Acts 15:24
This verse is from the opening sentence of a letter that was written and approved by the early church fathers in the first Council in Jerusalem. The apostles had gathered together to settle the issue as to whether or not the Gentile believers were to be told to keep the Law of Moses after they were saved. The final verdict from the host pastor (Apostle James) was, “We trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God” (Acts 15:19).
The letter contains four things that the apostles felt should be preached to the Gentile believers: that they abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication (Acts 15:29). Three of these four things pertain to dietary laws that the Jews observed; where they ate nothing that had been previously sacrificed to another god and that they never eat an animal that had not been properly bled out. The final restriction, fornication, is the only moral message delivered, which Paul mentions in detail in 1 Corinthians 6:15-20.
When the apostles agreed on this four-point message to the newly converted Gentiles, they decided that this needed to be done because “Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day” (Acts 15:21). They knew that the Law of Moses was being read and preached as the standard for living in every village in the Jewish world. This repetition of the Law of Moses was placing a burden on the backs of the Christians as they were being told that grace will save them but that works will perfect them. Paul comes against that particular mode of preaching in Galatians 3:1-5.
Let’s take a closer look at this opening sentence of the apostolic letter to the Gentile Christians:
“Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, ‘Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law’: to whom we gave no such commandment” (Acts 15:24).
The word ‘subverting’ in the King James is a bit hard to understand in our modern tongue. In Greek it means ‘to unsettle’. The troubling words that were being preached by so many were unsettling the souls of the Gentile Christians. Would it not be unsettling to learn that you are saved by grace through no works of your own but then after you are saved you must do a laundry list of things to stay saved? It was unsettling then and it is unsettling now!
The letter clearly states, “We gave no such commandment” emphasizing that the apostles were against the preaching of the law to Christians. What is so dangerous about a believer hearing the Law? Isn’t the Law just and holy and good? Yes! In fact, Romans 7:12 tells us that, but man has no ability to squeeze one drop of that just, holy and good out of the law. When the law enters, sin goes crazy due to the fact that the law was designed by God to show man that he is a sinner (Romans 5:20; 7:9; 1 Corinthians 15:56). It is the “ministry of death, written and engraven in stones” (2 Corinthians 3:6). When a believer hears the law, he becomes condemned at his inability to live it perfectly and that condemnation always leads to more failure. The very law that demands our holiness lends us no help in becoming holy!
Grace must be the message proclaimed from the housetops! Grace is a person and His name is Jesus (John 1:17). Proclaim Jesus and His loveliness and right living will always follow. The Holy Spirit has seen fit to lay upon us all “no greater burden than these necessary things” (Acts 15:28). Even those things mentioned by the apostles were given to the Gentiles simply so that they would not offend the Jews that they were around (1 Corinthians 8). You are free in Jesus!
This verse is from the opening sentence of a letter that was written and approved by the early church fathers in the first Council in Jerusalem. The apostles had gathered together to settle the issue as to whether or not the Gentile believers were to be told to keep the Law of Moses after they were saved. The final verdict from the host pastor (Apostle James) was, “We trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God” (Acts 15:19).
The letter contains four things that the apostles felt should be preached to the Gentile believers: that they abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication (Acts 15:29). Three of these four things pertain to dietary laws that the Jews observed; where they ate nothing that had been previously sacrificed to another god and that they never eat an animal that had not been properly bled out. The final restriction, fornication, is the only moral message delivered, which Paul mentions in detail in 1 Corinthians 6:15-20.
When the apostles agreed on this four-point message to the newly converted Gentiles, they decided that this needed to be done because “Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day” (Acts 15:21). They knew that the Law of Moses was being read and preached as the standard for living in every village in the Jewish world. This repetition of the Law of Moses was placing a burden on the backs of the Christians as they were being told that grace will save them but that works will perfect them. Paul comes against that particular mode of preaching in Galatians 3:1-5.
Let’s take a closer look at this opening sentence of the apostolic letter to the Gentile Christians:
“Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, ‘Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law’: to whom we gave no such commandment” (Acts 15:24).
The word ‘subverting’ in the King James is a bit hard to understand in our modern tongue. In Greek it means ‘to unsettle’. The troubling words that were being preached by so many were unsettling the souls of the Gentile Christians. Would it not be unsettling to learn that you are saved by grace through no works of your own but then after you are saved you must do a laundry list of things to stay saved? It was unsettling then and it is unsettling now!
The letter clearly states, “We gave no such commandment” emphasizing that the apostles were against the preaching of the law to Christians. What is so dangerous about a believer hearing the Law? Isn’t the Law just and holy and good? Yes! In fact, Romans 7:12 tells us that, but man has no ability to squeeze one drop of that just, holy and good out of the law. When the law enters, sin goes crazy due to the fact that the law was designed by God to show man that he is a sinner (Romans 5:20; 7:9; 1 Corinthians 15:56). It is the “ministry of death, written and engraven in stones” (2 Corinthians 3:6). When a believer hears the law, he becomes condemned at his inability to live it perfectly and that condemnation always leads to more failure. The very law that demands our holiness lends us no help in becoming holy!
Grace must be the message proclaimed from the housetops! Grace is a person and His name is Jesus (John 1:17). Proclaim Jesus and His loveliness and right living will always follow. The Holy Spirit has seen fit to lay upon us all “no greater burden than these necessary things” (Acts 15:28). Even those things mentioned by the apostles were given to the Gentiles simply so that they would not offend the Jews that they were around (1 Corinthians 8). You are free in Jesus!
