Christian between Jew and Gentile

Is a person saved by faith alone, or must there be something more? That was the question being discussed in Jerusalem during "the first church meeting. There it is determined what distinguishes the church of God from the Jews on the one hand and the Gentiles on the other. The short bill from Jerusalem to Antioch contained four things the believers were to leave behind. Jewish laws and rituals, anything to do with idolatry, all pagan forms of sexuality and a pagan lifestyle. These are the things that are destructive to a living faith centered on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those threats were there from the beginning and the apostles' letters in the New Testament are all about it. The glory of the Lord Jesus and the Gospel of God and what the threats are that can take that away from believers. Certainly even today.

It struck me the other day how extraordinary the first "church meeting" from Acts 15 actually is. Certainly there is much more to say about it than I can do in this brief sketch.

Antioch is a new church where people from Judaism and from paganism came to faith. But the "former Pharisees" taught that believers from the Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep the law. Without that, they could not even be saved, they said (Acts 15:1,5). That was quite a threat!

But it was so incredibly wrong, that Paul and Barnabas fought this to the utmost, not only in Antioch, but all the way to Jerusalem. Peter delivers a speech there and concludes with: "We believe by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved in the same way as they" (15:11).
This is an interesting statement because he reverses the statement of the "former Pharisees". Peter says that people from among the Jews are saved in the same way as people from among the Gentiles; namely, by faith alone. Therefore, that is the only criterion by which a person belongs to Christ and is part of the church.

But that is not all, for believers from the Gentiles are also given another message. They must leave behind certain customs and attitudes they were accustomed to as "Gentiles.
So James makes another speech in which he asks - or perhaps better, commands - the believers from the Gentiles to leave far behind the things of their old life. These were the things that had to do with idolatry, whoredom and the consuming of unslaughtered animals and of blood.

What the Jew must leave behind

The idea "do this and you will live" is so deeply ingrained in the Jews that they find it hard to let go. You must obey the law, the rules so that you earn eternal life. But God had not given the law for that. After all, through it they had to come to the realization that a man can in no way meet God's standards and cannot himself add anything to his eternal salvation. But through the law they had to discover that in order to then take refuge in faith in the Lord. Then they would discover that the Lord is merciful and they could live in faith with Him, certain of the salvation that the Lord God would grant them.
(Also read here about the faith of the Old Testament believers). 

Peter had already learned these things from the Lord Himself (Acts 10 and 11). In Jerusalem, he testified to this : "So God has also given to the Gentiles the conversion that leads to life" (Acts 11:18).

Rules for unity?

Yet there is another aspect to this and that is that "rules" - even when set by God Himself - always create separation. All Christian denominations use rules and opinions, whether written down or not and whether or not based on Biblical data, to determine who belongs to the community and who does not. It is very understandable and there are all kinds of arguments to be made for it. But that is human thought. For applying rules or standards - as biblical as it may sound - does precisely what it is not meant to do. It divides believers and hinders the very unity that should be there.
In addition, for believers, rules or obligations mean that they follow them "because they have to. As a result, faith comes to depend on how well one follows the rules. But meanwhile, this stifles the real life of faith. While it is precisely God's intention that in dealing with Him and His Word we be taught by Himself and grow in the knowledge of Him.

From the beginning, this was a clear principle: there are no set rules or conditions for belonging to the church of God. Nor was that what bound believers together. Only a living faith was necessary.

So how do you recognize your brothers and sisters?

It is important to consider how the unity of believers was established in the first Christian communities. How do you recognize the other person, who claims to believe, when he or she comes from a completely different background than you? The first Christians also struggled with this, which is why these histories are so valuable because they show us something of how they recognized each other at that time.  

What stands out in chapters 1 through 14 of the book of Acts is that always the Word of God, the Gospel, is preached. That is always the first thing: people are called to repent to God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. For that is the only way to be "saved," to receive forgiveness of your sins and assurance of eternal salvation. Those who were converted received the Holy Spirit, both Jew and Gentile. This was visible in what they did: they made God great and told what He had done to them. In the process, there was great joy among those who had become believers.

One might say that the circle of the first believers is characterized by:

• ... the forgiveness of sins they have received through faith in Christ Jesus,
• ... to which they give testimony,
• ... their faith established on the Word of God,
• ... the Holy Spirit they have received as a seal from God,
• ... by which they magnify God and honor the Lord Jesus
• ... and joy characterizes their faith.
• ... love and care for others, especially their fellow believers near or far.

