ACTS chapters Ten and Eleven
CORNELIUS GETS A VISION
There was a man in the town of Caesarea( about 40 miles
north of Joppa on the north-west coast of Palestine) by the name
of Cornelius. He was in the Roman army, in the centurion band
called "the Italian band." He was a religious man, a person that
had a respectful fear towards God, and so he taught all his
household to be like him. He gave much material gifts to the poor
and was a man always praying to God.
About the ninth hour of the day or around 3 p.m. in our
reckoning, he had a vision in which an angel of God came to him
and said, "Cornelius." And Corlelius was at first terrified, but
responded with, "Yes, what is it master?" The angel continued,
"Your prayers and all your good deeds have come up before God in
heaven. Now send men to Joppa, and ask for one named Simon,
surnamed Peter. He stays with a Simon the tanner, whose house is
by the sea side: he shall tell you what you are to do."
The angel departed and Cornelius then called for two of his
household servants, and a devout religious soldier that was at
his service all the time. He told them what his vision had been
all about, and then sent them to Joppa (Acts 10:1-8).
PETER'S VISION
As the servants of Corlelius were on their way the next day
after the vision had come to their master, and they were close to
the town of Joppa, it was about the sixth hour or 12 noon, and
Peter went up on top of the roof of the house (the roofs were
flat topped in those days) to pray. He got hungry and was
thinking about having a meal, when he became sleepy and went into
a visionary trance. He saw heaven open, and as it was a great
sheet tied at the corners and let down to the earth. Inside the
sheet was all kinds of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild
beasts, creeping things of all sorts, and many different fowls of
the air. A voice came to him saying, "Rise, Peter, kill, and
eat." Peter was quick to reply, "Not so Lord, for I have never
eaten anything that is defiled or unclean."
We can gather from Peter's reply that all on the sheet were
creatures that under the Old Covenant would have been classified
as "unclean" and not to be eaten as food by any Israelite.
We can also note from Peter's answer to the command to eat,
that he had not, from the start of the New Covenant on that
famous Pentecost day of Acts 2, broken the clean and unclean food
laws of the Old Covenant. Obviously Peter did not automatically
believe that the clean and unclean food laws were "done away
with" under the New Testament.
The voice again spoke to him, "What God has cleansed, don't
call common or unclean."
The whole vision was repeated three times, and then the
sheet went back up to heaven (Acts 10:9-16).
Verse 17 says, "And while Peter DOUBTED in himself what this
vision should mean, behold, the men which were sent from
Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and stood at the
gate."
It is very obvious that Peter did NOT automatically believe
this vision of unclean beasts being called "clean" by God, meant
that the food laws of the Old Covenant were now "abolished" and
that he could eat whatever took his fancy. Peter was doubting
what the vision meant. While meditating on it all as to what the
Lord was trying to relate to him, the men from Cornelius were
standing at the gate. They called out and asked if Simon,
surnamed Peter, was lodging there.
Peter was still thinking about the vision when the Holy
Spirit said to him, "Look, three men are seeking you. Arise and
go down, and go with them, do not doubt, for I have sent them to
find you."
Peter went down and walking up to the men sent from
Corlelius, and said to them, "Yes, I am the one whom you are
looking for. What is the reason that you have come to
find me?"
And they said, "Cornelius, the centurion, a just man, one
that has deep respect for God, and a man of good report among all
the nations of the Jews, was told by an angel from God to send
for you here in Joppa and in this house, and to have you come and
speak words to him" (Acts 10: 17-22).
Peter told the men to come on into the house and lodge
overnight. On the following day Peter went with the men and so
did certain other brethren from Joppa. They all travelled to
Caesarea. And the day after arriving at Caesarea, Cornelius was
anxiously waiting for Peter, and in eager anticipation he had
called many of his family members and close friends to be with
him when Peter arrived. When Peter came in Cornelius fell to his
knees as if worshipping more than just a man. But Peter putting
out his hand to have him rise up, said, "Please stand up for I am
just a man like yourself." Peter was busy talking to Cornelius as
he entered his house, and was somewhat surprised to see a large
gathering of people had come together to greet him. Then he said
to them all, "I'm sure you all know that in Jewish law and
traditions it is unlawful for a man that is a Jew to
socialize with others of a different nation; but God has already
shown me that I should call no man, common or unclean. I
therefore came without a second thought as soon as the messenger
came for me. But I am still unsure for what purpose it is that
you have called for me. Please explain."
We see here the explanation of the sheet let down from
heaven with all the unclean creatures on it. Peter had wondered,
for he did not automatically think it was to show him that the
clean and unclean food laws of the Old Covenant had been
abolished. Now, he knew the exact meaning of the vision and the
unclean beats. It was to show him that Jews should throw away
their man-made idea and tradition that it was improper to
socialize with non-Jews. The Jews over the centuries had
misapplied some verses in the Old Testament that told Israel to
abstain from the things of the pagan nations around them, to
separate themselves from those nations. Of course Israel would be
its own nation with its own land, but there are many verses in
the old Scriptures that said they should allow strangers to be a
part of their nation, and if those strangers wanted to accept
their religious faith, then they would be fully adopted into the
nation. There was to be one law for both the Israelite and
strangers or non-Israelite among them (see Ex.12:49).
The Jews under the leadership of the self-righteous
Pharisees, had invented a law that no Jew should eat with or
socialize with, anyone that was not an Israelite. Remember
how we have seen that during those first years of the New
Testament Church of God, the preaching of the Gospel went to the
Jews only, and of course to Gentiles that had accepted the Jewish
faith, for they would also be in the Sabbath synagogue
congregations. But no thought or effort was made to deliberately
go to the Gentiles with the Gospel. Now the time had come for all
that to change.
Back to Peter asking all in Cornelius' house the reason why
they had wanted him to come to them. It was fitting that
Cornelius should answer his inquiry.
"Four days ago I was fasting in my house and at the ninth
hour I prayed, and a man like figure stood before me in
shining clothing, and said to me, 'Cornelius, your prayer is
heard and all the good deeds you have done, is remembered in
the sight of God. Send to Joppa and call Simon, surnamed
Peter, who is lodging in the house of one called Simon the
tanner, whose house is by the sea. When he comes to you he
will speak to you great truths.'
Immediately I sent for you, and you willfully and quickly
came. Now we are all gathered here to hear from you the
words that God has commanded you to speak and give to us."
Guided by and filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter said:
"Well I know now that God is not a respecter of persons. But
in EVERY nation those that fearfully respect Him and work
righteousness, is acceptable to Him. The word which God
sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus
Christ (He is Lord of all), that word, you know, which was
first proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from
Galilee, after the ministry and baptism of John. God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with
power. He went about doing good, and healing all that were
oppressed of the Devil, for God was mightily with Him. And
we apostles are witnesses of all the things which He did,
both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom some
there slew and hanged on a tree. This same man God raised up
from the dead the third day, and was shown openly to us. He
was not shown to all people, but unto witnesses chosen
before-hand by God, we apostles are part of those chosen,
and we did both eat and drink with Him after He rose from
the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and
to testify that He is the one who was ordained and appointed
by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. And to
Him all the prophets also give witness, that through His
name, whosoever believes in Him shall receive remission
(forgiveness) of sins."
