While reading Acts 15 this week, the thought occurred to me that James handed-down a JUDICIAL ‘Order’ (with ‘Opinion’) regarding MULTICULTURALISM. But before we get into that, we need to see the historical facts presented in the text, and then see the conclusion of the matter.
The title of this blog entry comes right out of the Acts 15 text, because it summarizes the matter succinctly. But don’t misinterpret this statement in terms of modern church theology, because if you do, you will be mistaken. Be patient and you’ll see what it really means:
“Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” (Acts 15:10-11)
First thing to note is, this is a metaphor, a Hebrew euphemism from their agricultural world. The fact is, a YOKE is a farm implement. It’s a device that connects two working animals (e.g., oxen, horses, mules) together so they can pull a load in unison. The animals are the POWER for the TOOL that’s being used to do the farming. An example of farm TOOLS are the IMPLEMENTS used to work the earth, such as PLOW, HARROW, CULTIVATOR, etc. Today’s industrial agriculture uses TRACTORS to supply the POWER. The most well known example of a yoke in the Bible is the OT account of Elisha, when he was ‘called’ by Elijah to be his prophet-in-training. He was working the field with yoked work beasts. You can read about it in 1 Kings 19:19-21.
Jesus was applying this euphemism to GOVERNMENT’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MASSES of a nation. When you YOKE a human government system to the masses, you have what Jesus called an UNEQUAL YOKE. One of the main problems with an UNEQUAL YOKE is the stronger of the two animals will wear-out the weaker animal, while the weaker animal will work against the stronger animal. This has to do with COMPATIBILITY between the two animals. The key to a good yoke situation was matching the animals so that they worked well together and accomplished the job the way you wanted it done.
Jesus was comparing an unequal yoke between two animals with an unequal yoke between human government and the masses of a nation. This ain’t rocket science! Effectively, Jesus was saying that HUMAN GOVERNMENT IS A HEAVY BURDEN ON THE PEOPLE OF A NATION, compared to GOD’S RULE OVER A NATION. He was telling us that IT’S WAY EASIER TO BE RULED BY GOD THAN BY TO BE RULED BY MAN. And I’ll bet he gets that truth from 1 Samuel 8-12, where God warned the Israelites that a King would BURDEN THEM EXCESSIVELY. There’s more to that story regarding WHO THEY WANTED TO SERVE: God or man? But that’s a whole different subject about the 1st and 2nd Commandments and SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. Regarding that BURDEN, the institutional church has something to say. I’ll tell you a story about it based on my experience.
When I went to church as a young man, the leaders had a saying, “You can’t keep God’s law because it’s too difficult“. They would also say, “Jesus freed us from the burden of obeying God’s law”. In Bible college, the profs would emphatically say “[God’s] law is NOT FOR TODAY”, because they reasoned that the CHURCH is in a different DISPENSATION than Israel is. What nonsense! Plus, there were many THEOLOGIANS who wrote volumes on the subject in support of their stupid theological idea. These FOOLS had many ways of saying all that, I can assure you! But that kind of HUMAN REASONING is nothing short of RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA. That idea is a BIG FAT LIE. That kind of HUMAN REASONING is the exact opposite of what Jesus is saying in the above text! In other words, today’s religious ministers CONTRADICT JESUS’S TEACHINGS. They are teaching people to DISOBEY JESUS. Can you imagine the NERVE of them?!
Even in the secular world I would hear the same thing, only they would say it DISPARAGINGLY against the Bible and Jesus. Those FOOLS just didn’t want anybody to LEARN the Bible, or to OBEY God. After all, they wanted everybody to obey THEM! They still do today. And why not? That’s how they make their living! I call them SOCIAL PARASITES. Anyway, Jesus was telling the human race that OBEYING GOD THE WAY JESUS TAUGHT is the KEY to human happiness in a nation. And doing that is NOT difficult. You see, when everybody obeys God’s law, they all become GOOD PEOPLE, TRUSTWORTHY NEIGHBORS, and SOCIALLY PRODUCTIVE. All of life gets easier when everybody is getting along because they’re all following the same MORALS. When everybody follows the same morals, BASED ON GOD’S LAW, that leads them to all ‘pull their own weight’ in society as well as be congenial. Why is that the result? It’s because GOOD MORALS IS THE KEY TO ESTABLISHING TRUST. Sure beats POLICE VIOLENCE to establish COMPLIANCE, don’t you think? In a truly Christian society, there are no SOCIAL PARASITES like we see today everywhere in America, from poor to rich.
Back to Acts 15. In my opinion, the Acts 15 MEETING held in Jerusalem (the seat of government for all Israel around the globe) was the very first “CHURCH COUNCIL” in all of human history. When you read the CHURCH FATHERS (barf!), and study all the subsequent church councils (double barf!), you see a STARK CONTRAST in subject matter, compared to this first ‘church council’, which was held under APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY (Jewish!). The ‘Order and Opinion’ (“DECREE”) that the Apostles handed down, applied to the ‘churches’ (primarily SYNAGOGUES) located THROUGHOUT THE WORLD!
