Study #50: The church at Antioch rejoiced to hear that Gentile Christians would not be forced to follow the Law of Moses (15:13

Study #50: The church at Antioch rejoiced to hear that Gentile Christians would not be forced to follow the Law of Moses (15:13 - 35)

The Bible text arranged according to the Golden Ratio design of two Opposites, two Complements, and one Unique (OO-CCU):

Acts, Chapter 2.1: The Jews of Asia Minor violently opposed the church-planting efforts of Paul and Barnabas among them (12:25 - 15:35)

§Complement Introduction: The Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to plant churches among the Gentiles, and they began on Cyprus (12:25 - 13:12)

¶Opposite The Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to work in the mission field (12:25 - 13:5)

¶Opposite Paul destroyed the spiritual influence of a false prophet on the leader of Cyprus (13:6 - 12)

§Complement Body: The hostility of the Jews in Asia Minor moved the missionary efforts of Paul and Barnabas toward the Gentiles (13:13 - 14:28)

¶Opposite Paul and Barnabas traveled to Antioch in Pisidia of Asia Minor to preach the Gospel in the synagogue of the Jews (13:13 - 25)

¶Opposite Paul boldly proclaimed Jesus Christ as the Risen Messiah of Israel to them (13:26 - 43)

¶Complement The hostility of the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia encouraged Paul and Barnabas to reach out to the Gentiles with the Gospel instead (13:44 - 52)

¶Complement The hostility of the Jews in Iconium eventually forced Paul and Barnabas to flee for their lives to Lystra and Derbe (14:1 - 7)

¶Unique After spending time with the new churches they had planted, Paul and Barnabas returned home to the church in Antioch (14:8 - 28)

§Unique Conclusion: The Apostles and elders held a council at Jerusalem to determine whether Gentile Christians should be circumcised (15:1 - 35)

¶Complement The church leadership debated whether Gentile Christians should be forced to follow the Law of Moses (15:1 - 12)

¶Complement The church at Antioch rejoiced to hear that Gentile Christians would not be forced to follow the Law of Moses (15:13 - 35)

All Bible quotations and the arrangement are found exclusively in the Kingdom Study Bible version, published by Jehovah Has Spoken Publishing Ministries.

It is published for free online at https://https://www.phibible.org/ (see the links above).

We continue our study of Acts Chapter 2.1 with the second paragraph of the Conclusion Section.

Recall from the last study that the Assembly (or church) in Jerusalem had convened a Council of their leaders to consider how to respond to an important doctrinal question: The Gentiles were receiving Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and forming their own churches, which was something that had never happened before. So, should these Gentile Christians be forced to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses?

But after the meeting started, the issue became a larger question:

“But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, saying that it was necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”

So it was no longer only about circumcision, but whether the Gentiles should be forced to become Jews in the same way that other Gentiles had done in the past, such as Cornelius, who was a Gentile convert to Israel. Also the Ethiopian Eunuch was a Gentile who had believed in the God of Israel and become a Jew by conversion, but was still a Gentile by DNA.

This meant that these Gentiles who had become Jews by conversion participated in all of the Old Covenant ceremonies, rituals, and feast days of Israel that are written in the Law of Moses, as Jews. They came to Jerusalem and offered sacrifices to Jehovah in the same manner as the Jews, and for all intents and purposes were accepted as Jews.

But should this Old Covenant practice of forcing Gentiles who believed in Jehovah be continued with the New Covenant faith of Jesus Christ?

The answer was NO, according to pastor James of the Assembly in Jerusalem, who was the half-brother of Jesus:

“Therefore MY DECISION IS, that we do not trouble them that from among the Gentiles are turning to God; but that we write to them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood: for Moses of ancient generations has in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.”

There were three different parts of the Law of Moses:

1) Spiritual: Three of the Ten Commandments: Worship only Jehovah the one true God, do not worship idols; do not blaspheme his Name.

2) Moral: Six of the Ten Commandments against murder, lying, stealing, adultery, coveting, honor father and mother

3) Ceremonial: One of the Ten Commandments: Rest on the Sabbath day.

The ceremonial part of the Law included offering special animal sacrifices: twice daily, weekly on the Sabbath, and monthly (Numbers 28:1-15)

Also there were four main Feast days on the Jewish calendar: Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:1-21). All of these required the sacrifice of animals to be offered in the Temple in Jerusalem: including burnt offerings, trespass offerings, and peace offerings.

There were also three special days (the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles [Leviticus 23:23 - 24:9]), which also required the sacrifice of animals for offering to Jehovah.

There were other parts of the ceremonial Law such as Nazarites (Numbers 6:6-20) and the cleansing of lepers (Leviticus 14:1-31) and so on; all of these involved the sacrifice of one or more animals or birds to Jehovah in the Temple in Jerusalem.

But the Finished Work of Christ on the cross eliminated the sacrifice of animals to Jehovah ONCE FOR ALL TIME, NEVER TO BE REPEATED.

Hebrews 10:8 - 13: “Above when he said, “Sacrifice and offering and even whole burnt offerings for sin you did not desire; neither did you have pleasure in it” (which are offered by the Law), then he said, “See, I come to do your will, O God.” He takes away the First Covenant, that he may establish the Second: by which we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

And every [Levite] priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins into perpetuity, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth waiting until his enemies are made his footstool: for by a single offering he has perfected into perpetuity them that are being sanctified.”