As Peter was still speaking the last words, the Holy Spirit
came upon all that were listening. Those of the circumcision who
had come with Peter, which believed, the Jewish brethren who had
accompanied Peter from Joppa, were astonished, for they beheld
the gift of Holy Spirit coming upon Gentiles. And they heard
those Gentiles speaking in different languages, and magnifying
God (Acts 10: 23-46).
This is an example of the Holy Spirit being given to some
BEFORE they were baptized in Jesus' name. Yes, God can (He is in
charge at all and any time) if He so desires for whatever reason
(here it was to show Jews that the Gentiles were part of the
whole peoples that God wanted as His children) give the gift of
the Holy Spirit to some before water baptism. But as a general
rule of thumb, it is as Peter instructed in Acts 2:38, baptism
comes first and then the gift of the Spirit is given, as we have
seen, with prayer and the laying on of hands. Yet, on special
occasions, for special reasons, sometimes not know by us, God
gives His Spirit before baptism.
Should people who receive God's Spirit before baptism, still
be baptized? Well Peter gives us the clear answer, for after
seeing this pouring of the Spirit upon Gentiles, he went on to
say, "Can any man say we are to deny water, that these also
should not be baptized which have received the Holy Spirit, like
we received it?"
And Luke finished this section with these words, "And he
(Peter) commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.
Then they earnestly asked Peter to stay for certain days with
them" (Acts 10: 47-48).
We must also note from this passage of Scripture that there
is not one word to indicate that Cornelius or any there in the
house with him were proselytes to the Jewish religion or that any
of them had been circumcised. It is simply recorded that
Cornelius was a devout man, one who prayed always, and a man who
did good deeds towards others. All of this would have made it
even more shocking for the Jewish brethren who had accompanied
Peter from Joppa to see the Holy Spirit poured out on the
Gentiles here in Caesarea.
PETER EXPLAINS HIS MISSION TO CAESAREA
TO THOSE IN JERUSALEM
It did not take very long for the word to spread back to the
apostles and brethren in Jerusalem that the Gentiles had received
the word of God and the Holy Spirit, without them having to be
circumcised.
Those believers in Jerusalem that thought and taught that it
was still imperative for men to be circumcised to be saved and
part of the children of God, were soon questioning Peter about
the matter when he arrived back in Jerusalem. It is vital for us
here to remember the importance of the rite of circumcision for
the Jews. They had had about 2,000 years history of practicing
the rite. And it was a covenant given by God Himself to their
great father Abraham. Even under Moses no one could partake of
the Passover service unless he was circumcised (see Exodus 12).
So this physical rite and under the Old Covenant, law of God, was
a huge part of Jewish life, and had been for generations. We need
note also that up to this time in the Church of God, no angel had
been sent to meet with all the apostles and tell them that
circumcision was no longer necessary under the New Covenant. It
was not until this happening with Peter in Cornelius' house that
the Spirit of God had been poured out on uncircumcised Gentiles.
So it would have been quite in line for those who still believed
circumcision was needed to be in covenant with God, to question
Peter over the matter.
It was also brought up to Peter that he socialized with
uncircumcised people, which we have seen the Jews in their
traditional upbringing were taught not to do so. Peter
carefully went over all that had happened with him and with
Cornelius, including the sheet that came down from heaven with
all manner of unclean beasts on it, and how he was commanded to
eat, but he did not, how it was done three times, then was
removed back to heaven. Then how three men had come from
Cornelius in Ceasarea, and how the Spirit bade him return to that
city with them. He told them how six brethren from Joppa
accompanied him to Cornelius' house. How Cornelius had had a
vision to send for himself, and was told that he would say words
to him and his whole housefull of relatives and friends, whereby
they could be saved. Peter told them that as he was yet speaking
those words the Holy Spirit came on them as it had in somewhat
like manner as they had received on the feast day of Pentecost
some years back. He told them that it was at this time he
remembered the words of Jesus, "John baptized with water, but you
shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" which is another way of
saying, you will be plunged into the power and nature of the Holy
Spirit.
Peter finished his explanation of the events by saying, "In
so much then that God gave them the gift that He gave us, who
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who on earth was I that I
should question the workings of God."
When they heard all this from Peter's mouth, they could say
nothing. All they could do was glorify God by saying, "Then has
God also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life" (Acts
11:1-18).
BARNABAS GOES TO TARUS TO FIND PAUL
Meanwhile back at the ranch as the saying goes, Paul was
living in the town of Tarus. This was the capital of Cilicia,
and the birthplace of Paul, and as we have seen, apart from about
three years in Damascus, and a brief visit to Jerusalem, Paul was
there preaching and teaching the Gospel, up to this time, when we
shall now see that the apostle Barnabas goes looking for him.
The city Tarsus was straight north of Jerusalem, but in Asia
Minor, or what is today Turkey. As you can see on a Bible map.
you go straight up the sea coast of Palestine, and a little
around the coast of the sea, and still on the sea is Tarsus. It
is about 400 miles from Jerusalem.
Tarsus was situated in a wide and fertile plain on the banks
of the Cydnus river, which flowed through it. The town was
founded about 850 B.C. when the Assyrians entered Cilicia. It was
renowned as a place of education under the early Roman emperors.
In fact Strabo compares it in this respect to Athens and
Alexandria. That fact would explain to some degree the high
education Paul had, as well as the fact that he tells us in his
writings that be was a student of the famous Jewish theologian
Gamaliel. It was a city also of much commerce. Both land and sea
highways made Tarsus a famed ancient emporium. The famous
Cilician Gates, one of antiquity's most famous mountain passes,
is not far distant, and access by water to the Mediterranean made
Tarsus a famous trading center (information taken from "The New
Ungers Bible Dictionary" - Moody Bible Institute, 1988).
Here in chapter 11:19 we have seen that the Gospel which the
scattered disciples preached after the persecution that arose
after Stephen's death, was only to the Jewish people. The Gospel
had gone to Phenice, and Cyprus, and to Antioch. Some from Cyrene
and Cyprus came to Antioch and spoke to the Greek Jews about the
Lord Jesus. And God was with them for a great number believed and
accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and Messiah. All this was
noted by the members of the Church of God in Jerusalem, and they
determined to send forth Barnabas as far as Antioch. Antioch was
a little further south of Tarsus, about 50 miles away, but still
on the sea coast (see the maps in the back of most Bibles).
When Barnabas arrived in Antioch he was happy to see the
grace of God that had been in operation there. He exhorted the
brethren to remain faithful to the Lord. Barnabas we are told was
a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and through his
teaching many were added to the Lord's family.
But Barnabas, remembered the zealous Paul. He had not seen
him for some time now and being only about 50 miles away from
Tarsus and where Paul was living, he decided he wanted to have
Paul with him in Antioch, for it seemed God had many He
wanted in that city to come to Him through Jesus the Christ.
Barnabas set off for Tarsus and did find Paul, and urged him to
join up with him as a team and go back to Antioch to teach and
preach the Gospel there. Paul did do so.
