Chapter 15
Verse 1 – “And certain men.” These are the legalists of Galatians 2:4 who taught both salvation by works and spirituality by works. In the second chapter of Galatians we have a parallel description of the situation which exists here; “which came down from Judea” – where the Jerusalem church was located. The word “down” means from the ultimate source of [Judea], and the ultimate source of Judea is legalism; “taught the brethren” – they have come to Antioch to try and straighten everyone out, to try to attack grace. The imperfect tense indicates they kept on teaching. They taught salvation by works and spirituality by works.
“Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved” – circumcision has a twofold concept. It was a legitimate function under the Mosaic law, but remember that the Mosaic law was given to Israel and never to the Church. The Mosaic law has no function as far as the Church is concerned. The purpose of the Mosaic law was confined to the Old Testament. Its purpose today continues to be one of teaching but it has no function in salvation or spirituality. Cf. Galatians 2:16. There is absolutely no place in the Christian way of life for the Mosaic law except as a communication of doctrine by way of illustration of the fact that man is bankrupt and does not have the ability within himself to save himself—Titus 3:5. The words “ye cannot” is a present active indicative of the verb dunamai and it means you do not have the power or the strength or the ability. The present tense is linear aktionsart and it means you are habitually unable to be saved. The words should be translated “unable.” These men were saying in effect that salvation was by the work of the cross plus circumcision. They were not excluding the work of the cross and this is what makes it so subtle. They are saying you must believe to be saved but once you have believed you are still not saved, you must be circumcised.
Verse 2 – “When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissention.” Literally this says, “Much strife and questioning [cross-examination] of them [the legalists] came to Paul and Barnabas.” In other words, they were faced with it and they faced up to it. They challenged the legalism.
“they [the legalists] determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them [Titus was one of them], should go up to Jerusalem” – they couldn’t answer the questions, therefore they decided to get Paul and Barnabas down in their area; “unto the apostles and elders about the question.” As a result of this there was a Jerusalem conference.
Verse 3 – “And being brought on their way.” The word in the Greek is propemptw which means a guard of honour or an escort of honour. The people of Antioch thought so much of Paul and the way he defended the truth that the Antioch church made it clear how they felt about grace versus legalism. They did not fall for legalism and so they didn’t send Paul and Barnabas like two prisoners to Jerusalem under indictment, the sent them with a guard of honour. This showed that the Antioch church adhered to the grace principle in this controversy with legalism.
“they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles” – everywhere they went they went to Gentile country. The word for “declaring” here means to narrate in detail. So they are narrating in detail about their first missionary journey and of the grace of God with regard to salvation and spirituality.
“and they caused great joy unto all the brethren” – it is doctrinal teaching that causes the joy, teaching pertaining to the grace of God.
Verse 4 – “And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles.” This was a public reception. This means to receive with intimacy and respect. During the course of this reception there was an opportunity to declare what God had done. This was the first time that the people of Judea and Jerusalem had had an opportunity to hear an account of the first missionary journey. Luke’s account in Acts emphasises all of the historical principles and their doctrinal implications, but what we have here is a brief record of the gospel that was preached. Apparently Paul emphasised the contents of his message to the Gentiles and in so doing he aroused the antagonism of the legalistic crowd.
“and they declared” is an aorist active indicative of the compound verb a)naggellw [a)ggellw = to announce, communicate, teach, to declare; a)na = from above], and here it means that they are reporting back, announcing, declaring something that has already occurred. It means they are now communicating what has already been communicated. In other words, they are playing back the messages that they gave. Paul is telling the people in this big reception all about what he had said to the Gentiles, and what he said to the Gentile aroused the ire of the legalists.
“done with them” should be “done through them.” The emphasis is on what God is doing. It is God’s work, God’s plan. It is God who provides the assets, the grace, the protection; it is God who sustains, they are operating under His assets in the Christian way of life.
Verse 5 – “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed.” The word to rise up is in the aorist tense, which means it was a sudden thing. They just suddenly broke in. It indicates that they were very rude about it. The words “which believed” is a very important concept to the entire picture. They had believed and before they came up with this false doctrine they were already saved.
