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Reading Acts 15:13-21 where after Peter speaks, and Paul and Barnabas gave their testimonies, James stands up to give his counsel as to what should be said to the Gentile Christians. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
From the earliest days of the church, there was a problem with false teaching. And how do we handle that? And how do we instruct Christians to live in such a way that is pleasing to the Lord? When we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.
Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come back to chapter 15. As we've been looking this week at the Jerusalem council. There are many Gentiles who have become Christians, but the Judaizers have gone to them and said, unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
This problem has been brought before the apostles and the elders who are gathered at Jerusalem to decide what they need to say to the Gentiles to comfort their troubled spirits in the midst of this faith plus works, false doctrine that has been imposed upon them.
Yesterday, we looked at the speech of Peter. Today, we are catching up with what James has to say to the council. So I'm gonna begin reading at verse 13 and go through verse 21. Hear the word of the Lord.
Now, after they had stopped speaking, James answered saying, brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, after these things, I will return and I will rebuild the fallen booth of David and I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.
Therefore, I judge that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from sexual immorality and from what is strangled and from blood.
For from ancient generations, Moses has those who preach him in every city since he has read in the synagogues every Sabbath. And we'll stop there. This is the second part of what we have in the council.
The first part is the problem being presented to them and Peter's speech, which we looked at yesterday. That was in verses six through 11. Peter's speech ended with Paul and Barnabas recalling everything that God had done among the Gentiles when they went to them sharing the gospel.
That was in verse 12. And that was part of Peter's testimony as well. He was talking about, I went to the Gentiles, I preached the gospel to them. The Holy Spirit was showing himself among them. Just as we have received the Holy Spirit, so have they.
And then Paul and Barnabas stepped forward as additional witnesses to say, listen, we just spent a few years out there. We have been out there journeying all the way up into Asia Minor, and we shared the gospel with Gentiles.
And here are the amazing miracles that we saw performed among them. So the miracles that were being performed were not just signs to Gentiles that this was truly a word from God. It was also an indication to those Jews who had gone out with the gospel that God meant for these Gentiles to be saved also.
Oftentimes when we talk about the signs and wonders that were performed by the apostles, we talk about it just being a sign to those who are unbelievers, but even to those who are believers, like they know we are accomplishing what God means for us to accomplish because look at how the Holy Spirit is manifested among us.
Look at how he has shown himself, the miracles that are being done among these Gentiles. God is truly here, and he is truly saving this people for himself. So the apostles testify to this before this council.
Now, after they stopped speaking, that's what we're picking up here in verse 13. After they stopped speaking, James answered. So first of all, James affirms the testimony of Peter. Then he gives the testimony of the Old Testament scriptures.
That's in verses 16 to 18. And then he says, here's what we should do then. James is the first to present this solution. Here's what we need to do. We need to write a letter. We need to let the Gentiles know, here is what you need to abstain from.
When it comes to what the Judaizers are imposing, what parts of the law then should we follow as a result now of being saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? So then James presents this idea for a letter, and that's what we have in the third part.
So let's come back up to verse 13. After they had stopped speaking, referring to Paul and Barnabas, and all of the testimony that they recalled, James answered saying, brothers, listen to me. Now, remember that the gathered assembly that's there, it's the apostles and elders and the church that is there.
So back up to verse four. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. So there is a large assembly there.
And remember that the church in Jerusalem is thousands of people. So we have a very large assembly that is gathered to hear this discussion among the apostles and the elders, the elders being the overseers of the church.
The apostles are being spoken of as distinct from the elders. Those are two different offices. So we have the office of apostle, which we've discussed previously in Acts. We've got men who have seen the risen Christ.
They were personally appointed by Christ. They have manifested miraculous signs and wonders that were specific to the apostles or those who were associated with them. Because even Philip did miracles, even Stephen did miracles, but they were appointed by the apostles to go out.
This is the sign of apostolic ministry, these signs and wonders that are being performed. It wasn't just limited to the apostles, but it was definitely a sign of the apostolic ministry. Those that were even sent out by the apostles were able to perform these signs and wonders.
So you have these two distinct offices, apostle and elder or overseer or pastor. And then they are gathered along with the rest of the assembly. That comes back up in verse 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them.
Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leading men among the brothers to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. And then we finally have the letter and we'll finish that up tomorrow. The letter itself and what it says, though James gives the idea for what this letter should say.
But this is the assembly as we have it. And I mentioned that because this is a good polity lesson here. Now, the church is not the authority here. The whole gathered assembly of the church does not vote on something by a democratic process so that the majority decides, here's what needs to be done.
The authority rests with the apostles and then with them, the elders. Now, the church is involved in this decision. Maybe I should say save this until tomorrow. But anyway, so in verse 22, it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them, Judas and Silas leading men from among the brothers.
So the church is involved in that decision in some way. This goes back to like where the apostles had said, choose men from among yourselves to oversee the distribution of food to the Hellenistic widows.
That was back in Acts chapter six. So the congregation decided on certain men. They chose seven from among them. It was seven, wasn't it? Seven men that were then presented to the apostles whom the apostles then gave those roles serving as deacons to make sure those widows are cared for.