Both Barnabas and Paul stayed in Antioch about a full year
with the church there, and through their teaching many were
taught about Jesus. It is here that Luke tells us that the
followers of Christ were first called Christians. "And the
disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
It was during the stay of Barnabas and Paul in Antioch that
prophets from Jerusalem came to visit. One of them named Agabus
was inspired by the Spirit to tell them that a great draught
would come upon all the known world, a general very hard time
for farmers throughout the Roman Empire. It did indeed come to
pass as he foretold, in the time of Claudius Caesar. This was in
the early 40s A.D.
It would seem that Judea had a greater draught than some of
the other areas of that part of the world, for the brethren in
Antioch determined, as each had the ability to give, that they
would send some goods to help relieve the poor and hungry
brethren in Judea. They would send these material goods by the
overseeing hands of Barnabas and Paul (Acts 11:19-30).
We are not told much, actually not really anything about
this visit of Barnabas and Paul to Judea in the early 40s of the
fist century A.D. We are given information about James, the
brother of John, and an event concerning Peter, and how the then
Herod died. All this is in the next chapter of Acts. All these
events we shall see in chapter twelve, took place while Barnabas
and Paul were visiting in Jerusalem, but all that is said of
them, is that they returned to Antioch after they accomplished
what they had been sent to do, and on their return they took with
them John, whose surname was Mark (Acts 12:25).
Now it is more than interesting through this section about name placing. Because one man of a certain sect that had left the Worldwide Church of God, still preaching the "top down authoritative church government" Roman Catholic idea, said Paul's name was placed before Barnabas, as Paul was over Barnabas in authority. Somehow this so- called fact proved, top down church government. Well I was going to read all the chapters to see if he was correct. It only took me about a minute to find him very in-correct. In a number of places Barnabas' name comes before Paul's name. So much for people who spout off things and have egg all over their face. This minister guy made himself a buffoon; his mouth speaking before his brain kicked in.
.......................
TO BE CONTINUED
  Chapter Fifty-five:Paul's First Missionary Journey
ACTS chapter Twelve and Thirteen
DEATH OF JAMES
It was around this same time of the great draught upon the
land of Judea especially, that the then Herod decided to vex the
Church of God. It was the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, what is March or April on our calendar.
The Roman's were always very touchy and somewhat high-strung at
this time, because so many uprisings had taken place by the Jews
at this spring Feast time.
We are not given the details as to the WHY, but Herod took
James the brother of John the apostle and had him killed by the
sword. He saw that this pleased the Jews who did not like this
"new Jewish faith" that had sprung up among them. And so he
proceeded to take the apostle Peter. He had him brought in and
thrown into prison. Herod thought that after the days of the
Passover and unleavened bread was over, he would bring Peter
out and present him to the Jews and would then see what they
wanted to do with him, maybe he thought they would want him
crucified as they did with Jesus.
The word "Easter" in the old KJV was a blatant
mistranslation from the Greek. The Greek word used here is
Pascha, which means Passover.
Peter was in prison but the Church of God people prayed for
him, prayed without ceasing (Acts 12:1-5).
PETER'S MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE
Herod was going to bring forth Peter from prison, but the
night before a great miracle took place. Peter was bound by two
chains between two guards, and the door keeper of the prison was
at the door guarding as usual. Then a mighty angel from God
came and shone brightly in the prison. The angel shook Peter
awake and said to him, "Arise, get up quickly." The chains
binding Peter's hands fell to the ground. The angel said further,
"Gird up your clothes and put your sandals on. Put your tunic on
and come follow me."
Peter obeyed and went with the angel, but he was so dazed
and still somewhat sleepy that he thought all that was happening
was a kind of dream. They passed the first enclosure and then the
second enclosure of the prison and finally came to the prison's
court-yard gate, that led out into the city. The gate just opened
up as if magically all by itself. They went out and passed on
through one street, and then the angel just disappeared from
Peter's view.
He finally was fully awake enough to realize it was not all
just a dream, but it was indeed very real what had all taken
place, and he knew then that God had sent an angel to deliver him
from Herod and from what the Jews may have wanted to do to him.
Peter moved on to the house of Mary, the mother of John,
whose surname was Mark, and many of the brethren were gathered at
her house; they were there praying together for Peter. He knocked
at the gate, and a woman by the name of Rhoda came to answer his
knocking. She heard Peter's voice and was so overjoyed she forgot
to open the gate and let him in. She ran off to tell the others
that Peter was at the gate. Well, the brethren did not want to
believe her, and thought she was a little bit out of her mind,
but she kept insisting what she said was true. They then said to
her that she had maybe seen Peter's angel. We do have certain
angels assigned to us at times, from God, to help us in various
ways.
Peter continued knocking at the gate. Finally all the
brethren coming close to the gate thought well someone is
certainly out there knocking, so they opened up the door
(which was obviously more like a door than a see-through gate).
Wow....what a surprise for them, they were astonished to say the
least, for there right in front of them stood Peter. They began
to shout out with joy and praise. Peter motioned with his hands
and had them quiet down, then related to them how God had
delivered him from prison by an angel that He had sent. He then
told them to go and tell James (probably James, the Lord Jesus'
brother, the same James as we shall read about in Acts 15, when
we get there) and other disciples and apostles.
Peter then departed from them and went to another place,
which we are not told where it was, or to whom he went (Acts 12:
6-17).
HEROD'S DEATH
When it was daybreak the soldiers soon found that Peter was
not in the prison. It naturally caused quite a commotion. Herod
was told the situation. He was as mad as a wild bull. He called
for the prison wardens, examined what they had to say about why
Peter was not in the prison. He was not satisfied at all with
what they had to say, and commanded that the wardens be put to
death. Then he left Jerusalem and went to Ceasarea for a while.
While there some political scheming went on between him and
the officials at the cities of Tyre and Sidon (which are up the
coast about 60 and 70 miles from Ceasarea). The officials at
those two cities had made friends with one of Herod's right hand
men, called Blastus. They came to him all in a nice cosy fashion,
desiring that peace would be between them and Herod, for Herod's
country that he ruled over provided many physical things for the
well-being and comfort of their country. Herod told them to come
before him on a certain day and they willingly obeyed. When that
day came Herod gave them what we might call a "Presidential
speech." The people that heard this eloquent speech all
shouted out, "Oh, this is the voice of god, not of a human man."
Herod was thinking to himself that it was indeed so, just as they
said, that he was some kind of a god. Immediately as he was
agreeing with their shouts of adoration for him, an angel of the
Lord smote him. We are told that he was not giving the true God
glory, but obviously taking it all for himself.
He did not die instantly, but he was smitten with some kind
of sickness that worms were eating away at him, and then he
finally died. It must have been a terrible death, maybe slow and
agonizing (Acts 12: 18-23).
The word of God grew and multiplied more and more after
Herod's death. Barnabas and Paul, who had been somewhere in the
land of Judea handing out the goods they had brought with them
from Antioch to help the draught stricken brethren of Judea,
returned to Antioch and took with then John, whose surname was
Mark. They must have thought he would be a good servant for their
work in the ministry in Antioch (Acts 12: 24-25).
