(compare a,b,c,d & * of Acts with SOP at bottom of page)
And certain men which came down from Judaea
taught the brethren, and said,
Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses,
ye cannot be saved.
When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them,
they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them,
should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles:
and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
And when they were come to Jerusalem,
they were received of the church,
and of the apostles and elders,
and they declared all things that God had done with them.
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying,
That it was needful to circumcise them,
and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
And when there had been much disputing,
Peter rose up, and said unto them,
Men and brethren,
ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us,
that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
And put no difference between us and them,
purifying their hearts by faith.
Now therefore why tempt ye God,
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
And after they had held their peace,
James answered, saying,
Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles,
to take out of them a people for his name.
And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David,
which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles,
upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Wherefore * my sentence is,
that we trouble not them,
which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
But that we write unto them,
that they abstain from pollutions of idols,
and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him,
being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
Then pleased it the apostles and elders,
with the whole church,
to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas;
namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
And they wrote letters by them after this manner;
The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren
which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Forasmuch as we have heard,
a) that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying,
Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law:
to whom we gave no such commandment:
It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord,
to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us,
to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
b&c) That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled,
d) and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch:
and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves,
exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
And after they had tarried there a space,
they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.
Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.
Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas,
and took Titus with me also.
But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:
And that because of false brethren unawares brought in,
who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,
that they might bring us into bondage:to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching.
(By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.)
Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility
of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles,
just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews.
For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle
to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles.
In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church,
recognized the gift God had given me,
and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers.
They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles,
while they continued their work with the Jews.
Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor,
which I have always been eager to do.
But when Peter came to Antioch,
* I had to oppose him to his face,
for what he did was very wrong.
When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians,
who were not circumcised.
But afterward, when some friends of James came,
Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore.
He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision.
As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy,
and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message,
I said to Peter in front of all the others,
Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?
Acts 15:1-35/Galatians 2:1,3-14 NKJV,NLT,NIV
"The Jews had always prided themselves upon their divinely appointed services, and many of those who had been converted to the faith of Christ still felt that since God had once clearly outlined the Hebrew manner of worship, it was improbable that He would ever authorize a change in any of its specifications. a) They insisted that the Jewish laws and ceremonies should be incorporated into the rites of the Christian religion. They were slow to discern that all the sacrificial offerings had but prefigured the death of the Son of God, in which type met antitype, and after which the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic dispensation were no longer binding.
b) Many of the Gentile converts were living among ignorant and superstitious people who made frequent sacrifices and offerings to idols. The priests of this heathen worship carried on an extensive merchandise with the offerings brought to them, and the Jews feared that the Gentile converts would bring Christianity into disrepute by purchasing that which had been offered to idols, thereby sanctioning, in some measure, idolatrous customs.
c) Again, the Gentiles were accustomed to eat the flesh of animals that has been strangled, while the Jews had been divinely instructed that when beasts were killed for food, particular care was to be taken that the blood should flow from the body; otherwise the meat would not be regarded as wholesome. God had given these injunctions to the Jews for the purpose of preserving their health.
d) The Gentiles, and especially the Greeks, were extremely licentious, and there was danger that some, unconverted in heart, would make a profession of faith without renouncing their evil practices. The Jewish Christians could not tolerate the immorality....
*In this instance we have a refutation of the doctrine held by the Roman Catholic Church that Peter was the head of the church. Those who, as popes, have claimed to be his successors, have no Scriptural foundation for their pretensions. Nothing in the life of Peter gives sanction to the claim that he was elevated above his brethren as the vicegerent of the Most High. If those who are declared to be the successors of Peter had followed his example, they would always have been content to remain on an equality with their brethren."
Acts of the Apostles p.189,191,192,194,195 E.G.W.