“saying” – they kept on saying. They kept right on talking, present active participle, linear aktionsart.
“That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses” – they can’t stand it any longer and they simply break the plan of God down into two parts: a) If you are going to be saved you have to be circumcised with believing; b) You must keep the law for spirituality. There is a division here. One is a ritual and one is a way of life. They are saying in effect that ritual must be involved in salvation, and morality must be involved in the Christian way of life, i.e. the Christian way of life is only s system of morality, and they ignore the great mass of the body of Scripture which says that Christianity is what you think. It works from the inside out and it involves Bible doctrine in the soul.
Verse 6 – from here to verse 22 is the private meeting. “And the apostles and elders came together for to consider this matter.”
Verse 7 – Peters gives his opinion. This is the last reference to Peter in the book of Acts. “And when there had been much disputing” – the pros and cons of divine good versus human good, grace versus legalism, the power of the Spirit versus keeping the Mosaic law. “There had been” in the Greek is the verb ginomai which means something becomes which wasn’t before. This dispute got hotter as the situation developed. It should be “it came to pass.”
“Peter rose up” – he couldn’t stand it any longer and so he gets up. He is going to state something which in reality is going to place the apostle Paul in the place of leadership as far as the early church is concerned. When it says he rose up it means he jumped up suddenly.
“Men and brethren” – this is a dispute among believers. Legalism and human good infiltrates the minds, the concepts and the actions of believers.
“ye know how that a good while ago” – he is going to cite his own situation, how God led him to Caesarea and to the quarters of a centurion by the name of Cornelius, and how they had this meeting in which it was shown that Gentiles were admitted into the body of Christ. This was the precedent established in Acts chapter 10.
“God hath made a choice among us” – Peter is off on the correct principle. Grace is the work of God and it is God who made the choice. This is an aorist middle indicative which means that this was God’s policy; the middle voice is reflexive, indicating that God Himself did it; the indicative mood is the reality of the fact that in the Church Age Jews and Gentile are one in Christ. So the verb actually portrays the plan of God for the Church Age and sets up a precedent, and therefore a wise choice of words on the part of Peter.
“that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe” – this is the beginning of the settling of the controversy. First, he is pointing out that the people involved in this were Gentiles, therefore they had no relationship with the Mosaic law, they had nothing to do with the ritual of the law, including circumcision. He is pointing out immediately that they heard the gospel and responded to it. The gospel has nothing to do with the Mosaic law, except that in Codex #2 of the law we have a presentation of the gospel. The word “hear” is an aorist active infinitive denoting a purpose. The infinitive in this case indicates God’s purpose. God chose that certain Gentiles should hear. This introduces the principle that is found so often in Acts: the doctrine of heathenism.[1]
Verse 8 – “And God” is literally “the God,” God the Father, the author of the divine plan; “which knoweth the hearts” – a single noun in the Greek. In other words, God knows how the soul functions.
“bare witness, giving them the Holy Spirit” – when these Gentiles heard the message they were already at the point of God-consciousness and they had gone on positive signals. Into their mentality went the gospel. They responded to the gospel by believing. This describes the Gentile Pentecost at Caesarea. Giving them the Holy Spirit indicated that Gentiles had equal rights with Jews in the Church Age as believers, and that the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles no distinction is made. So if the Jews consider themselves superior in the fields of religion and theology, this superiority is gone. The Gentiles are one with them in Christ, and eventually the great theologians of the Church would be Gentiles, though at this point the great theologians are Jews. All of the superiorities are removed; we are all one in Christ.