So this very first ‘church council’ was of utmost importance to the future of the ‘church’. And make sure you take note of the fact that these COUNCILMEN were ALL ‘JEWS’. They were NOT ‘non-Jews’. And, most of the CHURCHES who received this ‘Order and Opinion’ were predominantly ‘JEWISH’. So, this CHURCH COUNCIL was ‘JEWISH’ (so to speak).
Now, let’s take a look at this FIRST CHURCH COUNCIL to see the PROBLEMS that needed SOLVING, and the SOLUTIONS which the presiding Authorities DECREED:
Acts 15:1 And some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
2 And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.
3 Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren.
4 And when they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.
5 But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”
6 And the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.
7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
8 “And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;
9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
11 “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
12 And all the multitude kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
13 And after they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, “Brethren, listen to me.
14 “Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.
15 “And with this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written,
16 ‘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,
17 In order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’
18 Says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.
19 “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles,
20 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.
21 “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas– Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren,
23 and they sent this letter by them, “The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.
24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls,
25 it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth.
28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials:
29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”
30 So, when they were sent away, they went down to Antioch; and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.
31 And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.
(Act 15)
I’m going to take this one verse at a time, so bear with me, because this is a COMPLEX subject. First let’s note the PROBLEM, as stated in v1:
… some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
The SUBJECT of this ‘church council’ was ‘BEING SAVED’.
The ISSUE at large was the TERMS AND CONDITIONS for ‘BEING SAVED’.
First you should note that “being saved” is a ‘JEWISH’ IDEA. It is not a ‘Christian’ term in today’s sense of the word, because it originated with ‘JEWS’ in JERUSALEM (as seen in the text). It is not a 16th century AD or newer Reformation dogma from Germany or America. It is a 2nd Temple (1st century AD) JEWISH POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY and SOCIAL CUSTOM, which had developed over many generations of time. It’s both a simple and complex subject. It’s SIMPLE from the viewpoint of GOD’S WILL for mankind, but it’s COMPLEX from the viewpoint of it’s HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT over many generations.
But what exactly is BEING SAVED? What does ‘BEING SAVED’ mean? We discussed it a bit in previous blogs under different subjects. Probably the best representative topic for explaining this subject is COVENANT. In sum, for 2nd Temple Jews, BEING SAVED meant you have confidence in your ‘LIFE AFTER DEATH’. You based your CONFIDENCE on the fact that you were BORN A JEW (blood line) and OBEYED MOSES LAWS all your life (in the form of 2nd Temple ‘statutes and regulations’). In other words, you were A JEW IN GOOD STANDING IN ISRAELI SOCIETY. Compare that with being a FELON in today’s sense of the term in a SECULAR society like America’s, or being a SLAVE, or being POOR.
So when you get right down to it, THAT is what the “men from Judea” were referring to when they FALSELY CLAIMED that “in order to be SAVED you must be CIRCUMCISED!” Let me rephrase that, ‘In order for God to accept you in this life, and to ensure you have a good future after you die, you must become a citizen of 2nd Temple Israel, and obey all the laws and pay all the taxes of 2nd Temple Israel.’ In a nutshell: YOU HAD TO BECOME A JEW IN GOOD STANDING IN ISRAEL! The way you did that was by BECOMING a 2nd Temple CITIZEN. The MARK of that CITIZENSHIP was CIRCUMCISION. That is the KEY!
Remember, this was addressed to the NON-Jews who were part of the JEWISH CHRISTIAN congregations IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. These NON-Jews effectively knew little to nothing about CIRCUMCISION. More on that MULTICULTURALISM below.
SO:
The Acts 15 church council was deliberating over the subject of HOW SOMEONE ‘GETS SAVED’. Must they BECOME A CITIZEN OF ISRAEL? Or in today’s words, “Must I BECOME A JEW”? The Apostle Paul SPECIFICALLY addresses this in his letter to the Galatian regional churches. This was PARAMOUNT to ALL JEWS living in Israel back then.
A question associated with this ‘church council’ event is, WHO were those “men of Judea”? We lucked out because they are specified further along in the chapter:
… certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees (v5) … some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls (v24)
The men who were spreading this PROPAGANDA (probably to get people UNDER THEIR CONTROL so they could force the TO PAYING TAXES!) were PHARISEES who BELONGED TO THE CHURCH (“some of our number”). They wanted everybody to CHANGE THEIR LIFESTYLES, that is, CHANGE HOW THEY LIVE (eat, sleep, have families, pay taxes, work, conduct business, etc.). If someone told YOU to do that, wouldn’t it “unsettling your soul”
If you know anything about PHARISEES, you will instantly recognize them as POLITICAL LEADERS … LAWYERS, BUREAUCRATS, JUDGES and other kinds of PUBLIC OFFICIALS. Now don’t mistake this for modern religious conventions. Today in America we SEPARATE CHURCH FROM STATE (or so they claim!). But back then, they did no such thing. This can be a complicated subject and difficult to wrap your mind around as a modern person. But once you get thinking clearly about the facts of this subject, this subject and related subjects in the Bible begin to make more sense. An added benefit is, you begin to see how YOUR ‘secular’ government has LIED TO YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE about “separation of church and state”. So basically, everybody’s been BRAINWASHED by the rich men who control the government. But that’s a gigantic subject for another discussion!