So, if the Gentile Christians were forced to follow the ceremonial part of the Law, they would have to offer animal sacrifices in the Temple while participating in the Feasts and ceremonies of Israel; but this would not be right, because Christ had done away with animal sacrifices, once for all time!

So, in light of the fact that animal sacrifices were no longer possible for either Jews or Gentiles who had believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior, it would be an error for either Christian Jews or Christian Gentiles to participate in any of the Ceremonial Law of Moses! Paul did participate in the ceremonial Law in Acts 21:26 in order to please the hardline Jews in the Jerusalem assembly at that time, but it was wrong for him to do so.

If you are going to be a Jew, then you must keep ALL OF THE LAW WITHOUT EXCEPTION. You cannot observe only some of the Law, but not other parts.

Jehovah told Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate in it day and night, THAT YOU MAY OBSERVE TO DO ALL THAT IS WRITTEN IN IT: for only then shall you make your way prosperous, and only then shall you have good success.” Joshua 1:8

In 70 A.D., God sent the army of Rome to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple; and so the sacrifice of animals to Jehovah was not only not right, but it was impossible, because there was no Temple in which to offer the sacrifices!

So look again at the words of Pastor James:

1) Abstain from pollutions of idols (do not worship idols, which includes the commands to worship only Jehovah God and not to blaspheme his Name - the spiritual part of the Law)

2) Abstain from fornication (the moral part of the Law that includes commands against lying, stealing, adultery, coveting, and also to honor your father and mother)

3) Abstain from things strangled and from blood. This command is older than the Law of Moses, and goes back to the Covenant of Jehovah with Noah:

“But flesh with the life thereof, which is its blood, you shall not eat.” Genesis 9:4

Jehovah has forbidden the consumption of blood of any kind; it is a sin against God to eat blood, regardless of whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, Old or New Covenant.

“Things that are strangled” refers to the slaughter of animals without draining the blood. Here is a link that goes into more detail about this:

https://reformedhealth.net/what-exactly-is-this-forbidden-strangled-meat/

So strangling an animal for slaughter is connected with the consumption of animal blood, which was forbidden long before the Law of Moses was given.

So the Assembly in Jerusalem agreed with Pastor James, and wrote a letter to the Assembly in Antioch to confirm their decision and let it be known among all churches.

Their decision was that Gentiles were only required to follow the Spiritual and Moral part of the Law, and also the commandment against consumption of blood. The ceremonial part of the Law could not be observed by either Jews or Gentiles, since no animal sacrifices could be offered any longer.

This change was difficult for Christian Jews at this time in history, because they had grown up with their entire lives focused on the Temple in Jerusalem with animal sacrifices. Even after they had trusted in Christ, they were reluctant to completely close the door on the Temple, which is the reason for the Letter to the Hebrews, which explains all of these things in detail, and why the Jews needed to stop participation in the Temple.

After God destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., this made it impossible to offer animal sacrifices any more, so God took care of this problem forever.

So let’s apply this doctrine to today:

There are many errors and cults and false religions that attempt to make Christians like the Jews of the Old Covenant. Here are a few examples:

1) The Worldwide Church of God cult celebrates the Jewish holy days and other parts of the Law. The Jewish holy days and other parts of the ceremonial Law were part of the ceremonial Law, so this is not Biblical for us today.

2) The Seventh Day Adventists and others worship on Saturday (the Sabbath). The Sabbath is part of the ceremonial Law that requires animal sacrifices, so this is not Biblical for us today. Christians worship on Sunday, because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday morning. We worship a Risen Savior!

Any religion that makes the Law of Moses or all ten of the Ten Commandments a central part of their message is a false religion. These cults usually also have a strong focus on the Second Coming of Christ, which is not a bad thing, but when it is the ONLY thing, that is a message that is not balanced according to the Bible.

3) Some Protestants like the Mennonites and Amish dress like Jews. This is not Biblical. The ceremonial part of the Law of Moses does not apply to us today.

4) Christian Jews of today should not be celebrating Jewish holidays like Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, or any of the other Jewish holy days, because animal sacrifice is central to all of these things, and the once for all time offering of the body of Christ on Calvary put an end to that forever. Also, there is no Temple, so they cannot truly celebrate these holy days without a Temple. And even if there were a Temple in Jerusalem, any animal sacrifice there would be wrong and illegitimate in the New Covenant.

Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples; and then He instituted the first Lord’s Table, or Communion; in which we celebrate his death until He comes again. The Lord’s Table has replaced Passover, just as Sunday worship has replaced the Sabbath.

The ceremonial part of the Law was full of types and shadows of the New Covenant; we worship the crucified, buried, and risen Lord Jesus Christ, so we do not need the types and shadows of Christ any longer.

“Therefore, let no man judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17

The Risen Jesus Christ should be the focus of all our worship and service, not the observance of the ceremonial Law of Moses.

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth: for you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then you also shall appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4

Sinner friend, have you repented of YOUR SINS and received Jesus Christ as YOUR personal Savior?

You can do it right now, and be saved eternally, if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross for YOUR SINS, and that God raised Him from the dead on the third day. Use this prayer as a model for your own:

“Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned against YOU. I am no good, and you are righteous! I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, were buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day. I want you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart right now. Forgive me for all my sins, and save my soul. In the mighty Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!”

If you have turned from your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and only Savior from sin, please message me through Facebook and let me know that you have done that, so that I can pray for you and rejoice with you in what God has done in your life. Amen.