Acts · chapter 15 of 28
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Acts 15 tells of the Jerusalem council, where the apostles and elders decide that Gentiles need not be circumcised or submit to the law of Moses to be saved, because salvation is through the grace of the Lord Jesus. They send a letter with four practical abstentions. Afterward Paul and Barnabas disagree over John Mark and part ways: Barnabas goes to Cyprus and Paul, with Silas, to Syria and Cilicia.
The success of the mission among the Gentiles in Acts 13 and 14 raises the most important question for the early church: must a Gentile become a Jew to be a Christian? This chapter is the center of the book, and its answer protects the gospel of grace. It ends with a painful separation that nevertheless multiplies the mission.
Some men come down from Judea to Antioch and teach the brothers that unless they are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, they cannot be saved. Paul and Barnabas dispute with them, and the church sends them to Jerusalem with others to discuss the matter with the apostles and elders. On the way they tell the churches of the Gentiles' conversion, to great joy. In Jerusalem, some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees say that Gentiles must be circumcised and told to keep the law of Moses.
After much debate, Peter recalls that God chose him so that the Gentiles would hear the gospel, and that God gave them the Holy Spirit just as he did to them, cleansing their hearts by faith. He asks why they would test God by putting on them a yoke that neither their fathers nor they could bear, and concludes that they are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as the Gentiles are. James, the brother of the Lord, cites Amos about the rebuilding of David's tent so that the Gentiles may seek the Lord. He proposes not to trouble the Gentiles who turn to God, but to write them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from what has been strangled and from blood.
The apostles, elders and the whole church decide to send Judas Barsabbas and Silas to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, with a letter saying they do not wish to lay on them any greater burden than these necessary things. The brothers in Antioch rejoice when it is read.
After some time, Paul proposes visiting the churches of the first journey. Barnabas wants to take John Mark, but Paul does not, because he had deserted them. The disagreement is so sharp that they part company: Barnabas takes Mark and sails to Cyprus, and Paul chooses Silas and goes through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Some teach that without circumcision they cannot be saved. The issue is fundamental: if salvation depends on human works, grace is nullified. That is why this conflict is so serious.
Peter says that God, who knows the heart, gave the Gentiles the Holy Spirit just as he did to them and made no distinction, cleansing their hearts by faith. The proof that Gentiles are accepted is God's own action.
Peter concludes that they believe they are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as the Gentiles are. Jews and Gentiles are saved by the same way: grace, not law.
James proposes not to trouble the Gentiles who turn to God. He sets a pastoral principle: do not put unnecessary burdens on those who come to faith.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That unless they were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, they could not be saved. — Acts 15:1
Answer: Through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as Jews are. — Acts 15:11
Answer: Amos, about the rebuilding of David's tent so that the Gentiles may seek the Lord. — Acts 15:15-17
Answer: To abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from what has been strangled and from blood. — Acts 15:20
Answer: Judas Barsabbas and Silas. — Acts 15:22
Answer: They disagreed about taking John Mark on the next journey. — Acts 15:37-39
The council shows how to face a serious disagreement: meet, listen to everyone, appeal to what God has done and to Scripture, and decide together. In your group you can think about a practice or tradition that risks becoming a requirement for acceptance in the church, and ask whether it lays an unnecessary yoke.
The separation of Paul and Barnabas teaches that servants of God also disagree. The account does not declare who was right, but the work continued with two teams. Ask God for humility to handle your own disagreements without breaking communion or mission.
Acts 15 ends with Paul and Silas going through the churches and the mission widening. In Acts 16 Timothy joins them, and the Spirit leads them to Macedonia, where the gospel enters Europe.
The four abstentions were practical, to ease fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers, since they related to idolatrous customs and sexual morality. They were not conditions for salvation, which is by grace, but guidance for living together.
He is James, the brother of the Lord, who led the church in Jerusalem and to whom the letter bearing his name is attributed. He is not James the brother of John, who died in Acts 12.
The text does not decide. Paul was thinking of the mission's security; Barnabas believed in restoring Mark. Later, Paul speaks well of Mark as useful for ministry (2 Timothy 4:11), which suggests the restoration worked.