You see, the 2nd Temple ‘Christians’ were JEWS who held a POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY that came from JESUS’ teachings. Jesus’ teachings were DIFFERENT from the various and sundry other ‘Jewish’ political philosophies going around at the time, INCLUDING THE ESTABLISHMENT. Believe me when I tell you that there were MANY political philosophies floating around during Jesus’ days! All those political philosophies weren’t mere MENTAL MUSINGS either. No. The people acted upon them using THE COURTS or some other kind of FORCE. Many times they resorted to OPEN VIOLENCE to get their way in society (which never worked!).
Another intriguing idea is, those “men of Judea” were JEWS who ‘WENT TO CHURCH’! Weird, huh?! Lightfoot talks about this in a couple of his commentaries when discussing the STRUCTURE OF THE LEADERSHIP during those times. Just look up what he says about “THE 120” (in the ‘upper room’) at the beginning of Acts (make sure you follow the cross references). Their structure is nothing like what we know in religion today. So the idea of ‘tight control’ over who gets into ‘church leadership’ and who gets in power didn’t happen during 2nd Temple times LIKE TODAY, especially in this new political movement known as CHRISTIANS. But they DID however, have their own social conventions for controlling that!
In any case:
“The men who came down from Judea” were POLITICAL JEWS. They were PHARISEES (lawyers, bureaucrats, law enforcement personnel, etc.), and they were PART OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH LEADERSHIP (“some of our number”). And they held different views than the Apostles (or Jesus), which was NORMAL.
All those facts give us an idea of what the issues were in the minds of the players in this historical scenario. We discussed some of this in previous blogs. Now that we have framed this subject, getting an idea about the PLAYERS involved, let’s look at the facts of this event and see what they tell us.
First off, we note that the Apostles identified the CIRCUMCISION REQUIREMENT as a FALSE CLAIM:
Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them (v2)
some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls (v24)
According to Lightfoot, “dissension and debate” was a normal part of being in politics back then, and really wasn’t unexpected:
… terms very well known in the schools; according to which idiom if they were expounded there would be no difficulty in them.
In other words, “dissension and debate” was what the “schools” were all about. They’re called Y’shivas in Israel today. Those “schools” exist for the purpose of training via LEGAL DEBATE. So IF, during Jesus’ times, things were like they were in the rabbinic literature of the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, “dissension and debate” was no big deal. It’s what a Pharisee did for a living! Note the phrase again in v7, “much debate”. And note: These debates concerned the APPLICATION OF THE LAWS in various situations (not the Mosaic law proper, but the statutes based on the WRITTEN law of Moses). Most of the time the INTERPRETATION of the law was not a big deal. They basically made the law say whatever they wanted! (but NOT Jesus and his Apostles, who took the law AT FACE VALUE, which is why they differed from their fellow leaders. I talk about this in a previous blog).
Apparently this CIRCUMCISION CONTROVERSY was of such magnitude, that the ‘church leaders’ decided on having an official RULING handed down for everybody to follow, for the sake of UNITY):
the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue (v2)
Note that the CONTROVERSY surrounded the GENTILES (non-Jews) who were ‘saved’:
the conversion of the Gentiles (v3)
That’s what this subject is all about. It’s about the JEWS INTERACTING WITH NON-JEWS ON A DAILY BASIS. It’s about GENTILES BECOMING PART OF THE JEWISH-CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. The 2nd Temple law addressing this subject is what Peter Tomson calls “anti-idolatry halakha” in his book, “Paul and the Jewish Law.” The key to this subject is recognizing the LEGALITIES INVOLVED in the RELATIONSHIP between JEW and GENTILE. Peter Tomson rightly identified this as 2nd Temple HALAKHA (equivalent to today’s STATUTES & REGULATIONS, and JUDICIAL PRECEDENT).
As we saw above, the Pharisees wanted to maintain the STRICT REGULATIONS for the GENTILES who were FOREIGNERS (that is, they weren’t 2nd Temple citizens). But the Apostles DISAGREED. That’s the issue here in a nutshell. Let me say it in bold in one line:
ACTS 15 CONCERNS THE APOSTOLIC DECREE ABOUT THE PRELIMINARY DUTIES OF GENTILES WITHIN THE JEWISH-CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, AMOUNTING TO GENTILES NOT HAVING TO BECOME JEWS TO BE GOD’S PEOPLE.
Note that BECOMING A JEW is quite different from OBEYING THE WRITTEN LAW OF MOSES! Now let’s look at the details of this controversy, that is, the history which the book of Acts records. The first and foremost detail is the Pharisees’ position in the matter:
But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.
They were of the opinion that ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP (“circumcise them”) and LAWFUL LIVING (observe the Law of Moses) were the KEYS to ‘being saved’. Considering the PRACTICAL ISSUES involved with Jews and non-Jews living in close relationship with each other, THIS IS A VERY COMPLEX ISSUE. This is a MULTI-CULTURAL issue. This is not a simple matter for PHILOSOPHERS in your head which you muse over in private, because it’s not a mere matter of THEORIZING about SPECULATIONS that nobody can prove IN REALITY (like exists in modern church THEOLOGY!). No. Instead, the complexity involves DAILY LIVING and BUSINESS DEALINGS. In other words, HABITS, FAMILIES, EMOTIONS, BUSINESS and MONEY are involved!