As we look back on what we have just seen happen in Acts 12,
we must wonder why one man is killed for his faith in God and
another is delivered from what probably would have been death, if
the unbelieving Jews had had their way. There is no specific
answer to our question. You may remember in the Gospels where
Jesus told Peter that he would one day be led away to a place he
did not want to go, which was telling him he would die by being
led captive and executed. Peter turned to Jesus and said, "Well
what about this man here, what will happen to him, how will he
die?" This was the man John, one of the apostles, that Peter was
looking at and asking Jesus about. Jesus told Peter to never mind
about what he would do or how his life would end. He told him
what did it matter to Peter if this man were to live until Jesus
returned again from heaven. Christ told Peter to mind his own
business as we say, yes, literally to mind his own business of
doing God's work, and not be concerned about how God would work
with another man (John 21: 15-25).
We find that history tells us Peter was taken captive and
was executed for his faith eventually, while John the apostle
lived to an old age and died as far as we know from natural
causes of old age.
It is not possible to know all the ways and the reasons as
to why God works this way with one person and another way with
another person. Some things are hidden from us in this life time.
We must all simply be concerned with OUR life with God and what
we can do for Him, for as long as God gives us this physical
life, be it long or short, be it a natural death for us or an
execution death for our Christian faith.
BARNABAS AND PAUL START THEIR
FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY
We now move back to Antioch where Barnabas and Paul had once
more returned to.
Antioch in Syria, on the left bank of the Orontes, sixteen
miles from the Mediterranean and three hundred miles from
Jerusalem, between the Lebanon and Taurus mountain ranges. It was
founded about 300 B.C. The city was destroyed several times by
earthquakes. It was luxurious. Its main street, four miles in
length, was lined with magnificent mansions. It was highly
cultural, but its social life was debase, sensual, and shocking.
Jews formed a large portion of its population. It became the
third city in the Roman Empire, having a population of 500,000.
We have seen that it was there that the name "Christian" was
applied to followers of Jesus. All three of Paul's missionary
journeys began from Antioch (see a Bible Dictionary for this and
more details on the city of Antioch in Syria).
In the Church of God in Antioch there were prophets and
teachers. The names of maybe the most prominent are given to us
as: Barnabas, Simeon that was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,
Manaen, and Paul.
As they served the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit told
them to separate Barnabas and Paul for a work that God had chosen
them to do for Him. They all prayed and fasted more, then laid
their hands on those two and sent them out.
The Holy Spirit led them to go to Seleucia and from there to
Cyprus. At this point you may want to get out a good Bible map of
this first missionary journey of Barnabas and Paul, to see
exactly where they travelled to. John Mark was with them, and the
first time we are told they preached the word of God in the
synagogues of the Jews, was at the town of Salamis.
They then went through the isle unto Paphos, and came across
a certain "witch" or "sorcerer" - a false prophet - a Jew by the
name of Barjesus. This fellow often hung around with the high
official of the country named Serius Paulus. He was a prudent man
and called for Barnabas and Paul, desiring to hear what they had
to say concerning the word of God. But Barjesus stood up against
Barnabas and Paul wanting to turn Paulus away from the truth of
God.
Then Paul filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, looked
with piecing eyes upon this false prophet and said, "You, who are
so full of all cunningness and wickedness, you who are a son of
the Devil, you who are an enemy of all true righteousness, when
is it that you will cease to pervert the ways of the Lord? And
now, look, but you will not see, for the hand of the Lord is upon
you. You shall not be able to see the sun, you will be blind for
a season." And immediately a kind of mist and a darkness fell
upon his eyes and he had to seek people to lead him about by the
hand.
When Paulus saw what had happened to this false prophet he
believed, for he was then astonished at the word and teachings of
the Lord (Acts 13: 1-12).
PAUL PREACHES IN ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA
Paul and company went from Paphos and came to Perga in
Pamphylia, and it was there that John Mark departed from them and
returned to Jerusalem. We are not told as to why John Mark left
them, only that he did. It was to Paul not a good reason for him
to leave them, as we see from Acts 15:38. To Paul he abandoned
the work of God.
Paul and company continued on from Perga to Antioch in
Pisidia, a different Antioch than the one in Syria from whence
they started their journey. They went into the synagogue on the
weekly Sabbath day, and sat down. After the reading of the law
and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue said to all
present, "You men and brethren, if you have any word of
exhortation for the people, then speak up and we shall listen."
That was all that Paul needed to hear. He straightaway stood up
and preached to them this little sermon:
"Men of Israel, and all you that respectfully fear God,
please listen to me. The God of the people of Israel chose
our fathers, and exalted the people, when they lived as
strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a mighty high hand
brought them out of Egypt.
He endured with them for about forty years in the
wilderness. After destroying seven nations of peoples in the
land of Canaan, He divided the land up and gave a portion to
each tribe. There were judges over Israel for about
four-hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. Then
the people desired to have a king over them like other
nations.
He gave them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of
Benjamin, who reigned about forty years. When God finally
removed him as king, He gave them David to be their king.
And God gave testimony of David saying, 'I have found David
the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall
fulfil all my will.'
And from this man's descendants God has according to His
promise, raised up to Israel a Savior, by the name of Jesus.
But before He came, John fulfilled his calling by preaching
baptism of repentance to all the peoples of Israel that came
to him. While John was doing his work for God he said, 'Who
do you think that I am? The Messiah? No, I am not. But there
will come a man after me, whose sandals I'm not worthy to
loosen.'
Men and brethren, children from the line of Abraham, and all
among you that respectfully fear God, it is to you, that
this word of salvation is sent. For those who dwell at
Jerusalem, and their leaders, because they did not wish to
know Him the Messiah, nor the voice of the prophets which
are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled the very
prophecies contained in the prophets by condemning the
Messiah Jesus. Yet they could find no cause of anything to
deserve death, but they still wanted Pilate to kill Him. And
when all that was written concerning this man, they took Him
down from the tree and put Him in a tomb. But death could
not hold Him, for God raised Him up from death, and He
was seen alive for many days by those who followed Him from
Galilee to Jerusalem, who bear witness to this fact to all
the people. And we are here to declare to you the good
news about the one great promise made to our fathers. God
has fulfilled that very promise to us the children of our
fathers, in that He has raised Jesus from death, just as
it is written in the psalm: 'You are my Son, this day I have
begotten you' (Ps.2:7).
And as concerning the point that he raised Him to life from
the dead, no more to ever experience physical corruption, He
said it this way: 'I will give you the sure mercies of
David' (Isa.55:3), and in another place in the psalms, 'You
shall not allow your holy one to see decay and corruption'
(Ps.16:10). David himself served the will of God in his
generation, but fell asleep in death, was buried, and did
see corruption. David was not writing about himself, but
about Him that God raised from death, about him that did not
see corruption of the physical body.
Be it known unto you men and brethren that through the name
of this man Jesus, is the preaching of the forgiveness of
sins. And by Him all that believe can be justified or
forgiven from all their sins, which you simply could not be
from trying to observe the laws of Moses.
Beware, take close heed to what I'm saying, lest it come
upon you what is spoken in the prophets: 'Behold you that
despise, and doubt, and continue on to perish because you
will not believe. I will work a work in your days, a work
that you may reject and not believe, even though I send men
to tell you about it' (Habakkuk 1:5)"
Though in context the prophecy in Habakkuk was about the
Chaldeans coming upon Judah to punish and destroy because of
unrepentant sin - the type example was fitting for the truth of
the Gospel and personally finding salvation from sin, being
rejected by many, though preached to them.
