WHAT SPARKED IT OFF!
1. Antioch! A gentile city. A sinful city. There people were turning to Jesus in multitudes but their behaviour was often heathenish. They sought the blessings of the Messiah but they didn't keep the law of Moses, the Jewish customs, nor did they submit to circumcision. What kind of gospel about the Messiah would this city promote (13:1-3 )? Not an ennobling one! So certain men came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, telling the disciples that they had to submit to Jewish laws and circumcision in order to have life in Jesus Christ (15:1,5,22 and see Gal 2:11-13 ). Those who taught this were Christians with a Pharisaical background (Acts 15:5 ).
THROUGH THE EYES OF A PHARISEE
2. A Pharisee was steeped in the law of Moses from childhood. He held the OT scriptures to be from God. That wasn't all, he held that Moses and the prophets passed on oral traditions and that these were binding on Jewish believers. (We find traditions like this in the Mishnah .) His background and training made him a staunch defender of the Law and the traditions of the fathers. The Law and the traditions had kept the nation together throughout their long and often painful history when foreigners tried to blot them out. He and his people paid dearly to maintain their uniqueness. Then along came Jesus Christ claiming to be the Messiah.
3. Ogilvie is right, the turmoil in the heart of the Pharisee must have been tremendous but finally, Jesus won out. The Pharisee may have ruptured family ties in order to submit to the Christ. It was no cheap believing and no easy choice; but he made it! The good news was that the Messiah was at least Jewish. He was born under Law, had been circumcised, had become a son of the Law at his bar mitzvah and had said he hadn't come to destroy the law or the prophets. In fact, he said that anyone who made light of the least of the Law's commandments would be called least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:17-19 ). And what is more, in the OT, he always read that the Gentiles would be blessed in connection with the Jews (see Isaiah 2:2-4 ; Zechariah 8:23 and John 4:22 ). Now there were those preaching that even pagans could receive the blessings of the Messiah and that they could receive them independent of the Jews! The lives of these former pagans (like those in Antioch) left a lot to be desired! How could the Pharisee dismiss all his heritage, his standards, his environment, his OT scriptures and the example of his Master? How could the practices of the Gentile Christians be ignored when they ate blood, ignored meat distinctions, married close kin, sniggered at loose living and hung around idol temples?
THE RESPONSE TO THIS AT THE SUMMIT
4. However well intentioned this kind of believer was, he was in basic error! However understandable his reaction, his teaching was fundamentally untrue, it subverted souls (15:24 ) and Paul wouldn t give an inch to such doctrine (see Gal 2:4-5 ): Salvation through Jesus was not to be confined to Jews or those who converted to Judaism! However the Gentile problem was to be solved it was not to be solved by making salvation depend on Jewishness.
5. Peter spoke and reminded the conference that God had already made himself clear on the matter (15:7-9 ). God had judged the uncircumcised Gentile to be on a par with orthodox Jews because he gave the Spirit to them and had them baptized into Christ before and without circumcision (Acts 10:44-48, 11:2-3,15-18 ). They needed no circumcision before receiving the Spirit and they needed none afterward. God knew their hearts (15:8 ) and they needed no yoke of Jewishness to keep them in line.
6. Then Barnabas and Paul spoke (15:12 ). They told how God had been blessing their work among uncircumcised Gentiles. The miracles they wrought by God's power were proof enough that God was approving of their ministry. A ministry which called Gentiles to faith in Jesus and repentance toward God.