So we have to try to empathize with what it means to be told YOU HAVE TO TOTALLY CHANGE HOW YOU LIFE ***IF*** you want to ‘be saved’. When I was in religious leadership I gave that message to the congregation, a number of times in fact. And I can tell you for sure that NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR IT! In fact, you can get yourself into some serious HARM if you press the issue with some people! But that is the very issue which the Apostles debated with the public officials at the Capitol (Jerusalem).
One important fact in this matter which you need to understand is a point of great controversy in modern churchianity. The fact involves what this phrase means, “observe the Law of Moses”. I promise you that post reformation churchianity interprets that phrase LITERALLY, believing it means OBEYING THE WRITTEN LAWS which we read in the OT Bible (e.g., Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). But I can say WITH CERTAINTY that is NOT what the Pharisees meant. They were referring to their “ORAL LAW”, which is ALL MAN-MADE LAW. So when you read the phrase:
It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses
You MUST get into your head that’s a reference to OBEYING MAN-MADE LAWS instead of obeying the simple and plain commandments in the OT law of Moses. Let me clarify. For starters, you need to acknowledge that this is NOT a simple subject to discuss, mostly due to the CHURCH TRADITION that has BRAINWASHED your mind. There’s about TWO THOUSAND YEARS of church propaganda involved with your BRAINWASHING! And that TRADITION is backed by HUGE BUREAUCRATIC EGOS. If you haven’t gotten my point yet, then you may not be able to understand what I’ve got to say on this subject. But if you CAN get what I’m saying, you will easily “have eyes to see and ears to hear”.
The next difficulty in discussing this subject is THE MONEY INVOLVED. Let’s face it: Modern churchianity is all about THE BUSINESS OF RELIGION. In fact, it’s ALWAYS been about that! The reason? LAND, BUILDINGS, UTILITIES, GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS, PASTORAL SALARIES and FAMILY EXPENSES, etc. Recently I read Metaxas’ book, “Martin Luther”. Great read! One thing you’ll get from reading it is the CORRUPTION in ROME, that is, in the PAPACY. And that corruption had to do with EXERCISING MILITARY POWER and SPENDING MONEY. Anybody who’s realistic about POWER will acknowledge that you can’t have POWER in today’s world without MONEY! So the BUSINESS OF THE CHURCH is a paramount OBSTACLE to “reformation”. Let me say it this way: Due to the POWER and MONEY involved, besides the TRADITION and EGO, you will find it IMPOSSIBLE to CHANGE the church. End of story!
Besides all of that EMOTIONAL and SOCIAL stuff, you have all the pesky DETAILS of human habit and social process which amount to NATIONAL CUSTOM. And this takes us back to the subject of “observe the law of Moses”. In the minds of these Jews, “the Law of Moses” was the same thing as all their MAN-MADE LAWS. I talked about this in previous blogs. I quoted out of a modern Jewish lawyer’s legal treatise which was representative of the subject. So the fact remains that in all likelihood, to the 2nd Temple Pharisees, “the Law of Moses” meant MAN-MADE LAWS and COURT RULINGS (and all the rest of the administrative bureaucratic garbage that nobody really needs, except the social parasites!).
When you read the Mishnah and Gemara (commentary on Mishnah and other commentaries), you find GREAT DIFFICULTY in identifying the LITERAL “Law of Moses”! You will find that the more you study the RABBIS (and pre-rabbinic wise men called SAGES), you will find GREAT DIFFICULTY in identifying “the Law of Moses”. Your discovery of this fact becomes AMUSING at times, due to the ABSURDITY involved with the HUMAN VIEWPOINT and the PRAGMATICS involved. But I’ll leave that up to you to discover for yourself, IF you can stand it! The point I wanted to make sure you got was this:
THE PHRASE “THE LAW OF MOSES” DOES NOT REFER TO THE LITERAL LAWS FOUND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT MOSAIC BOOKS. INSTEAD, “THE LAW OF MOSES” REFERS TO THE MAN-MADE LAWS HANDED DOWN BY JEWISH PUBLIC OFFICIALS.
When you read the Gospels with this fact in mind, you will see Jesus frequently speaking out against the MAN-MADE LAWS of the Jews. He SEVERELY BASHES the public officials of his time. More specifically, he bashes the PERVERSION and WRONG APPLICATION of the “Law of Moses” (it’s a POWER thing for bureaucrats and has to do with TAXATION, which = MONEY + CONTROL). After all, MAN-MADE LAW amounts to INTERPRETATION + APPLICATION of the ORIGINAL LAWS. We talked about this in the “Hermeneutics” blog. It’s obvious that this subject was a HUGE CONTROVERSY with the Apostles, which is what we’re reading about in this chapter of Acts.
Here we see the TOP AUTHORITIES debating this subject:
And the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them … (vv6-7)
The textual facts that follow show us that Peter CUT THROUGH ALL THE ‘PERSONAL OPINION’ AND ‘SPECULATION’ and got right to the point: WHAT GOD DID ALREADY and WHAT GOD WANTS for the GENTILES. This is a matter of WHAT GOD DID and WHAT GOD WANTS, not WHAT MAN WANTS!