When the Jews had departed out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles stayed behind and asked the two apostles to preach more
of those words to them again the next Sabbath.
We do not here that the Gentiles asked Paul and
Barnabas to preach to them on Sunday, as being the Lord's day. Of
course they were new to the "new faith" being taught, so we can
say that Paul or Barnabas did not answer them by saying they
could teach and preach to them "tomorrow" - it being the Lord's
day or new Sabbath day under the New Covenant. Here was the two
apostles great opportunity to explain to them and to us today,
that the fourth commandment of the great ten had been "changed"
to "the first day of the week" or to what we call Sunday. If
Sunday had become under the New Testament the new Lord's day,
then Paul and Barnabas could have told them they could meet with
them the very next day as they would be observing the first day
of the week as Jesus' resurrection day and as the now New
Covenant Sabbath day. But as we see, no such thought or idea or
teaching like this came from either of them.
Outside the synagogue many of the Jews and those who had
been converted to the Jewish faith, followed Paul and Barnabas to
hear more about the Gospel. And after expounding more of the word
of God to them, many did believe and the two apostles encouraged
them to continue in the grace of God now given to them (Acts
13:13-43).
THE NEXT SABBATH - JEWISH OPPOSITION
During the week word got around Antioch in Pisidia, about
what had happened the Sabbath before in the synagogue, and nearly
the whole city came out to hear the word of God as preached by
Paul and Barnabas. The Gentiles were out by the droves, a
multitude of them, hungry to hear more from those two preachers
that had arrived among them.
But the Jews became filled with envy. They did not like what
it was all perhaps leading to. The Jews did not have the same
attitude of mind as the Gentiles were exhibiting. They started to
speak against the things Paul and Barnabas were saying. They
started to argue, contradict, and ended up even blaspheming. It
was a mind-set that was as if they did not believe in a God or
His inspired word. All this just made Paul and Barnabas get
stronger and stronger in preaching and teaching. Then they both
came to a revelation, they said to the Jews, "It was right and
proper that we first preach the word of God to you, but because
you have thrown it to one side, thrown it away as far as the
east is from the west, and have condemned yourself not worthy of
everlasting life, well, behold, we shall go to the Gentiles. For
we now see that God has called us for that commission, for it is
written, 'I have sent you to be a light to the Gentiles, that you
should proclaim salvation to the very ends of the earth'" (Isa.
42:6 and 49:6).
When the Gentiles heard these words form the two apostles
they were exceedingly happy and glorified the word of the Lord.
And as many as were being called of God to eternal life, they
believed. The word of God went forth throughout the whole region.
The Jews were some upset, upset as possibly as much as they
could be without getting violent. Many of them went to other
religious Jewish women, women of high status in the community,
many men in high-ranking official governance of the city, and
managed to get all those people to persecute in various ways the
apostles Paul and Barnabas. It all led to having them expelled
from the city.
The two apostles shook off the dust from off their feet as
they left the city, as Jesus had told His disciples to do, if a
town or city rejected them, and they moved on to Iconium.
The overall good done and fruits of preaching God's word was
getting large results for the positive, and so the disciples were
filled with joy and with more of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:44-52).
..........................
TO BE CONTINUED
 Chapter Fifty-six:The Circumcision Question Settled
ACTS chapter Fourteen and Fifteen
FINISHING THE FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY
Paul and Barnabas were in Iconium, a town in Asia Minor or
Turkey as it is called today, and they both went into the
synagogue of the Jews and spoke so powerfully that a great
multitude of the Jews and also of the gentile Greeks became
believers in Jesus as the Messiah. But once more the unbelieving
Jews stirred up a good percentage of the unbelieving Gentiles
against the brethren. Yet Barnabas and Paul stayed there quite a
time speaking boldly in the Lord, and Christ gave proof of His
grace by granted wonderful signs and miracles to be performed by
them.
In the process of time the people of the city were divided,
part sided with the unbelieving Jews and part sided with the
apostles. The unbelieving Jews and Gentiles together with many of
their leaders decided they would take stronger action against the
apostles and stone them one day when it was the right time. But
the apostles became aware of their evil plan and fled from that
city and went to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycoania, and they
preached the Gospel in that whole area. This is all about 15 to
20 miles west of Tarsus, where Paul was living before Barnabas
came from Antioch in Syria to bring him over to Antioch as we
have already seen in an earlier chapter (Acts 14:1-7).
PAUL HEALS A CRIPPLE
In Lystra there was a man who was crippled in the feet from
birth, and who had never in his life walked. The man was looking
at Paul as he preached and Paul detected that he had faith to be
healed, and so, with a loud voice said to him, "Stand up on your
feet!" The man stood and began walking and then leaping around,
as if he had done so all his life. It was truly a remarkable
miracle, for the man not only was healed in the feet but was
given the ability of balance and walking and leaping without ever
having to learn to do so. The people of the city in their
particular language all began to shout at the top of their
voices, "Oh, the gods, the gods, have come down to us in the
likeness of men!" They named Barnabas with the name "Jupiter" and
Paul they named "Mercurius" - two of their most revered gods. It
will be of interest here to learn a little about these two
famous gods of the Gentiles. I will quote from the Bible
Commentary by Albert Barnes:
"Jupiter was represented as the most powerful god of the
ancients. He was represented as the son of Saturn and
Ops.....the worship of Jupiter was almost universal.....His
common appellation was, the father of gods and man. He was
usually represented as sitting on a golden or an ivory
throne, holding in one hand a thunderbolt, and in the other
a sceptre of cypress. His power was supposed to extend over
other gods; and everything was subservient to his will,
except the fates. There is abundant proof that he was
worshipped in the region of Lycoania, and throughout Asia
Minor.....
Mercury, called by the Greeks 'Hermes' was a celebrated god
of antiquity....He was the messenger of the gods, and of
Jupiter in particular; he was the patron of travellers and
shepherds; he conducted the souls of the dead into the
infernal regions; and he PRESIDED OVER ORATORS, AND
DECLAIMERS, and merchants....He was regarded as the god of
ELOQUENCE; and as light rapid and quick in his movements.
The conjecture of Chrysostom is, that Barnabas was a large
athletic man, and was hence taken for Jupiter; and Paul was
small in his person, and was hence supposed to be Mercury.
BECAUSE HE WAS CHIEF SPEAKER. The office of Mercury was to
deliver the message of the gods; and as Paul only had been
discoursing, he was supposed to be Mercury" (emphasis
Barnes).
The head priest of Jupiter for the city ordered oxen and all
the trappings for sacrifice be brought to the city gate, and he
was ready to offer sacrifice with the people to Paul and
Barnabas. When the apostles heard this, they were abhorrent and
tore their outer garments, which was a sign and custom back then
of humiliation. They ran among the people crying out, "Sirs,
people, why are you doing these things? We are just men like
yourselves, with human passions as you have. We are teaching that
you turn from vain useless customs and practices and worship the
true living God, the one who made heaven and earth, and the sea,
and all that are in them. Who in times gone by allowed and
permitted all nations to walk after their own ways and mind. But
He was not without witness of His existence, for He did good to
people, giving rain from heaven, and fruitful harvests, filling
people's hearts with food and gladness."
Even with those words it was still very difficult to
restrain the people from offering sacrifice to them, but they did
manage to prevent them from doing so.
