May 04, 2023 | Be On Mission
Paul Debates the Pharisee Believers
Scripture: Acts 15:5-11 (NIV)
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
Devotional
The council meeting in Jerusalem was a who’s who of leaders in the early Christian church. The twelve apostles, led by Peter, were there. The church elders, led by James the brother of Jesus, were there. The evangelistic missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, were there. And some Pharisees who had become believers in Jesus were there.
The Pharisee believers restated the sentiments of the Judaizers who taught that non-Jewish Gentiles had to obey all the Jewish law as well as believe in Jesus. Step one: all Gentile males had to be circumcised to become a Christian. It makes sense. The Pharisees had dedicated their lives to learning and obeying the law as laid out in the Old Testament. Believing that Jesus was the promised Messiah didn’t mean that the law could be discarded.
At this Peter stood up and refuted them. Peter had waivered on this issue from time to time. In Galatians 2:11-13, where Peter is called by the name Cephas, Paul states that Peter, when visiting in Antioch, “began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.” Antioch is where this whole issue erupted in a major way, leading them to the council down in Jerusalem.
Apparently something changed in Peter’s heart between Paul confronting him in Antioch and the Pharisee believers’ declarations in Jerusalem. Peter sided with Paul in a decisive way, saying about the Gentiles, “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
We are saved by grace. Paul would later write, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace is a free gift of God, not a payment for living right. Good deeds can’t save you. Good living can’t save you. Only a good God can save you.
Have you accepted God’s free gift of salvation? Have you stopped trying to earn God’s favor through religious rituals and pious practices? Have you asked Jesus to save you by His grace? If not, how about doing so right now? Put your life in His hands and your eternity in His resurrection!
Poem
What Must I Do To Be Saved?
Do I need to get a haircut or never cut my hair?
Do I need to ban all piercings and tattoos that others wear?
Do I need to change my clothing, put on tie or dress in skirt?
Do I need a new baptism or attend a certain church?
How about the songs I’m singing—hymns traditional or new?
How about the place I’m sitting—padded chairs or wooden pew?
How about my understanding of the bread and cup I sip?
How about the way I worship? Sit in silence or hands lift?
Must I have the gift of speaking in the Holy Spirit tongue?
Must I have it all together? Full corrected all my wrongs?
Must I move only in circles of the blessed and holy saints?
Must I show only pure goodness? Never doubt or have complaint?
What about the size of offering? Just how much will be enough?
What about my preacher’s preaching? Fully studied? Off the cuff?
What about my daily prayer life? Do I need to pray out loud?
What about my hidden closet far away from watching crowd?
I just want to know what’s needed, what I must do to be saved
I have heard so many answers ‘bout how I am to behave
Yet, the Bible’s answer tells me, there is one criterion
“By the grace of the Lord Jesus—all the work by him was done.”