The congregation did not vote though. And the vote did not have an authoritative power over the apostolic decision. The apostles still had the authority there. And this is why I've argued in the past for what is called elder-led congregationalism.
The congregation is still involved in these decisions. Elder rule where elders decide everything and the congregation is not involved. I don't think that's the way that they should go. But the congregation is certainly present and involved in this decision in some way.
They do play some kind of role in this. So hence why I've argued for a good polity when you can set it up. When the church is mature and you're able to establish this among your congregation, it's good to have an elder-led congregational polity.
Now, remember back in chapter 14, when Paul and Barnabas were returning from the work that they had done in Asia Minor, they go back through the churches that they had planted and they appoint elders.
And as I said there, when they first planted those churches, there were not men who are mature enough and learned enough in the word to be appointed to those elder positions. So it's not like in order to have a biblically functioning church that you have to start with a plurality eldership who are overseeing all the decisions in the church.
And if you don't have those plurality elders there, then you have a dysfunctional church. You at least want to be working up to that. You want to be moving toward that. So that's what Paul and Barnabas accomplished with those churches that they had planted.
And you had this plurality eldership model that were leading the congregation. So from among the congregation were raised up elders. That's where you would hope that your elders come from. Nothing wrong with hiring out and bringing people in.
After all, Paul did that. You know, he sent Tychicus or he would send Timothy to be elders in respective places. It's not like it's wrong to have a pastor from another place come in. But an ideal model would be that the church is raising up its own elders and then positioning them in those places that are gonna oversee the preaching and teaching and the spiritual decisions, the spiritual leadership that's happening there within the body.
So this is the gathering as we see it. And I think becomes a good lesson or a good example to include in your lessons about biblical polity. So James is addressing them all. He is saying to the elders and apostles and then the brethren that are gathered in the church.
Now, one question that sometimes comes up concerning James, was he an apostle? I think you can argue either way. Sometimes I fall on saying, yes, James is an apostle. And then there are other times that I say, no, he was not.
He's definitely not among the 12. But Paul was not among the 12. Paul is a 13th, as he even describes himself in 1 Corinthians 5, I am one who was untimely born. I am the least of the apostles, he said.
So you have the 12 that were decided upon back in Acts chapter one, Judas's office was refilled by a man named Matthias who met all of the qualifications for apostle. Paul is added in Acts chapter nine, or at least when Jesus calls him there in Acts chapter nine.
Barnabas may have qualified as an apostle, but it seems like he is more a servant to the apostles. James could be, it could be argued that James is an apostle, the half brother of Jesus, that's the James that we're talking about here.
And the way that Paul speaks about him in 1 Corinthians 15 is one of the reasons why it kind of sounds like James is numbered among them. He's not the 12, but may still be qualified as an apostle in the sense that he saw the risen Lord, his own half brother, who was born of Mary.
Whether or not he's performed signs or wonders, I don't think the scripture actually attributes that to James, but that doesn't mean that you have to have, it has to have been said in the scripture somewhere that James performed miraculous signs and wonders.
It doesn't have to say that. He did see the risen Lord. He could have been appointed by Jesus. He could have performed signs of apostleship. So if he meets all of those qualifications, then maybe James was also an apostle.
I think that really could be more of a semantic argument. And we can go back and forth on different opinions on that one. So like I said, my mind could probably change from one day to the next regarding James.
What we do know is that he was overseeing the Jerusalem church. His name gets associated as the overseer of the Jerusalem church. He has a name that appears to be more recognizable than the rest of the elders of that church.
So like a first among equals kind of a thing. Like when John MacArthur was alive and you would think of John MacArthur as being the pastor of Grace Community Church, even though there were many other elders that were on the board there at Grace Community Church.
The eldership could override John MacArthur in a decision that they wanted to make. Though MacArthur was the leading shepherd teacher that was there. And so it may have been the same kind of a role that James had in the church in Jerusalem.
So he says in verse 14, Simeon has related, Simeon, by the way, is Peter. So Peter is his Greek name. Simeon is a more Hebrew accepted name for Peter. So Simeon, also Simon, as we know him, Simon, Peter, Simeon, same name.
Simeon has related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name. This was what God wanted to have happen. This is how the gospel was supposed to be shared.
It was supposed to go out to even Gentiles that they would be included among the people of God. And now here's James's testimony from the scriptures. Even the scriptures agree with this. And with this, the words of the prophets agree just as it is written.
And then what he quotes is from the prophet Amos. Specifically, Amos 9, verses 11 and 12. Let me go ahead and read that to you here. I'm still in the legacy standard. Here's Amos 9, verse 11. In that day, I will raise up the fallen booth of David and wall up its breaches.
I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the ancient days that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name declares Yahweh who does this. Now, that reads a little bit different than what James is saying here, what's quoted here from James in Acts chapter 15.
Why is the wording somewhat different? Why isn't it just like a direct carryover from Amos 9 right into the New Testament and it would be worded the same way? Well, because when we read the Old Testament, what we're reading was translated from the original Hebrew.
Whereas when the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament, remember that all the New Testament was written in Greek. And so what they quote from is not the Hebrew scriptures, but rather the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, that which is called the Septuagint.