It was but a short time later when certain Jews from Antioch
and Iconium came and with clever words and emotional tactics,
they got the people so worked up against and in opposition to
Paul and Barnabas, and especially Paul, for it would seem he did
most of the preaching, that they started to stone Paul, and
actually thought they had killed him. They pulled what seemed,
his lifeless body, outside the city to rot in the sun. The
other disciples were gathered around his body, also presuming he
was dead, when he rose up on his legs and headed straight back
into the city.
It was another miracle for sure, and it would seem the
people of the city and those who had just stoned Paul, knew it was
a miracle also, for they did not come anywhere near him to try
harming him again. They probably thought if they did some
lightening bolt would come down from heaven and strike them dead.
Paul spent the rest of the day and night back in the city and
then with Barnabas departed the next day to go to Derbe.
There they preached the Gospel and taught many about the
word of God and Jesus Christ, then with great faith in the power
and protection of God they returned again to Lystra, to Iconium,
and finally back to Antioch from where they started their
missionary journey. They strengthened the lives of the new
disciples they had made in those towns, encouraging them to
endure in the faith, and teaching them that it is sometimes
through much trials, troubles, and tribulations, that we must
enter the Kingdom of God.
Life as a Christian is not always a bed of roses, sometimes
along the way we have thorns and thistles we must contend with,
some have more and some have less. No one knows what hardships we
may encounter in our life as we walk God's way, unless God
decides to tell you beforehand in a dream or send you an angel to
tell you. For the vast majority of us, that does not happen. But
we must except that somewhere and at some time, we will have to
face hardship, difficulties, problems. But Paul elsewhere in his
writings told us that God would not try us above what we are able
to bear, but will with the trial make a way of escape. We need to
keep our faith in God that He will help us through all of the
valleys that come along in life, then we can really enjoy the
mountain peaks when we are riding high.
We are also told that Paul and Barnabas (the context of the
verses is talking about those two apostles) appointed, or
separated, or decided, to make spiritual elders (in the plural)
in every Church of God they founded and established. They prayed,
they fasted, and then commended those "elders" to the Lord. Jesus
had said that we aught to pray to God that He would send out more
laborers into the harvest, for the harvest is great.
Not all are called to be spiritual leaders and guides of the
flock of God. There are many functions in the body of Christ,
some are called by God to be apostles (ones send forth
as the Greek means), prophets (given insight into prophetic
things yet to come to pass) evangelists (those acting like Paul
and Barnabas, who have a gift to proclaim God's truths to groups
of unbelievers), and teachers (pastors, overseers of the flock)
(see Acts 20:17-31 and Eph.4:11-16 with Heb.13:7,17).
It is right and proper that men already in the functions
that Paul and Barnabas were in should be able, with prayer and
fasting, to separate and commend other men to God as "elders" in
the Churches of God. Notice the importance of the use of the
plural, it is elderS, not elder. Every Church of God should if at
all possible have elderS, for no one man should be sole spiritual
guide of any one congregation. So also was Paul's instruction to
Titus, that he should appoint elderS in every city as Paul had
instructed him to do (Titus 1:5). And later Paul was inspired to
lay down certain requirements for the function of being an elder,
we find them in 1 Tim.3 and Titus 1.
Paul and Barnabas also went through Pisidia and came to
Pamphylia. They preached the word in Perga and went down to
Attalia, from there they sailed to Antioch in Syria, back to
where they had been commended by the leaders of that congregation
and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to go on that
missionary journey.
When they arrived back in Antioch they gathered all the
members of the church together and told them all about what God
had done through them, and how the door of faith was opened wide
to the Gentiles. There both Paul and Barnabas stayed for quite
some time with all the disciples of Antioch (Acts 14: 8-28).
THE CIRCUMCISION DEBATE IS SETTLED
Sometime later after Paul and Barnabas had been back in
Antioch for a while, certain men from Judea came and started to
teach the brethren there that "Except you be circumcised after
the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved."
Paul and Barnabas never taught any such doctrine. We
remember from an earlier chapter that Paul had told us in his
writing to the Galatians, that he was taught personally
by the revelation of Jesus. He knew from the start that physical
circumcision was not required under the New Covenant for
salvation, or in order to be saved.
There was quite a debate that ensued, between those who had
come down from Judea teaching circumcision was needed to be saved
and Paul and Barnabas who taught that it was not required to be
saved. The whole congregation finally decided that Paul and
Barnabas and certain other brethren, should go up to Jerusalem,
to the apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church and get this
issue decided one way or the other, once and for all.
On their way up to Jerusalem they went through Phenice and
Samaria declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and great joy
was upon all the brethren.
When arriving in Jerusalem they were received by the church
there, and by the apostles and the elders, and they told the
Jerusalem church all the good things God had done through them
and their teaching and preaching.
We need here to return to Paul's writing in the book of
Galatians for he gives us some information not recorded in Acts
chapter 15 by Luke.
Paul had not visited the Jerusalem congregation for 14 long
years. This was now about 50 to 52 A.D. as most scholars believe.
Not only Barnabas was with him but also Titus. He went up because
God revealed or impressed him to do so. He told the church
about the Gospel he preached, but he also at this time had
PRIVATE meetings with "those of reputation" just to make sure he
was teaching the same as they were teaching, and that his work
then was not in vain. He makes it clear that none of those in
reputation compelled Titus to be circumcised. He tells us that in
private conference with "those who seemed to be somewhat" that
they added nothing to his teaching or theology we may say. But
just the opposite, when they saw and knew that God was working
with Paul's ministry to the uncircumcised, in as much as He was
working with Peter's ministry to the circumcised, when James,
Peter, and John "who seemed to be pillars" knew that God
was working with Paul and Barnabas, they gave them the right hand
of fellowship, and agreed that Paul and Barnabas should go to the
uncircumcised and that they would concentrate on the circumcised.
Paul said those leaders only wanted to add one thing to their
ministry, and that was to remember the poor, which Paul said he
had already been told that and doing it. Yes, of course he had
for he had been personally taught by Jesus (Gal.2:1-10).
So we see what went on with Paul and Barnabas in private
meetings with those who were the main leaders of the church in
Jerusalem. The circumcision question was ALREADY put to rest with
them all. They ALL agreed that physical circumcision was NOT
a requirement to be saved. Titus, who was with Paul, and who was
not circumcised, was not required to be circumcised. The issue
and question of physical circumcision was already answered by God
to the apostles of God.
Now back to Acts 15:5. But there arose some within the sect
of the Pharisees who were believers, members of the church in
Jerusalem, they rose up and said, "It was needful to circumcise
them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses."
Now what this was meaning was they taught everyone should
obey all the law of Moses as they did under the Old Covenant,
with all its rituals, sacrifices, and of course physical
circumcision.
We must try to put ourselves into those times, to understand
the picture. Physical circumcision had been a very important part
of Jewish life for about 2,000 years, right from the days of
Abraham. To now think it was no longer needed, was to some, like
cutting off their right arm and right leg. It was so ingrained in
their mental thoughts and physical life, they just could not
envision life without that physical rite. Had not God given
it to them as a sign and as a covenant? Had not God said that NO
person could partake of the Passover meal service UNLESS they
were circumcised? Yes, it was so, as under the Old Covenant. So
some of the believers of the sect of the Pharisees just could not
see salvation without physical circumcision. It was anathema to
their minds. To them it was heresy to say physical circumcision
was not required to be saved.