“as unto us” – as unto the Jews in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
Verse 9 – Peter is giving the message which is going to clarify some of the principles of the status quo of the Gentiles in the Church Age. This boils down to the fact that in the previous dispensation (The dispensation of Israel) the Jews were the custodians of the Word of God and responsible for its dissemination. There is no Church Age doctrine revealed in the Old Testament, it was totally unknown to the Old Testament people. At this point it is very important to understand that the Jews no longer have the monopoly. During the Church Age and the Tribulation the Jews are out under the fifth cycle of discipline, and until the Second Advent of Christ occurs the Jews are always going to be scattered. Even though there will be Jews in the land they will always be there in relatively small numbers. With the Jews under divine discipline it is necessary for God to have new representative. He always has His agents in this world and therefore the Church takes over the responsibilities held by Israel in the previous dispensation. This means that every believer today is in the body of Christ and every believer is an ambassador for Christ. One of the great problems in the early days of the Church was that the Jews no longer had any advantage over the Gentiles. “And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” The word “heart” refers to the soul but it emphasises all of the facets of the soul. The word “purifying” is an aorist active participle, and this is one case where the action of the aorist participle is coterminous with the main verb. In other words, at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ that is the moment we are cleansed.
Verse 10 – “Now therefore why tempt ye God.” How is God tempted? God is tempted to blast us for our legalism. If there is anything that God despises it is a self-righteous believer, a legalistic believer, a believer who is living by taboos. The word “tempt” is a present active indicative of peirazw which means to test for the purpose of discovering good or bad.
“to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples” – legalism is a yoke; it is bondage. These Pharisees who are legalistic are trying to superimpose a system of bondage on Christianity: “which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Peter is saying that no one can carry the yoke of legalism. Legalism destroys the power of the church.
Verse 11 – “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” Grace means Christ did the work. “Through the grace” is dia plus the genitive case, and it means “by means of grace” or “through the instrumentality of grace.” “Even as they” refers to the gentiles.
We now have the summary and decision given by James, the Lord’s half brother who was not saved until after the resurrection. Apparently the ministry of James and others will keep legalism down for a while but eventually legalism will take over this church and completely destroy it. It is first of all neutralised as a missionary base and in 70 A.D. it went completely out of existence, never to be heard of again. Legalism will destroy a church more rapidly than anything else, for legalism is the #1 enemy of Bible doctrine and the grace of God. Remember that a knowledge of doctrine in itself can be neutralised by failure to orient to grace.
Verse 13 – “And after they had held their peace. The Greek word here means to become silent and it is literally translated from the Greek, “After having become silent.” This is actually technical which means silence after great applause. It wasn’t the silence of shock. After the applause was over it was James who said, “hearken.” He demands the attention of everyone, ‘Listen to me.’ He is going to summarise the decision.
Verse 14 – he begins with a rather interesting phrase. He uses the word Simeon. This is the Aramaic for Simon which is Hebrew, and Peter’s original name. He was called Simon Peter, but here because of the legalists who were Pharisees and spoke Aramaic he uses the word Simeon in reference to Peter.
“declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out a people for his name” – this declares in detail Peter’s ministry to those in Caesarea: “at the first” is at the beginning of the Church Age; “how God did visit” means to inspect something for the purpose of comfort, for the purpose of providing for it. It simply means that God made an inspection trip to Caesarea and provided for that. He provided Peter with the gospel message and they responded.
“to take out,” means to receive, to receive a group of people for His name. This is the fact that the Gentiles are just as much in the body of Christ as the Jews. So “a people” here refers to a special people, those who are born again in the Church Age; “for his name” has to do with the formation of the body of Christ, which has to do with thew angelic conflict as far as the Church Age is concerned.
Verse 15 – in other words, there will be Jew and Gentile in one body, and then after that there will be the restoration of Israel. This is documentation of a quotation from the Old Testament—Amos 9:11,12.
“to this” – to the principle of doctrine in which the Gentiles are saved and integrated into the plan of God. This does not in any way go against the doctrine of the mystery but it merely shows that a time will come when Jew and Gentile have exactly the same spiritual assets in Christ.
“as it is written” – perfect tense: written in the past with result that it stands written forever.
Verse 16 – the quotation from Amos 9:11, and then in verse 17 a quotation from Amos 9:12. “After this” refers to after the Tribulation. It means actually the day of the Second Advent.
“I will return” – a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ; “and will build again the tabernacle” – the Millennial tabernacle which will be built at the second advent of Christ. This is the one in which animal sacrifices will be resumed, the one which is described in the last seven chapters of Ezekiel.
“which is fallen down” – a perfect tense indicating that the tabernacle has been destroyed in the past with the result that it remains destroyed, and is simply a description of the fifth cycle of discipline.