So what James is quoting here is the Septuagint. And this also is evidence to us that this council was conducted in Greek. The Jerusalem council, the first gathering, the first ecumenical council as we might call it of pastors and apostles together to decide against a certain false teaching that is going out.
This is a false teaching that is being imposed upon Gentile Christians. So the gathering of this church to decide what are we gonna say to these Gentiles with regard to the sound teaching that comes from the word?
This conversation as they have it in the assembly of the people would have been conducted in Greek. And remember that there were many Hellenistic Jews that were among them. Hellenist Jews are Greek speaking Jews.
These are Jews that would have been from outside of Jerusalem. They are there now, but they are from outside Jerusalem and lived in other places among either the Greek empire. It could have been that when the Greeks occupied that area, that was when the Jews had settled there and they were forced to learn Koine Greek.
Now the Romans have come in, it's the Roman empire, but the Romans still favored Alexander the Great's idea to Hellenize the world, to make it a Greek speaking world. So the Romans held onto Koine Greek even though many Romans spoke Latin.
And that's why you still have Latin being the practice language among like Roman Catholics today. But the Romans wanted to keep this whole system of having the same sort of writing and language being universal even across their empire.
So they held onto Alexander the Great's vision of Greek. So you had many Greek speaking Jews. They were sometimes looked down upon by other Jews because it's like, why are you speaking a foreign language like that?
But even Hebrew itself was something of a dead language. It was not preserved to the speaking or reading capacity that it was hundreds of years earlier. So, you know, Jesus and his disciples would have been speaking Aramaic or they would have been speaking Greek.
And it's very likely that the disciples all knew Greek. So this conversation here that's being held in the Jerusalem Council, this was being conducted in Greek. And James is quoting from the Greek Septuagint and saying, we see it from the scriptures that God had intended even Gentiles who are called by my name, I would make a nation for myself from among them.
These things were known from long ago, James says. Therefore, now here's the closing part of James' speech. Therefore, I judge that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them and here's James' proposal.
We write to them this letter and this letter is gonna be sent by certain men. It's gonna go out to churches that have been planted among the Gentiles so that they know here is the sound teaching that you are to hold on to.
Here is now the regular practice for everybody who's become a believer. You don't have to keep all of these different laws of Moses. Instead, you need to do this. We write a letter to the Gentiles and we say to them, abstain from things contaminated by idols and from sexual immorality and from what is strangled and from blood.
So we've got four things that are listed there. Like here, as far as a Christian lifestyle goes is what you need to be doing to keep yourself pure. Getting circumcised doesn't make you pure. All the other ritual washings, keeping our festive holidays, you know, the different holidays that were said by God to be followed, the Sabbath practices, all these things.
None of that is in there. When it comes to your purity, here's what you need to do. Abstain from things contaminated by idols and from sexual immorality and from what is strangled and from blood. And then James saying in verse 21, for from ancient generations, Moses has those who preach him in every city since he has read in the synagogues every Sabbath.
Now, the reason why James says that it's customary to give an explanation to the law when it's read. You go back to Nehemiah 8, 8, when Ezra and the priests there in Israel read the law to the people and gave the sense.
So they explained the law and gave them application and how to live out what it was that they heard preached. That's what James is proposing that they do here. The law is read. It's in synagogues everywhere.
We don't have to rehash that out, but to give them an understanding of what they need to follow about the law in keeping with the gospel of Christ that they have heard. And now as Christians, how do they live in the world?
And this is what James says. We need to narrow it down to this understanding for them that it would not be just as Peter said. It would not be that we are placing a yoke upon them that's too difficult for them to bear.
We couldn't even bear it when we were trying to live by it. It's not by the law that we're gonna be saved. It's by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But now believing in that gospel, what next? Now, when it comes to explaining what James said here, why these four things, we'll get to that tomorrow when we look at the letter itself and do our exposition of that letter, which we have in verses 23 through 29.
So we'll finish up the rest of the Jerusalem Council tomorrow when we read the letter that therefore goes out to the Gentiles. But we can still glean from this an understanding of, like I said, church polity.
It gives us an example on maybe how churches should be structured when it comes to confronting false ideas and how we need to teach soundly to those who might be led astray or burdened by false teaching.
And also when it comes to understanding that as Christians, there are things that we need to follow. It's not, we just believe in Jesus and now we can go live the way that we wanna live. There is still a holy Christian life that we are supposed to follow in for those of us who have come to faith in Jesus.
And that's part of what we do even with this program, that I read the scriptures and explain them to you and then say, in light of this, here's how we live. We should pursue holiness. We should abstain from those things that would stain us as James even instructed in James 1 .27.
Same James that's talking to us here. We have from him in James 1 .27, religion that God our father finds pure and faultless is this, to care for orphans and widows in their time of distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
And we do have that obligation as Christians now as followers of Jesus to live lives of holiness in keeping with his word. Heavenly father, we thank you for the word that has been spoken to us and I pray, we do desire to live according to these things as said by David in Psalm 23, lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.
It's in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen.
Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com and click on the give tab in the top right corner of the page.
Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand The Text.