There was now only one way to resolve this question, and
that was to bring the whole Jerusalem church together, with all
the apostles, with Paul and Barnabas, and have an open debate on
the matter. This is what we now read about in Acts 15 and verses
6 to 21.
THE CIRCUMCISION DEBATE
The apostles and elders came together to consider the matter
of physical circumcision for salvation. There was "much
disputing" we are told. This was not a low key talk, but a
heated and zealous debate. Peter stood up and said:
"You know brethren that a good while ago God made it known
to us His favor that the Gentiles should hear the Gospel by
my voice, and they believed it. And further, God knowing the
hearts of people, gave them the Holy Spirit even as he had
given to us, and this is a witness for us. He put no
difference between us and them in the purification of
the heart by faith. Now therefore why do we want to try God
by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor us were able to bear. But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved, even as they are saved."
In Peter talking about a yoke laid upon them, he was talking
a lot more than the physical act of circumcision. For that rite
could hardly be a yoke that none could bear, as the people of
Israel had lived very well under performing physical
circumcision, after all its only the removal of some physical
skin from an 8 day old baby boy, which thousands still practice
to this very day. This was not the burden that none could bear.
The burden that none could bear, was to try and gain salvation,
or the grace of God, by working at all the laws of Moses. It was
by trying to earn salvation through law observance, and not
through grace by faith. It was trying to live by laws, building
up more good righteous deeds than bad ones, more good thoughts
than bad thoughts, more good words spoken than bad words spoken.
So the good out-numbered the bad and thinking God then was
obliged somehow to have to give you salvation. Being saved that
way would be you earning it. But salvation was NEVER to be
achieved that way. God had always intended that salvation would
be by His grace through faith in the sacrifice of His Son, for
the sins of the whole world.
Anyone trying to gain salvation any other way was doomed to
failure, would then truly have a yoke upon them which no one
could bear. For it was just not possible to live a full lifetime
in full harmony with the laws of Moses, with all the laws written
in the books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number,
Deuteronomy). And just one sin or infraction of law would mean
you were guilty of sin and so under the sentence of death.
It's like you obeying all the traffic laws of your town for years
but then you run a red light. All the correct law observance
still cannot nullify the time you broke the law, you are still
guilty and you are still under the penalty imposed on you for
breaking that law. Even if you obey for another ten years all the
traffic laws perfectly after that infraction of the one you
broke, you still must pay the penalty for the one you broke.
So it is with the laws of God and the way to salvation. But
the police chief sent his Son to pay for you the law/s you broke.
The fine was paid by the Son. All you have to do is believe this,
have faith, accept the Son as your savior from the penalty
imposed, be sorry, repent, set your mind to want to continue as a
way of life, the will and ways and laws of God, and you can be
under His grace, and be saved.
No other way can work. Any other way you may want to
set as your way, your theology ideas on how to be saved, that is
NOT God's way, can only be a yoke of a burden that none can ever
bear.
God had made a way of salvation. The apostles knew it. It
had been really revealed to them from the time they spent with
Jesus during His earthly ministry. Now, some many years later,
comes this idea from some that you must be physically
circumcised and still be under ALL the Old Covenant laws of Moses
to be saved. Peter was setting the record straight that salvation
could never be achieved this way.
Make no mistake, the New Covenant does not "blanket" do away
with all laws of Moses. We are told very clearly that the New
Covenant will put or write the laws of God into our hearts (see
Hebrews 8) and faith does not do away with law but it established
it (Rom.3: 31). So in living by "every word of God" as Jesus
taught us that we should do (Mat.4:4), we must let the whole
Bible interpret for us how we go about that. Here we are seeing
that physical circumcision is not required. The Old Covenant law
of going to one place or city, where God placed His name to
observe His Festivals, is no longer applicable under the New
Covenant (see John 4:21-24). No one today believes that
women must stay away from "church" when she is in her monthly
cycle, but under the Old Covenant she had to. Under the Old
Covenant a women had to stay away from "church" for a period of
certain days after giving birth to a child. No one believes that
law of Moses is applicable for Christians today.
This group from the sect of the Pharisees, within the Church
of God, were teaching that all people still had to live by all
these laws of Moses, and physical circumcision was of prime
importance to them. Their theology to salvation was incorrect,
and at this debate, the apostles were making it very clear to all
present that it was an incorrect theology.
The multitude of the brethren were silent after Peter spoke.
Then it was time for Barnabas and Paul to have their say. And
they declared all the wonders and miracles that God had done
through them among the Gentiles. Of course they would have given
emphasis to the fact that God was doing all this without the
Gentiles having to be circumcised.
Then James stood up after Barnabas and Paul had finished
speaking, and said:
"Men and brethren, listen to me. Peter has declared to you
how God at first brought in the Gentiles, to call out from
them a people for His name. And to this agrees the very
prophets in the Scriptures that we have; as it is written,
'After this I will return, and will build up the tabernacle
of David, which has seen corruption and lays in ruin; and I
will build again the ruins of it, and set it all in correct
order. So the relatively small elect of men may find the way
to the Lord, and all the Gentiles also, upon whom I will
place my name. I the Lord have done all this' (Amos
9:11-12). Known unto God are all His works from the
beginning of the world. Wherefore my judgment is this. That
we do not trouble them, which are from among the Gentile
nations who have turned to God. But that we write to them
that they abstain from pollutions of idols, from sexual
immorality, from animals strangled to death in killing them
for food, and from the eating of blood. For Moses has from
old times in every city those that teach his word, being
always read in the synagogue every Sabbath day" (Acts 15:
6-21).
A very important answer by James. He backed up what Peter
and Barnabas and Paul had to say with the very word of God. It
had been foretold by God Himself that His truths to worshipping
Him and to salvation (tabernacle of David) would be ruined, would
become incorrectly understood. But He would build it back, would
restore it to correctness, and in so doing, He would also bring
it to the Gentile nations. This, James was saying, is what God
had already done over the preceding years. The true way to
salvation had been clearly revealed to the apostles by God's word
and by acting in certain ways to show the apostles that true way.
And God had always from the beginning of His works determined
salvation would be only attained this one way.
Now verses 20 and 21 have given some great problems to
understand. Many have thought the Gentiles only have to follow
these four laws, and everything else can go out the window.
Rather silly is this reasoning, for surely the Gentiles are not
free to kill and murder, or to take God's name in vain, or to
bow before idols, while the Jews must obey those laws. And then
notice that some of the four things mentioned are what you might
call "physical" laws; i.e. things strangled to death and then
eaten, was prohibited to the Jews by God, as one of the food laws
under the Old Covenant, for the blood was to be drained, which
meant killing the animal in such a way as to allow the blood to
drain. This is obviously a physical food law. Yet James says
Gentiles were then to obey it. Same can be said for "blood."
James is obviously talking about the physical law of not eating
blood, which God said the Israelites were not to do.
Yes, this can give some people problems in their thoughts,
and with some it leads to believing many errors of New Testament
theology, as well as out and out contradictions in their theology
ideas.