First and foremost, God wants the GENTILES (not just Jews!) to be part of His KINGDOM:
in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe (v7)
God wants ALL MANKIND to be “reconciled” to Him. Why? Because GOD LOVES MANKIND! The NT has many statements about this. Here are a handful:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19)
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us (Ephesians 2:4)
Get the point? You can read MANY such statements in the NT about God’s LOVE for mankind. So, the NT helps us rightfully conclude that God loves ALL mankind, both Jews AND non-Jews. This may not be any big deal to you, but to a 2nd Temple Jew, it was EVERYTHING! Why? Because MUCH of their LAWS were geared towards LIMITING AND STRUCTURING CONTACT WITH NON-JEWS! Here’s one plain statement in the matter:
For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9)
All you have to do to get the point is read the Mishnah and Talmud on BUSINESS DEALINGS WITH GENTILES to see what I mean. But even before you read those parts of the Mishnah, you can see EVEN IN THEIR OWN NATION they have STRICT REGULATIONS about PURITY and IMPURITY that govern WHO you relate to and HOW (Talking about relationships between FELLOW JEWS). Pretty crazy when you see it for what it is!
SO:
FORCING JEWS TO LIVE WITH GENTILES WAS A HUGE PROBLEM FOR JEWS.
BUT:
THAT is PRECISELY what GOD WANTS for the GENTILES, even though the POLITICAL JEWS in ‘church leadership’ did NOT want it to happen! OK, so now we have identified what GOD WANTS. Grind that into your head, because that is the KEY to this First Church Council! You can see how paramount the reality of it is by it being the subject of Peter’s LEAD-IN STATEMENT to the council. Peter was The Dominant Voice of Authority in that Church Council session (even though James was ‘top dog’ in the Jerusalem ‘church’).
Now let’s identify what God DID, which is the PROOF backing Peter’s claim for what God WANTS:
God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us … and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith (vv8-9)
The key reality here is GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT. Let’s recall that the Holy Spirit IS God. It’s GOD’S PRESENCE. Remember that GOD IS OMNI-PRESENT, meaning, He’s everywhere all the time! But he also has specific ways He LIMITS His presence so we humans can ‘take it’ (and not ‘incinerate’!). So when you get ‘inhabited’ by the Holy Spirit, you get God being part of YOU. Look, I didn’t invent this stuff. It’s what we see is in the Bible, both OT & NT. And just so you don’t think NT Jews (and modern Christians) are out of their minds in this, you’ll find the same kind of phenomena as an INTEGRAL BELIEF AMONG PAGANS of the time! Just read some of the literature of the Greeks and Romans between the 5th century BC to the 3rd century AD. Read the church fathers too. You will see a plethora of this kind of ‘belief’. It is what modern scholars consider FABLES and MYTHS. But when you get behind it to see the SUBSTANCE of it, you see it was no fake fantasy. It was a TANGIBLE REALITY (and still is today). But that’s a topic for a whole other blog! The subject would be MAGIC vs. God’s PRESENCE (and God’s Power), in case you’re interested in studying it yourself. Incidentally, a lot of it came from the ROOTS of modern day Indian society.
SO:
PETER PROVED TO THE MEMBERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH COUNCIL THAT GOD WANTS THE GENTILES TO BE PART OF ISRAEL, AS PROVED BY GOD’S ACT OF INHABITING THE GENTILES (AS A SPIRIT), JUST LIKE HE DID FOR THE JEWS.
Now, the thing that’s so significant about this INHABITED thing is, according to long-standing Jewish tradition (a millennia at least!), God would NEVER ‘inhabit’ a human who was not ‘CLEAN’ in body and mind (clean = pure motives and living according to God’s law), OR they had to be ON A MISSION by God’s direct appointment. And that meant ONLY SELECT JEWS could be ‘inhabited’ by God’s Spirit. We discussed this in a previous blog. We also saw that in the OT, only PROPHETS and POLITICAL LEADERS got inhabited. And in the NT, only people who believed in Jesus got inhabited. According to rabbinic LORE, some of the rabbis got inhabited too. And we saw there were two different kinds of ‘inhabiting’.
Anyways, Peter was effectively telling the Council Members (all Jews who ‘believed’ that Gentiles were INHERENTLY UNCLEAN!), that God did NOT consider the Gentiles WHO BELIEVED IN JESUS to be INHERENTLY UNCLEAN. Talk about a REVERSAL?! Instead, SINCE GOD FORGAVE ALL HUMANITY (“cleansed their hears by faith” in Jesus), He considered ANY AND ALL who believed in Jesus to be CLEAN. We discussed the meaning of “believe in Jesus” in previous blogs. But make sure you KNOW that “believe in Jesus” in the NT does NOT mean what modern churchianity peddles in their COMMERCE RELIGION. Remember that! Don’t forget it! Don’t be DECEIVED by it!
So now we see WHAT GOD WANTS and WHAT GOD DID to prove what He wants. That is the THESIS of this First Church Council. In a word:
GOD WANTS GENTILES AND JEWS TO BE UNITED BECAUSE GOD HAS CLEANSED BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES ALIKE BY JESUS’ WORKS ON THEIR BEHALF WHICH MAKES THEM ALL ‘OK’ WITH GOD.