“I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” – the ruins are the ruins of Jerusalem and they will be set up again even as they were in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The ruins also have to do with the fact that the 5th cycle of discipline are in operation. “I will set it up” means to restore the city as well as the people to erectness of straightness.
Verse 17 – “That” introduces a purpose clause; “the residue of men” – literally, the remnant of the people, born-again Jews of that day; “might seek after the Lord” – they might investigate diligently after the Lord. This is +V.
“and all Gentiles” – here is documentation of the principle that Gentiles are always saved in every age. The Gentiles are Gentiles who have +V.
Verse 18 – there is a very serious problem in the MSS. “Known unto God are all his works” – actually, the Greek says, Known from eternity are all his works. There is no phrase, “unto God.” The word “from” is ultimate source—“known from the ultimate source of eternity.” The word for known here is a noun, not a verb – gnwsta in the neuter gender, nominative plural.
Known from
eternity
1. God always knew, and there never was a time when He didn’t know, every person who would believe in Jesus Christ.
2. This is the principle of omniscience plus eternity. This verse actually summarises Isaiah 45:21, though it doesn’t quote it.
3. Saved Gentiles are just as much in the plan of God as saved Jews. This is documented in the quotation of Amos 9:11,12; Isaiah 45:21.
4. God’s plan was always known to God. Romans 8:29,30.
5. God is perfect; His plan is perfect.
6. God’s provision under the plan is perfect.
7. There never was, never will be, a problem too great for the plan of God.
8. This provision for the problem was made in eternity past—doctrine of divine decrees.
Verse 19 – “Wherefore my sentence is.” The word sentence is literally judgment: “my judgment.” James now gives the decision. Gentile believers are not to
be troubled by legalism. With that in mind James now writes a policy, and in this policy we have one of four laws used for phase two. a) The law of liberty—directed toward self; b) the law of love—directed toward other believers. There are certain things that are all right but you do not do them; c) The law of supreme sacrifice—directed toward God; d) the law of expediency—a witnessing law directed toward unbelievers. James now formulates a policy under the law of expediency.
Scattered throughout the ancient world were Jews. Saved Gentiles are going to try to reach unsaved Jews in various areas. But you can’t reach unsaved Jews if you do one of the four things he is going to list from which they should abstain under the law of expediency.
Verse 20 – the four things. “But that we write”—they are going to write a policy letter—“that they [Gentiles] abstain from.” These four things were practised by the Gentiles under heathenism. They rationalised them as not being sins. So there is a policy letter which sets up the law of expediency.
1. Idolatry—Leviticus 17:7. The “pollution of idols” is actually the defilement of idols.
2. Adultery—Leviticus 18. Fornication describes the heathenistic type of adultery. All heathen went into a temple at least twice a year and engaged in sexual activity as a part of religion. It was done to please the gods.
3. “Things strangled,” means eating foods that were impure. It means animals killed by strangulation or suffocation rather than bleeding. The blood had to be drained from the carcase or it was unclean.
4. “From bloods” [plural] is actually murder, which is the 6th commandment in Exodus 20:13. In the ancient world if a person was murdered they didn’t call police, it was up to a member of the family to avenge the killing. The plural is actually a shortening of “blood for blood.” You kill someone in my family, I’ll kill someone in your family, is the idea.
These four sins listed constituted the most common practices among the Gentiles. These sins were a great stumbling block to the Jews and since the Jews
were scattered throughout the ancient world and are going to live side by side with the Gentiles no Gentile believer could ever reach a Jewish unbeliever and be guilty of these sins.
Verse 21—the reason is given. “Moses” is simply the way of describing the Old Testament. Since Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, and since in those first five books or the Pentateuch we have the Mosaic law, and since the Mosaic law is the heart and soul of the Jewish operation—believer and unbeliever alike—wherever Moses is read or preached in the synagogues throughout the ancient world the law of expediency was to be put into operation.
“preach him” – i.e. Moses. These people heard these things all the time—“every Sabbath day.”
