were debated at the council meeting on this occasion. As revealed in this passage of scripture, it was because of the false teaching of keeping the law, which surfaced for the first time in the church at Antioch, that a council meeting was called in Jerusalem by all the Lord’s leading apostles to address the issue. The outcome of this meeting is very important for gentile believers, because it clarifies just what, from the Law of Moses, is acceptable for gentile believers to observe and what is not acceptable. In other words, these are the laws that the Lord has given grace to His gentile believers to observe, and therefore they do not sin when they observe them. There are several points that we can pick up from this passage of scripture. Many people spoke at this conference, including Paul and all the apostles. But it is interesting to note that the Holy Spirit only records, by name, the words of two of His apostles, i.e. Peter and James. The reason the Holy Spirit does this, is because it was Peter and James that initially got it wrong. James (in ignorance) had sent the false brethren down to Antioch, and Peter had messed up by not standing up for what the Lord had already revealed to him. And so it is only fitting that the Holy Spirit shows us that Peter and James now got it right. Something else we can pick up from this passage is that the false brethren had by that time already influenced several of the Jewish believers. We see that, because the sect of the Pharisees that spoke in favour of gentile believers keeping the law, were themselves believers. There were no gentile believers at this conference, and they had no input in it. This conference was made up entirely of Jewish believers. And many of them, including Paul, were extremely knowledgeable regarding the Law of Moses. What then transpired is that they went through the whole Law of Moses, to determine what was acceptable for gentile believers to observe and what was not acceptable. In the end, they could only come up with three laws. In other words, there is absolutely nothing else from the Law of Moses, that gentile believers are allowed to observe. To observe any other part of the Law of Moses, other than these three laws, is sinful for gentile believers, because God has instructed us not to do it. Before we discuss the three laws, it is very important that we recognize just who has given this instruction to the gentile believers. It was every apostle of the Lamb, including Paul and Barnabas, and all the elders. In other words, this instruction is given to us, by all the writers of the New Testament. And then finally this instruction is given to the gentile believers by the Holy Spirit Himself. Therefore any gentile believers who choose to ignore this instruction by trying to observe the Law of Moses, do so to their own detriment, because taking that path leads the believer away from grace. As an aside, although walking in disobedience to these three laws does not impact the believers’ salvation in any way, it nevertheless does have the effect of both bringing the believer into the bondage of sin and thus negatively impacting the believer’s fellowship with the Lord. So, what about the three laws that they came up with? The three laws that they decided on are as follows; firstly, that we abstain from things offered to idols, secondly, that we abstain from blood and from things strangled, and then thirdly, that we abstain from sexual immorality. There reason I say three laws, is because abstaining from blood and things strangled, falls under the same law i.e. eating kosher meat. All three laws involve the physical body of the believer. Although under the old covenant, these laws were put in place for different reasons, these laws are also applicable under the new covenant. The reason for that is because under the new covenant, the bodies of believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit and our bodies are members of Christ. This was not the case under the old covenant. Nevertheless, because our bodies belong to Christ under the new covenant, we are to treat them in a manner that is worthy of that calling.
Michael E.B. Maher
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