In their own words:
But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are. (v11)
The significance and meaning of the term ‘CLEANSE’ is a key reality that controlled the LAW-MAKING in 2nd Temple Israel, as we discussed in a previous blog, and as mentioned already in this blog. I forgot to mention that if you were NOT CLEAN, you could NOT go to the Temple and meet with God. The Temple WHERE GOD DWELLS, is the POLITICAL CENTER of the nation. The significance of that is, IF YOU WERE UNCLEAN, YOU COULD NOT PAY YOUR TAXES NOR PARTICIPATE IN GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES. And believe me, YOU WOULD WANT TO because it had to do with YOUR SAY about your LIFE, your LAND and your MONEY! That’s pretty much the heart of the matter.
Another thing to remember is, BEING CLEAN has everything to do with SIN. If you SINNED and didn’t REPENT AND MAKE RESTITUTION, then you were UNCLEAN. When you sinned, you had to go to the authorities and CONFESS to them your sin, be EXAMINED by them, and then PAY A TAX for that sin. That TAX was the PENALTY for sinning. This all goes back to the ANIMAL SACRIFICES and the Temple cult in the OT. Those sacrifices were the TAXES you paid for your sin and uncleanness. LONG STORY for another blog series. Some good articles have been written on this subject and are worth reading. Just search the Internet.
Now that we have established the HISTORICAL SETTING and THESIS of this first ‘church council’, let’s see how things worked out among the council members:
Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are. (vv10-11)
There’s the KEY to this whole matter! THE YOKE. As we said, THE YOKE is GOVERNMENT. How so? Just like we previously said. The 2nd Temple POLITOCRATS (Pharisees) demanded that the GENTILES become CITIZENS of 2nd Temple Israel as THE CONDITION for “BEING SAVED”. But Peter is saying, “NO WAY!” Why was this CITIZENSHIP unnecessary? The reason is just like he says in the above verse. It’s because GOD ACCEPTS ALL PEOPLE THE SAME WAY: BY FAITH (in Jesus).
Notice also the WARNING, “why do you put God to the test?” Making this DEMAND is tantamount to BLASPHEMY, because doing so is doing the OPPOSITE of what God Wants.
Also, something else is being IMPLIED. That is, GOD DOES NOT NEED ISRAEL for accomplishing His purpose in SAVING THE GENTILES. Waaaaat?! Yup, that’s right. God is DONE WITH ISRAEL as His AGENT OF SALVATION. Let’s face it, according to the OT prophets, Israel was supposed to become GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE who were SUPPOSED TO lead the nations into a relationship with HIM. What dose that mean? When a NATION has a RELATIONSHIP with God, that NATION also OBEYS God. So that’s what Israel was SUPPOSED TO DO. They were SUPPOSED to help all the world’s nations LEARN GOD’S LAW and LEARN HOW to implement it inside their nation. THAT, my friend is what BEING CHRISTIAN is all about.
So, since Israel ‘dropped the ball’ in God’s plan for humanity, He had to enact ‘Plan B’, which was DO IT HIMSELF. Like we say, if you want it done right DO IT YOURSELF! So ends Israel’s involvement in God’s plan for humanity. And let’s remember WHY. Because THEY REFUSED TO OBEY GOD’S LAW AS A NATION. Let’s say that another way. It’s because Israel REFUSED to learn the INTENT of God’s law, and LIVE ACCORDINGLY. What does that mean for Israel today? It means ALL their MAN MADE LAWS are NOTHING to God. That would include all their holy day observances, such as Hanukkah, Purim, honoring the various rabbis, independence day (1948), ALL the Seders for the holy days observances, all their HALAKAH, etc. God does NOT recognize such holy day observances. It also means ALL their FINANCE laws mean NOTHING to Him. In fact, that’s the subject of another blog where I show that GOD HATES their use of FINANCE LAWS in Gentile nations. And what a subject Jewish FINANCE is. It’s the thing INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE and NATIONAL OPPRESSION are made of!
So we can see that GOD DOESN’T NEED ISRAEL BECAUSE HE HAS JESUS. I hate to say it, but I’m SURE that modern Jews would CRINGE at and RAIL AGAINST such an idea! But it’s just like their prophets say, both OT & NT:
So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. (Deuteronomy 10:16)
Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the Lord and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you. (2 Chronicles 30:8)
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds. (Jeremiah 4:4)
And admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, By which if a man observes them he shall live. And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen. (Nehemiah 9:29)
Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers. (Jeremiah 7:26)
You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. (Acts 7:51)
You will find PILES OF VERSES like that in the WHOLE Bible. The Apostle James dedicates his entire letter to the poor and oppressed by railing against the ‘wealthy’ Jews, and the Israeli judges who go right along with the oppression.
Now let’s clarify one thing so people don’t get the wrong idea. The point to be had here is this: Israelis of all history, including modern Jews, ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM NON-JEWS. That’s the point. And the reason is because THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME HUMAN NATURE AS ALL NON-JEWS DO. Look, you can’t change a leopard’s spots or a zebra’s stripes! So let’s get this straight in our heads: GOD QUIT RELYING ON ISRAEL BECAUSE THEY WERE JUST AS FLAWED AS THE REST OF THE NATIONS, BECAUSE ‘THEY ARE ONLY HUMAN’. So, God was forced to DO IT HIMSELF! That’s what JESUS is all about. Jesus is God’s means to God’s end: The SALVATION of God’s whole creation, beginning with mankind.