Verse 22 – the decision of the council follows the message of James. Judas and Silas are actually those who have the gift of evangelism. They are going to be sent to Antioch especially to witness to Jewish unbelievers in the city. They will have an excellent message as well as conveying the results of the Jerusalem council. So we have two who will confirm what was said.
Notice who will ratify the policy. First of all, the apostles who had the spiritual gift of absolute dictatorship before the canon of scripture was completed. Secondly, the elders who are local pastors in Jerusalem and throughout Judea. Thirdly, the entire church. This was a policy voted on by three separate groups.
In verses 23-29 we actually have the written policy letter which establishes the principle of the law of expediency, along with passages like 1 Corinthians chapters 8, 9, 10, and several passages in 2 Corinthians.
Verse 23 – the beginning of the policy letter.
“after this manner” – this is a quotation of the letter, the gist of the letter. It is quoted in part; it is summarised in part.
“The apostles and elders and brethren” – the ones who were a part of the Jerusalem council.
“Antioch and Syria and Cilicia” – three areas where churches had been established.
Verse 24 – the word subverting means to destroy, to unsettle, to remove doctrine; “your souls” – notice it is the soul which is subverted, not the body. Self-consciousness under legalism is parlayed into pride. Mentality is parlayed into legalism as a form of life. Volition: all the decisions which are made lead to pseudo-spirituality; spirituality by taboos, for example. Emotion becomes a criterion. The conscience has false norms and standards, norms and standards that at best can only produce human good, never divine good. Legalism always leads to very subtle and vicious type sins. So here is a subverted soul, and from this subverted soul doctrine is cut off. If there is any doctrine there the pipes are all clogged up, no doctrine is getting through.
“saying, Ye must be circumcised and keep the law” – so the refute the general teaching of legalism which has gone abroad in these areas.
Verse 25 – they agreed on a policy. They recognised Paul and Barnabas in the letter, that they actually have a place in the ministry. The words “chosen men” refer to Judas and Silas.
Verse 26 – this tells us that both Judas and Silas had gone through great dangers. They had faced the possibility of death and had stood up under it well.
Verse 27 – this is a confirmation of the policy.
Verse 28 – “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit.” Here is a recognition of the Spirit’s leading in the matter.
“and to us” – remember that whatever the Holy Spirit desires for phase two must be communicated to believers. Everything in the plan of God is good to the Holy Spirit but it must be communicated.
“these necessary things” are now mentioned in verse 29, and these are to follow the law of expediency. They are desirous that Jews might be saved. These Jews are going to be saved by the witness of Gentiles, but no Gentile observing these sins and failures in going to have a ministry with unsaved Jews even though he is born-again.
Verse 29 – “meats offered to idols” is the idolatry problem.
“from blood” is literally “bloods” and refers to murder; “and from things strangled” – impure foods; “from fornication” – the general practice of heathenism as a part of their worship.
“ye do well” – the Greek says, “you shall practice well.” “Fare ye well” is a perfect passive imperative and it should really be translated, “Be strong.” This means to be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the past, knowing doctrine, the filling of the Spirit, with results that go on in phase two. Passive voice: you receive this strength. Imperative mood: this is a command.
Verses 30-35, the triumph of grace in preaching.
Verse 30 – “So when they were dismissed they came to Antioch.” This is the end of the Jerusalem council which established the principle of grace and made it possible for the early church to get started in the proper manner.
“they delivered the epistle” – they went back to Antioch and immediately called a meeting of the church. When they did they delivered the epistle, and the response was wonderful.
Verse 31 – “Which when they had read [analysed its contents—publicly read it an explained it], they rejoiced.” Joy is inner mental happiness which comes from orientation to grace. Grace people always rejoice when they are contemplating grace, when they are understanding grace, when there is some modus operandi of grace which has definitely succeeded; “for the consolation” – the word for consolation is encouragement. They were greatly encouraged by the stand taken at the Jerusalem council.
Verse 32 – the word to exhort means to encourage, and the encouragement came from grace preaching. Grace preaching is not popular. Wherever legalism exists people want to hear things that they can “Amen.” They want to hear in a back-handed kind of way how great they really are. They want to hear, for example, systems of pseudo-spirituality expounded from the pulpit.
