Acts 15:22-41

Acts 15:22-41

After the letter of the Church Council, we have a story of the first church split. Paul and Barnabas had a major parting of the ways over the role of John Mark in their mission efforts. The disagreement is described as “sharp.”. The language Luke uses reflects an “excitement of the mind.”. This disagreement was intense, with both parties reaching a point at which they could not compromise or budge. Most of the time, scholars and Bible teachers who address this passage take one of two positions. First, this was both a regrettable event and behavior, but it was used by God to multiply the mission efforts, ultimately sending out two teams rather than just one. Second, there was nothing wrong or regrettable in this event, this parting of the ways. Paul and Barnabas both operated with the proper motive of love, and they only disagreed with strong opinions on function. They ultimately agree to disagree and pursue their own missions while mutually supporting each other. Without knowing the heart of Paul and Barnabas, we can’t say which of these interpretations is correct.

However, there is another point to be made here that is almost always missed. The greater context in which we find verses 36-41 is very important. Verses 36-40 could have been left out of the narrative without loss to the mission story that follows. The context of Acts 15 is about the doctrine of salvation by grace and the critical importance of unity on this fundamental point. There is an old saying that may reflect why Luke records this incident: “In matters of faith, unity; in matters of opinion, liberty; in all things, love.”. As soon as Luke concludes the passage about the unity of salvation by grace and not by works, he tells us of an allowable divergence within the function of the team of missionaries.

Oftentimes we have this upside down; we will tolerate very sloppy doctrine or theology while insisting that there is complete unity within the function or practice of the church. There are things about which we must never compromise, such as salvation by grace and not works. And there are matters about which we must allow the space and freedom for different sentiments. Ironically, we are often fighting over unimportant matters of opinion to the point that we don’t know what the truly important matters are.

“Lord, give me to wisdom to perceive what is a matter of faith and what is a matter of opinion,  AMEN”

Acts 15:1-21

 Acts 15:1-21

We love rules, at least the ones that we are good at keeping. Rules are comforting, and rules make us feel good when we keep them. Rules make us feel that we are pretty good people because we have done or not done something. It is important for us to advocate for the rules we keep and believe in, so that others can know that we are the good people. Almost as important as feeling good about ourselves is having others, especially those we like, feel good about us. The church has always had to be wary of falling into rule-keeping as the main objective. Law has its place; namely, it shows us that we are all lawbreakers, and as such we are lost and need a Savior. Law can never save us. Nevertheless, there are always those in the church who want to revert back to, or create new, lawkeeping. There is a direct correlation between how pride-filled, carnal, and worldly a Christian is and how much they will appeal to keeping rules as a means to prove or obtain justification. 

Theologically, this may be the most important chapter in the book of Acts. This watershed event sets the position of the church firmly on salvation by grace, not rule-keeping, and purity of heart by faith, not by ritual. Teaching the false gospel of salvation by deeds condemns any group, church, or teacher that does so as apostate. Interestingly, the council does give three general prohibitions about idols, fornication, and issues of blood. These restrictions are in regard to specific links to the demonic and merit special warnings. Which brings us to the place of holy living for a disciple. Righteous living will never save us from our past sins. But willful participation in sin or with the powers of darkness may lead us to the point of repudiating our Savior. We are not lost by our sins, but the sin nature wants to lead us to reject the One who can save us. So then love God with our whole being and out of that love live a life of good deeds as a thanks to God.

“Help me Lord, to never trust in keeping rules to save me.  Rather, help me live holy as an expression of love and thanks to You. AMEN”