From the beginning, these have been the characteristics and this has not changed in all the centuries since. It is the new, spiritual life present in believers that makes them recognize one another as children of God, as brothers and sisters of the same family of God.
 (For this, see also here about the characteristics of rebirth.)

You can put this another way: believers have come to know Christ the Crucified as the center and main focus of their personal lives and recognize that He is also the center of their common life. The Christian congregation revolves around Him alone.

What the pagan must leave behind

But that does not mean that in the church "anything goes. When a pagan - for example a Greek - comes to faith in Christ, from that moment on he belongs to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he must also realize that he may not take anything from paganism into his new life and into the Christian congregation.
In the meeting in Jerusalem, at the initiative of James, it is stated that believers from the Gentiles must abstain from "idolatrous sacrifices, the eating of blood, and of the choked, as also whoredom" (Acts 15:29).

But this is not the first time the Bible speaks of these topics. For the same topics the Lord also put before His people Israel. In Leviticus 17 and 18, He very emphatically instructed them to keep far away from these things.

• To begin with in Leviticus 17:1-9, where it talks about idolatry. The people were allowed to offer sacrifices to God - they were even prescribed in this same book of the Bible, but they were not allowed to do it in a pagan way, so they would have fellowship with demons (verse 7).
• Then in chapter 17:10-16 comes the prohibition against eating blood, even from a captive animal, from which the blood had not run off.
• Finally, in Leviticus 18, the Lord speaks to the people of Israel that they are not to adopt the sexual practices of the Gentiles (Egypt and Canaan). "You must not defile yourselves with all these things, for the Gentile nations whom I am going to drive out before you have defiled yourselves with all these things." (Leviticus 18:3 and 24).

We see that here in Acts 15 the believers from the Gentiles are called to keep away from exactly the same things. Apparently the believers from the Jews already knew these things and took them with them into their Christian life.

What does this mean for the Christian today?

It is to be feared that these things do not mean much to today's Christians. I used to be taught - and long thought - that idolatry is those things "that stand between you and God" and that abstaining from blood meant "not eating blood sausage. Now I don't think these are wrong views per se, but it leaves much of what is really meant under the radar.

Because these are things that both the people of Israel and also the church of Christ had to keep far away from. Then they are "not little things," so to speak. They are the things by which Satan, God's adversary, apparently wants to deceive God's people in all times and draw them away from the Lord God. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to discover what these things mean, even for believers anno 2023.
Below we follow the order mentioned in Acts 15:20.

• The things tainted by idols
  Anything to do with idolatry was objectionable to God's people. Our God wants to be served and we may draw near to Him. But only in the way He Himself makes it clear in His Word. Our God is the Invisible One, and of all times the believer must approach God in faith. In faith, not in "beholding" because we cannot perceive Him with our senses. We humans cannot experience Him physically in any way.
  When most Christians today believe that they can experience God, they do not realize that their experiences come from demons. It is what the Bible calls idolatry, the most serious evil for which God's wrath comes upon you.
  From everything that has to do with idolatry we must stay far away; that was true for Israel and it is still true today, also for the church of God.
  This view has been extensively documented on this site. (See elsewhere on this site, for example, here and here  https://goddienen.nu/afgoden-dienen/afgoden-dienen/   ,   https://goddienen.nu/afgoden-dienen/afgoderij-in-de-christenheid/).
  
  Idolatry has several ill effects and one of them is that the distinction between good and evil becomes blurred and morality disappears. Ultimately, evil is called good and good is called evil; the reversal of God's standards.

• Fornication
  Closely related to idolatry is sexual rampantness. The Lord God intended sexuality as a gift for husband and wife in a lifelong relationship of marriage. But people who serve idols do not (er)know the God-given boundaries. Similarly, when the people of Israel fell into idolatry, there was an immediate impact of an increase in immorality. This is the case in all times up to our time, including in Christendom.
  The word used in Acts 15:20 is porneiaby which is meant all unlawful sexual intercourse. Therefore, I think we can safely say that this refers to all sexual intercourse outside of marriage between a man and a woman.
  For many in our time, this is a harsh message. Yet the message sent by the apostles to Antioch is crystal clear and exactly in line with what the Lord had said to His people Israel in Leviticus. Specifically, it means that a believer knows what God's views on marriage and sexuality are and his or her life will be marked by them.