Judas and Silas are the two men who have come up from Jerusalem in order to participate in the explanation of these letters. They both had the gift of prophesy; they are not apostles. A prophet, whether in the Old Testament or the New, is first of all a preacher orienting people in his day to their situation. He is therefore a communicator, a forthteller. Secondarily, he is a foreteller. But prophecy merely means to communicate God’s message to the people of the day and to communicate it in the light of events of that day. Isaiah is an illustration, he was dealing with the events of his day. When a prophet deals with future events he is doing more than simply telling of future events, he is relating these events to the historical situation in his time.
“exhorted the brethren” – the word to exhort basically means to encourage, and they encouraged through the teaching of the Word of God. The word “confirm” means to stabilise or to strengthen. They taught grace; they applied grace; they made the application of grace so real to these people that is was the basis of strength, encouragement and stability.
Verse 33 – “And after they had tarried there a space.” Literally it says. “Having done time there.” This means that they spent a good deal of time fulfilling their ministry in that area; “they let them go in peace,” i.e. they released them in peace; “from the brethren unto the apostles” – the apostles had their headquarters in Jerusalem and so they were permitted to go back. The principle is that since they had a doctrinal ministry they were permitted to leave in peace, i.e. there was no general antagonism. This particular area was the grace headquarters of the ancient world.
Verse 34 is not found in the original and should therefore be omitted.
Verse 35 – most people think that preaching is shouting and getting dramatic and that teaching is something else. The Greek here says “teaching even preaching.” Biblically preaching and teaching are the same thing. There are two different words here and they explain the ministry of the pastor. The responsibility of a pastor in a local church is to teach. “Teaching” is a present active participle and simply means to communicate doctrine to a public assembly so that the people absorb and use the doctrine. The same word is the basis for the word “disciple.” Disciples are simply people who have been taught doctrine and are using it. The second word is “preaching,” a compound verb which means to instruct well—e)uaggelizw. What was communicated was principles of grace based upon the victory of the Jerusalem council.
Verses 36-39, the application.
Verse 36 – Paul’s proposal: “see how they do.” The Greek says, “See how they have it.” And this is important. He is not interested in what they do, he is interested in what they know. It is not what you do for God that counts, it is what you have in the human spirit. If what you have in the human spirit is doctrine then production is merely a result of doctrinal perspectives. It is more important to know than to do. If you know, you can do; you can produce divine good. But if you are ignorant, then you cannot do. The first sign of apostasy in a church is programs; everything is programs, and everything is set up so that mediocrity can be in authority. The word “visit” means to inspect. Evangelism must be stabilised by Bible teaching. Paul recognised that they must have doctrine.
Verse 37 – “And Barnabas determined,” boulomai, which means that the volition is linked up with the mentality of the soul, not with the emotions (in which case qelw would have been used); “to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.”
Verse 38 – Paul later admitted that he was wrong, Colossians 4:10, 2 Timothy 4:11, but here in verse 38 he has a legalistic lapse and rejected the idea of John Mark going with them because of a previous desertion.
Verse 39 – a contention. The word “contention” is paracumoj which becomes the English word paroxysm, and that means a big nose to nose battle. There are two concepts here. One is a personal triumph—the triumph of Barnabas; the other is the collective triumph of the church. Everyone in the church knew about this battle. Paul and Barnabas have obviously had a split, a difference of opinion. Now everyone in the church can jump on one side or the other, would soon be fighting each other, and the church in Antioch would be split wide open. But the communication of doctrine saves the day, both personally and collectively.
“that they parted asunder” – they made a complete separation; “so Baranabas took Mark,” and in this way preserved for the early church one of its great leaders. This was a triumph of grace. Mark proved himself and became one of the great leaders. He started the North African church and had so many thousands of converts in Alexandria. In this split grace was an issue. As long as John Mark was alive he had the right to move on, and Barnabas recognised this.
Verse 40 – “being recommended by the brethren.” The word “recommended” isn’t there in the Greek. It means here literally, “being delivered to the grace of God by the brethren.” The brethren did not take sides in this argument. This is one of the greatest testimonies of what doctrine can do to a church.