OK, enough with the focus on Israel. Let’s turn back to God, Jesus and the world’s salvation. Peter made a paramount point in the first ‘church council’. They ALL listened to what he had to say, and I’m sure everybody there got the point:
And all the multitude kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. (v12)
Here’s the council Chairman’s OPINION, albeit in agreement with Peter:
13 And after they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, “Brethren, listen to me. 14 “Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. 15 “And with this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 ‘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, 17 In order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’ 18 Says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.
Note how he relies on the OT TEXTS for the AUTHORITY to back up his LEGAL REASONING. Also note the RESULT of that reasoning, a DETERMINATION about the Gentiles:
Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles … (v19)
There you have it! ‘DO NOT TROUBLE’ the non-Jew who ‘get saved’. In other words, James is saying DO NOT FORCED THE NON-JEW TO BECOME A 2ND TEMPLE CITIZEN AND OBEY ALL THE MAN-MADE LAWS AND PAY ALL THE TAXES AND BE SUBJECT TO LAW ENFORCEMENT TROUBLES IF THEY SOMEHOW FAIL TO COMPLY. So we see that the JERUSALEM COUNCIL was in FULL AGREEMENT with Peter. They agreed with his NO YOKE philosophy!
Now notice what James says:
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. (v20)
That is an OFFICIAL ORDER handed down by the first ‘church council’ for the WORLD CHURCH. It applies to Jews and Gentiles alike. Note the 4 separate ELEMENTS to this ORDER:
- abstain from things contaminated by idols
- abstain from fornication
- abstain from what is strangled
- abstain from blood
Today’s scholars have basically 3 views on what those things mean:
- obey some of the OT dietary laws
- obey some of the OT dietary laws and do not commit murder
- a variety of other nonsensical ideas
I take the above DECREE to be a reference to DIETARY LAWS, both MOSAIC and MAN-MADE. Here’s WHY:
- abstain from things contaminated by idols – This is the essence of a myriad of MAN-MADE LAWS in 2nd Temple Israel, which are based on COMMANDMENTS 1 & 2 of God’s law proper (Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5). This is essentially a reference to what Peter Tomson calles ANTI-IDOLATRY HALAKHA (man-made laws against idolatry). This is a HUGE subject, which the Apostle Paul specifically addresses in some of his letters. It’s important to realize that a non-Jew who became a Christian would CEASE IDOLATRY for Jesus, but would be SENSITIVE to the idolatry realities that he once practiced and participated in. So this commandment applied to BOTH the Jew and the Gentile.
- abstain from fornication – This is most likely a reference to GENTILE IDOLATRY PRACTICES. “Fornication” has a broad spectrum of application for both Jews and gentiles. But when you look up IDOLATRY PRACTICES among the ancients, you find they are inundated with SEXUAL CULT PRACTICES (and drugs, which we discussed in a previous blog regarding MAGIC). Paul issued a very specific HALAKHA in 1 Corinthians 7 about the meaning of “fornication” INSIDE the ‘church’. But that’s a very different story!
- abstain from what is strangled – This is an OBVIOUS reference to NOT EATING BLOOD. See Deuteronomy 12:23.
- abstain from blood – Same as the strangled prohibition. You find this anti-blood law throughout the Law of Moses, esp. Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Some examples are Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 3:17, Leviticus 17, Deuteronomy 12, Ezekiel 33.25, etc. God is ADAMANT about this prohibition!
Essentially, James was DECREEING the most obvious and most essential FOOD LAWS and HUMAN SEXUALITY OBSERVANCES. It’s OBVIOUS to anybody who knows ANYTHING about COMMUNITY RELATIONS, that James (and Peter) were working on ESTABLISHING A FUNCTIONAL UNITY among a MIXED ETHNIC COMMUNITY. That is the KEY to understanding verse 20. James merely singled-out the TOP TWO pragmatic dynamics in a community: FOOD and HUMAN SEXUALITY. Everybody knows that FOOD lies at the center of FELLOWSHIP for EVERYBODY. And since human sexuality is one of the most powerful forces among God’s creation, God requires His people to BE IN CONTROL of that part of their lives, for the sake of THE FAMILY (the foundation of all societies) and FELLOWSHIP. GOD LOVES PEOPLE, and he wants EVERYBODY to be HAPPY! That’s the purpose for his COMMANDMENTS.
The reason nearly all ‘scholars’ have missed the above points in their PATHETIC THEORIZING is because they’re CONTROLLED BY WEALTHY CRIMINALS, and would be BANISHED from their livelihoods if they said ANYTHING that seemed POLITICALLY INCORRECT. They are the higher level PROPAGANDA ARTISTS of our time. In other words, they are BANNED from contradicting the status quo MATERIALISM AND HEDONISM which the world’s wealthy elite brainwash the world’s populations with in order to maintain control over them. So make sure you get the point of the Acts 15 ‘church council’. It was an official meeting purposing to ESTABLISH UNITY THROUGH CONFORMITY TO LIFESTYLES WHICH GOD APPROVES OF.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, James OPINES:
For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath. (v21)
What in the world does THAT have to do with MINIMAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SOCIAL UNITY (between Jews and Gentiles)? In order to understand that statement, you first need to know how things worked during those days. As we briefly said above, ‘church leadership’ (which is really political leadership!) back in the 1st century society was not as SCRIPTED as it is today. Same with ‘Judaism’. It wasn’t as SANITIZED as it is today. Today you can find a Jewish synagogue in nearly every town and city here in the USA. And if you aren’t a paying subscriber and well attested by someone of known good standing, then you CAN’T attend. But back then, such wasn’t the case. You found synagogues in many of the major cities of ISRAEL, but ‘not so much’ in the gentile nations. Besides that, there were the IDOL CULTS that had their TEMPLES in all the major cities.