• The strangled and the blood
  With the strangled and the blood, it may be a little more difficult. At least, I make an attempt to understand what this is about and make a few suggestions.
  For the people of Israel, eating blood and choking was forbidden (see Leviticus 17:10-16). Apparently these were things that were deadly normal in the pagan world. The Lord says this about it in verses 11 and 14:
  
  “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. (...) for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life."
  
  The Lord is no doubt referring to Leviticus 16, the preceding chapter. The purpose of the annual ritual of the Great Day of Atonement was for the people of God to realize each year that atonement was necessary. Something to which they themselves had nothing to contribute: "a day of complete rest, that you may humble yourselves" (Leviticus 16:31). Not eating the strangled and the blood was to remind them constantly - daily, so to speak - that they owed their lives to the Lord. It would preserve them from a walk of life that was unworthy of the Lord.
  
  Thus, we too will be aware of the great - one-time - work of atonement of our Savior and Lord. We live our lives with Him in awareness of the grace that has been proven to us. We do not live for ourselves, but for Him and "through faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Galatians 2:20). Our lives are no longer characterized by "the will of the Gentiles" but by "the will of God" (1 Peter 4:2-3). Our life is no longer characterized by the things of the world: 'the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life' (1 John 2:16).
  
  In short, a believer who has a living relationship with the Lord Jesus will have a lifestyle that is consistent with it and by which "God is glorified in all things through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:11). He has left behind the lifestyle of the world.

The glory of Christ

In Acts 15, we see that the church of Jesus Christ is made up of believers who come from both the Jews and the Gentiles. God makes no distinction between them because they have received the same beatific faith and from God the same Holy Spirit. Moreover, by faith their hearts have been cleansed so that each can have a personal relationship with the Lord and experience the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in life (read Acts 15:8,9,11).

That is the core of the Christian life; that is what it should always be about. It is also what God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ are most glorified by. As the Lord put it, "this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

How fitting that in that same prayer the Lord Jesus says the following about the unity of those who belong to Him:

"And I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And I have given them the glory which You have given Me, that they may be one, as We are One; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfectly one, and that the world may recognize that You have sent Me and have loved them, as You have loved Me." (John 17:20-23).

Only Christ glory is what makes up the unity of God's children.

It goes without saying that Satan aims his arrows at this in order to ultimately destroy the church of God. The apostles recognized these threats and instructed the fledgling church to keep far away from them:

• Do not impose obligations or rituals on believers
• also abstain from the things that had to do with idolatry, immorality and pagan lifestyle.

The special unity of the Bible

When you make it 15^th chapter of Acts you may wonder if such a short bill was now sufficient for the church of Christ. Of course the apostles everywhere preached the gospel, founded churches and taught. Along with other believers like Judas and Silas in Antioch.

The 'mission' from Jerusalem
is elaborated and explained in
all the letters of the New Testament.
they are about
the glory of Christ and the Gospel,
The dangers of legalism,
Of idolatry, immorality and the pagan lifestyle.

Fortunately, we have the teaching of the apostles in the New Testament letters. It struck me only recently that all those letters are perfectly in line with the teaching of Acts 15. In all the letters together we are taught about the Gospel and the glory of Christ, about not introducing "the law," and about avoiding pagan influences.
In this respect, the New Testament letters are the perfect addition to the letter of the joint apostles from Jerusalem. The letters elaborate and explain all these things. I think it is safe to say that together they form the "doctrine of the apostles" (Acts 2: 42) which was taught only orally at first, but later in writing. 

How perfect is the Word of God. Surely it will bring us to admiration if even in this simple little blog we may again see something of how God's thoughts are still the same. That which threatened Israel also threatens the church, is specifically named by the apostles 2,000 years ago, then expressed by them in multiple ways and now covers most of the New Testament!

Who still dares to say that the Bible is not the Word of the One True God?

Related articles
What the Bible Calls Idolatry – https://goddienen.nu/afgoden-dienen/afgoden-dienen/
The effects of idolatry on man's soul - https://goddienen.nu/gevolgen-voor-de-ziel/
Idolatry in Christendom – https://goddienen.nu/afgoden-dienen/afgoderij-in-de-christenheid/
What the Lord God wants most - https://goddienen.nu/god-dienen/
The core of the Christian life – https://goddienen.nu/en/serving-god/the-core-of-your-christian-life/
The congregation is not a human construct - https://goddienen.nu/god-dienen/over-de-christelijke-kerk/een-dwaze-kerk/
On the teachings of the apostles - https://goddienen.nu/god-dienen/over-de-christelijke-kerk/een-dwaze-kerk/de-leer-van-de-apostelen/

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