Acts 15: The First Council...and First Division

How Jewish do you have to be in order to be a Christian?  While that may not be much of a live issue these days, it was a front-burner topic in the first-century Church!

You see, as Gentiles turned to God and received baptism and the Holy Spirit and were welcomed as brothers and sisters in the faith, there was still a wide gulf between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians.  Jewish Christians, who had exclusively made up the Church in its first decade or so, still observed all the cultural practices and traditions of the Jews.  This included keeping kosher and - the biggie - circumcision.  For Gentiles who became Christians, the question was - Could they still enjoy a ham sandwich, or was that now off-limits?  Did adult men choosing to follow Jesus need to undergo surgery to really be a  Christian, or was it acceptable to remain uncircumcised?  You can imagine that these questions generated tremendous concern among the Gentiles!

The more rigid, traditional, Pharisaical Christians of that era wanted to impose all the laws of Moses on the Gentile believers.  In their opinion, all Christians had to be Jewish Christians.  If their view prevailed, it meant that Christ alone wasn't necessary for salvation, but also the keeping of the ritualistic law was required.  Additionally, it would have shut the door to the faith in the face of many Gentiles who would have resisted such extreme demands upon them.

So the Church held its first Council, as reported in Acts 15.  It took place in Jerusalem, and all the major players of the early Church gathered.  Both Peter and Paul spoke, presenting their case in favor of letting Gentiles enter the Church just as they were.  James - the brother of Jesus - appears to have held the most sway, as he speaks authoritatively at the conclusion.  His decision, unanimously endorsed by the Church, was to impose only four requirements upon Gentile believers:

Abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, from whatever has been strangled, from blood, and from fornication. (v.29)

Why these four commands?  Most scholars see in them specific injunctions against practices of two more widely-held principles: Avoid Idolatry and Immorality.  Idolatry is manifest in the first three prohibitions concerning what is sacrificed to idols, what is strangled (how animals were sacrificed in pagan temples), and from blood (another dimension of pagan temple worship.)  Fornication is symptomatic of immorality.

The Church's "line in the sand" is the avoidance of Idolatry and Immorality - for all Christians, Jewish and Gentile alike.  In a way, this reflects the Ten Commandments, whose first four model a right relationship with God (thus avoiding Idolatry) and last six instruct us in the proper relationship with one another (guarding us against Immorality).  These timeless principles are still in effect for the Church today.  But you can enjoy that B.L.T. and don't have to observe other distinctly Jewish practices in order to be a Christian!

The first Council was a great success in unanimously rendering a verdict on an important issue that was vexing the Church.  It was a demonstration of unity that perpetuated further unity.

Unfortunately, it was soon followed by the first major split we read about among the apostles.  Paul and Barnabas decide to take a second missionary trip, to re-visit the churches they planted on their first trip, probably to share the letter from the Jerusalem Council among the Gentile brethren.  Barnabas proposed taking along with them Mark, a suggestion Paul utterly rejected because Mark had grown homesick and abandoned their first mission trip midway through.  (I think we get a sense here of their personalities, Barnabas being somewhat gentler and more forgiving?)  Their disagreement about this was so sharp that they decided they couldn't work it out and get along with each other, and parted ways.  The great partnership of Paul and Barnabas was dissolved.

But God is so great that He can work through both expressions of unity and disunity.  Paul and Barnabas may no longer be working together, but the result was that each took a new partner and the work was now doubled!  Barnabas and Mark sailed off for Cyprus, while Paul chose Silas and headed for Syria and Cilicia.