Some astute Bible scholars have of course seen the strange
ideas many have devised from these two verses, and have come to
see the truth in the context of the whole New Testament.
James listed four things the Gentiles should be warned
specifically about, so not to do or observe, because the Gentiles
HAD GREAT TROUBLE WITH THEM! Or to put it another way the Gentile
LIFE STYLE WAS FULL OF THOSE FOUR THINGS MENTIONED. The various
pollutions to idols was numerous, superstitions, lucky-charms,
fortune-telling, palm-reading, crystal-ball reading, trying to
look to the heavenly stars to see your future, and many many
more, was all over the heathen world. Sexual immorality was
everywhere in the pagan world, probably the panicle of that sin
was in having Temple prostitutes. Often the pagan Temples
employed hundreds of women whose occupation was to have sexual
relations with the men who came to worship in the Temples. Temple
sex for them was part and parcel of their religious faith and
practice. The pagan health practices were often very debased and
far from the physical health laws laid down by God to Israel
through Moses. Eating and drinking of blood in various ways was
common among the Gentiles. Much blood would be consumed by them
in strangling animals to death and not draining the blood from
them, as well as the literal drinking of cups of blood in their
religious rites and ceremonies. God had told Israel that LIFE was
in the blood, and that they should not eat and drink blood. Today
we are seeing the importance of not contaminating our cattle in
the many ways that our nations have been doing (thinking it
produces larger and quicker meat supply). But eventually it comes
back on us in health problems (the "mad cow decease" is but one,
but one of the most severe ones), for blood carries the life flow
of the animal to all its tissues, and if the animal's blood is
not drained fully, or if we drink cups of it in pagan religious
rites, then we are finally going to reap bad health problems of
one kind or another. With things like our "mad cow decease" we
may even drain the blood from the animal correctly but its
tissue meat is so polluted we still are effected by it, even to
the point of death.
The Gentiles may have come over into the Christian church,
but as many people know who have come out of deep and gross sins
as a way of life that they perhaps lived for many years, it is
not always easy to give up fully and completely those sins, be it
mental, spiritual, or physical. How many have accepted Jesus as
their Savior, only in time to return to the sins they came out
of? Many a Pastor will tell you that it can be many who just
cannot fully and completely kill the old man with its lusts and
passions. Sadly they will tell you of many that come to Jesus
with good intentions and come to the "church" for a while, but in
time often drift away and end up back in their old way of life
and sins.
It was no different in the days of James and this Jerusalem
debate. The Gentiles tended to have MAJOR problems with certain
pollutions with old idols, with sexual immorality, with not
killing animals in a way to drain the blood, and to even drinking
blood in various forms, in their past life. Heathen peoples often
have "blood" eating and drinking as part of their rites and
worship. Like many other things, certain physical things, that
God does not allow in our lives, can take a hold on us and be
very difficult to break, just ask (not really, but as a figure of
speech) some Christians who still have a problem in overcoming
the smoking habit.
It is also just as obvious if we simply take it for what
James said, that James did not believe the four things he
mentioned were "done away with" under the New Covenant.
Some of them are of the "moral" law and some of them are of the
"physical" law of God. But all of them James still expected the
Gentiles (as well as the Jews of course) to obey and to live by,
living in NOT doing them.
They were four of the MOST PROMINENT problems for Gentiles
to put away from their lives, so James felt it needful to
specifically point them out to them. Other things they could
find out in due time, for he then went on to say what he said in
verse 21.
They could find the ways of God, living His way of life, as
they attended Sabbath services in Jewish synagogues on the
Sabbath, not Sunday you will note, but on the Sabbath, the day
that Jews observed in accordance to the fourth commandment of the
great ten commandments. Moses, or the laws in the first five
books of the Bible, were read every Sabbath, and the Gentiles
could then "grow in grace and knowledge" as we are told to do
under the New Covenant, by hearing what Moses wrote under the
guiding hand of God. They could hear Moses every Sabbath day in
the synagogues.
James was still upholding what Jesus said for us to do, that
is, to live by every word of God.
THE DECISION CONVEYED TO
THE CHURCH IN ANTIOCH
The apostles, elders, and the whole church there at
Jerusalem decided to write a letter of the outline of the
decision that was reached, to the Gentile brethren in Antioch
and Syria and Cilicia. They also decided to send along a few
other men with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. The men chosen were
men of leadership in the brethren at Jerusalem, and they were
Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas. They would also verify
what was written in the letter was true.
The letter basically gave the outline of what we have just
studied as to what happened in the Jerusalem debate over the
matter of physical circumcision. It upheld the fact that God had
fully revealed for some time, that physical circumcision was not
required in order to be saved.
The men were sent on their way to Antioch, and when they
arrived they gathered all the church together and delivered to
them the letter from the church at Jerusalem. The Gentiles after
reading it had great rejoicing. Judas and Silas having been given
from God the gift of functioning as prophets, encouraged the
people with many words of exhortation. They stayed for a while
and then it became time to return to the apostles in Jerusalem,
but Silas was pleased to want to stay and so he did. Paul and
Barnabas also continued as before and lived in Antioch, teaching
and preaching the word of God along with many others who did the
same (Acts 15:22-35).
This judgment and decision on the matter was endorsed by the whole church at Jerusalem. It was NOT a one man show from some "head" apostle, for there was never any head apostle in the New Testament Church of God.
PAUL AND BARNABAS HAVE DIFFERENCES
OVER JOHN MARK
Time went by and one day Paul said to Barnabas that they
should go back to the churches they established on their first
missionary journey, and encourage them and see how things were
going for them all. Barnabas thought it was a good idea and
wanted to take along with them John Mark. Paul did not think so,
he just did not like the thought of taking John Mark with them
again, because, if we remember, Mark had departed from
them at Pamphylia, and had returned to Jerusalem, no longer
wanting to do the work Paul and Barnabas were doing at the time
for the Lord.
The contention over Mark coming with them or not, grew and
grew between the two men, and the end result was that they both
decided it was best to separate and go their different ways in
doing God's work. So Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed to
Cyprus. Paul chose to take Silas with him and was commended by
the brethren for God's work and so departed. He and Silas went
through Cilicia and Syria serving and helping the churches to
endure in the faith delivered to them (Acts 15:36-41).
We see here NOT a difference in basic doctrinal belief or
practice between two men of God as they were doing the work of
the Lord, but what we might call "administrational thoughts" -
how to, in what way to, and with whom, would the work of the Lord
be done. Both men were still doing God's work, there was no
"church disfellowshipment" going on here, no one was being asked
to leave the Church of God. One apostle did not go to other
apostles to try and have the other he disagreed with, thrown out
of the church. This is important to remember in this example, for
in some sects of Christianity they have done just this very
thing, ministers differing over issues where difference should be
allowed, they try to "gang up" with other ministers, to have
the one they differ with cast out of their organization.
None of that went on here. Two ministers of God differed on
how to do God's work, and who they should do it with. They could
not come to agreement on the matter, and so they simply went
their separate ways to perform the work of the Lord. They were
still fully a part of God's work, and I'm sure were both still
fully used to teach and spread the Gospel, and/or encourage those
who were in the faith.
The rest of the book of Acts gives focus to Paul and the
work God did through him over the next number of years.
............................
TO BE CONTINUED
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