Moreover, at the inception of Apostolic Christianity, you NEVER saw a CHURCH in the gentile world (nor in Israel)! Why not? Because CHRISTIANITY HAD JUST BEGUN! When did they have time to INSTITUTIONALIZE?? Instead, they met in private homes, public venues, and especially SYNAGOGUES. So there you have it!
SO:
Effectively, James is saying that THE GENTILES CAN LEARN HOW TO OBEY ALL THE OTHER ‘MOSAIC LAW’ OVER THE COURSE OF TIME BY ATTENDING SYNAGOGUE.
To summarize this study:
James issued a decree that was designed to bring cohesiveness and unity to the Jew/non-Jews, by requiring them to obey MINIMAL ESSENTIALS from 2nd Temple law and Mosaic law, fully expecting the non-Jews to learn all the rest of what they needed to know by attending their nearby synagogue. Moreover, this HISTORICAL FACT is a DIRECT ASSAULT on the modern churchian ideology that “THE [MOSAIC] LAW IS NOT FOR TODAY”. The above ‘church council’ decree shows us that NOT ONLY does God REQUIRE Christians to OBEY THE WRITTEN MOSAIC LAW, but He also requires them to OBEY SOME ‘JEWISH’ HALAKHA!
Along those lines, one of the good things I got out of reading David Flusser’s books is his differentiation between halakha, scripture and political philosophy. He had a way of separating the content of Jesus’ teachings into those genres. That helped me identify some of the SOURCES of Jesus’ ideas. During my studies about the meaning of Jesus’ teachings, I arrived at the conclusion that ALL of Jesus’ thinking was in direct agreement with and obedience to the MOSAIC LAW (written scripture). But I also saw that sometimes he embraced 2nd Temple HALAKHA, whereas other times he embraced RADICAL RIGHT WING ideology. Sometimes he embraced the LIBERAL IDEOLOGY of this time as well. So when you consider the matter of LAW in the NT, it’s not as simple as modern day CHURCH LEADERS want you to believe. I’d have to ask them WHY? I’m sure if you do, you won’t like what you discover!
When you see the subjects that the succeeding CHURCH COUNCILS focused on, you will understand why I don’t give them much credibility. It’s because they were WAY OFF TRACK from Apostolic Christianity. The further away from the time of Jesus they got, the farther off track from GOD’S WILL (God’s law) they found themselves! But there is one lesson we can learn about the CHURCH FATHERS, which is the same lesson we learned about the RABBIS. That is, ONCE THESE CON-MEN GET PEOPLE TO FOLLOW THEIR EVIL SCHEMES, THOSE SOCIAL NORMS BECOME LAW! And everybody can see how THE LAW goes to a bureaucrat’s head like MOONSHINE! Think about the implications of that, and consider how IT’S DONE TO YOU TODAY by the various and sundry social institutions and officers of your society. When you get down to the bottom of it, you find GREED, LAZINESS, EGO and every kind of LAWLESSNESS imaginable! Compare that with the NO YOKE Jesus and his Apostles were promulgating in their teachings. BIG difference, eh?
When you consider the above practices which the Apostles wanted the Jews and non-Jews to LEARN, OBEY and INCORPORATE INTO THEIR LIFESTYLES, you find there’s NOTHING BUT GOOD that can come of it. Even if all the rest of society is contrary to you in your obedience to God, you will be seeing the GOOD that comes from OBEYING GOD. Don’t get me wrong, troubles come and go. But in the final analysis, those who obey God have two advantages in life. On the one hand, they can receive assistance from God in times of need.
On the other hand, BOTH God’s people AND those outside of God’s kingdom STRUGGLE in life. It’s just that the troubles which non-Christians suffer are MOSTLY SELF-INFLICTED. But the struggles that Christians suffer eventually benefit them (if they continue to obey God, that is!). NO TROUBLE IS ENJOYABLE. But at least the Christian has an advantage that helps them get through life, which is why they do not RESORT TO VIOLENCE to get their way in society, unlike many of today’s non-Christians. That’s what Jesus and the first ‘church council’ meant by NO YOKE. They wanted God’s people to NOT BE BURDENED WITH GOVERNMENT LAW ENFORCEMENT, but instead to simply learn God’s law and obey it on their own initiative, so they could develop the character and lifestyle which results in the FREEDOMS that come from such obedience.
The remainder of Acts 15 is a rehash of what we covered above, albeit with some varied nuances of subjects worth discussing. But since this blog is WAY over the word limit, I’m going to stop here. Hopefully you got some good info from this blog, and got some good motivation to obey God’s law (if you don’t already do so). Times may have changed, but “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
See you in the next blog!
Reality Bible 