May 05, 2023 | Be On Mission
James, Brother of Jesus, Defends Paul
Scripture: Acts 15:12-21 (NIV)
12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’—
18 things known from long ago.
19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
Devotional
The Council at Jerusalem continues. The Judaizers exerted that non-Jewish Gentiles had to obey all the Jewish law as well as believe in Jesus. The Pharisee believers sided with them, agreeing that Gentile men had to be circumcised in order to be considered a Christian. Peter, the leader of the apostles, disagreed with them and pointed to God’s grace as the only means of salvation. The atmosphere probably could have been cut with a knife.
In verse 12, Barnabas and Paul then told stories about their ministry among the Gentiles, complete with signs, wonders, conversions, and faith. Ah, the power of story. This single verse summary no doubt took many twists and turns, as the two evangelists told about their adventures in Cyprus, Perga, Antioch, Ionium, Lystra, and Derbe – all Gentile territories. They probably told about people coming to faith while others tried to kill them. They certainly recapped how they circled back to the same cities to appoint leaders for the new churches in those regions, naming them by their Jewish or Gentile names. The listeners could undoubtedly see it in their minds’ eyes.
Then James, the brother of Jesus, spoke up. He had become the leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem, and as such the spokesperson for the faith. With authority he said, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (v. 19). Simply put, Gentiles didn’t have to be circumcised or strictly obey every Jewish law in order to become a Christian. The grace of Jesus was sufficient.
This is the same James who wrote the book of James, which says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (1:22). Good works don’t earn God’s grace, but God’s grace doesn’t release us from good works. So, James said that while Gentiles did not have to be circumcised, they did have to abandon their practices of idolatry and immorality.
Gentiles did not have to become Jews in order to become Christian. But they were expected to become godly because they had become Christians. We know, for instance, that the Ten Commandments were important for the early Christian community. How Christians live matters to God.
Why do you think idolatry and immorality were lifted up by James as behaviors to be eliminated for those who claim Christ as their Lord? What are the implications for today?
Poem
Tell Me
Tell me how will we know them?
Just how can we tell?
Tell me who gets the gospel?
Who can drink from the well?
Tell me who can we baptize?
Who deserves to come in?
Tell me what is our standard?
Tell me which sin is Sin?
Who can sit at the table?
Who can share temple space?
Tell me, just who is able?
Who deserves Jesus’ grace?
