“Acts 15:13-21”

Thursday, January 21, 2016

“After they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, ‘Brethren, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, “After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago. Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

---End of Scripture verses---

After Peter spoke in defense of the Gentile converts, that they need not obey the Law of Moses to be right with God, Paul and Barnabas and James took their turns speaking to the same effect. Paul and Barnabas recounted the many conversions they had made from the Gentile ranks, and the implication was that all this was done without the requirement of circumcision or with keeping any other aspect of the Law of Moses (verse 12). Then James quoted Amos 9:11-12 as a single example of the many Old Testament prophecies that foretold of God’s acceptance of the Gentiles (verses 12-18). He then concluded that the non-Jewish converts to Christ should not be “troubled” with a law that had no spiritual or cultural bearing on their lives.

But what about the prohibitions suggested by James and accepted by the conference in verse 20? This seems like a strange list of restrictions, some of which obviously have their basis from the Law of Moses. In that verse, James suggested, “that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.”

Why prohibit “things contaminated by idols”? The Apostle Paul would later write under inspiration that “food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat” (1 Corinthians 8:8). But he also wrote in the very next verse, “But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak” (1Corinthians 8:9). Even though an idol is nothing (1 Corinthians 8:1) and food is just food, as Christians we must give consideration to the effect that our actions have on other people, especially other Christians. Since eating idol meat was and is a very offensive thing to many Jewish Christians, avoiding such food was in the best interest of the body of Christ as a whole. And also, the safest thing for former idol worshippers to do was to completely sever themselves from the temptations that come from those practices and that lifestyle, once they came to Christ.

What about abstaining from fornication? Shouldn’t that just have been a given? When a person dedicates His life to God through Jesus Christ, spiritual purity is of the utmost importance. Well, unfortunately this truth just isn’t as completely obvious to some people as it should be, especially to people who lived in a society that was steeped in sexual immorality. One of the slogans of the citizens of Corinth was that fornication was just as appropriate for the human body as food was appropriate for the stomach (1 Corinthians 6:13-14). Fornication was also an integral part of the pagan systems of worship during this era. It just needed to be impressed upon the minds of Gentile converts that those old habits and practices and customs have no place in the life of a child of God.

And finally, “things strangled and from blood.” From what I understand, the prohibition from eating animals that had been strangled results from the blood remaining in the body. There were proper ways to kill animals, but any way that allowed the blood to remain in the carcass was a problem because there was/is a prohibition against consuming animal blood. This was a law given by God that predates the Law of Moses and can be found all the way back in Genesis 9:4, immediately after Noah’s flood. Some people believe this law will remain in place until the end of time and some believe it ended at the cross of Christ. I won’t argue the matter one way or the other; but I do know that, once again, eating animal blood was and still is a very repulsive thing to many Jewish people. It is my person conviction that, excluding the injunction against fornication, the other three prohibitions were made more as concessions given to the Jewish Christians than they necessarily were prohibitions given for all time and in every situation. It would have been the height of foolishness to just disregard every issue that was repugnant to the mind of Jewish Christians and then expect there to be peace in the body of Christ that intermingled both Jew and Gentile.

The lesson for us? We simply must give consideration to the convictions and sentiments of our fellow Christians in order to live in love and harmony with them—As long as those convictions and sentiments are not sinful and do not go against the doctrine of Christ in any way (2 John 1:9).

Please read Acts 15:22-35 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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