Program / Course 7: New Testament Theology and History / Lesson 4.2
What you will learn
- Trace how Acts describes the first steps to the Gentiles: Samaria, Cornelius and Antioch.
- Explain the question the council at Jerusalem had to decide and what it decided.
- Compare Luke’s account in Acts 15 with Paul’s account in Galatians 2.
- Describe how Jewish Christians, Gentile Christians and later churches have understood this decision.
The big idea
The first believers were Jews, and the question soon arose whether non-Jews could join the people of God without becoming Jews. Acts describes how Philip, Peter and the church at Antioch brought the message to Samaritans and Gentiles, and how a council of apostles and elders in Jerusalem decided that Gentile believers need not be circumcised or keep the whole law. The decision shaped the future of Christianity. Scholars discuss how Acts 15 relates to Paul’s own account in Galatians.
Key terms
- Gentile
- A person who is not a Jew. The Greek word is the same as nations.
- God-fearer
- A Gentile who worshiped the God of Israel and attended the synagogue without fully converting. Cornelius is such a person in Acts 10.
- Proselyte
- A Gentile who converted fully to Judaism, including circumcision for men.
- Circumcision
- The cutting of the foreskin, commanded to Abraham and his descendants as the sign of the covenant (Genesis 17). It marked a man as a member of Israel.
- Judaizers
- A term used in later centuries for those who insisted that Gentile Christians keep the Jewish law. Acts calls them believers from the party of the Pharisees.
- Apostolic decree
- The letter of the council in Acts 15:23 to 29, which asks Gentile believers to abstain from food offered to idols, blood, meat of strangled animals, and sexual immorality.
- Antioch
- A major city of Syria where Gentiles first joined in large numbers and where followers of Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).
Background
Most Jews of the time expected that in the last days the nations would turn to the God of Israel (Isaiah 2:2 to 4). But they differed on how Gentiles would join. Some held that they would come through conversion to Judaism. Others, as in some prophetic texts, pictured nations sharing in blessing while remaining distinct. Jesus himself is shown in the gospels as sending his followers to all nations (Matthew 28:19), yet Acts shows the first disciples working out what this meant.
The question was practical as well as theological. Circumcision and the food laws separated Jews from Gentiles, and sharing a table was a central act of fellowship. If Gentiles became part of the church, would Jewish believers eat with them? And what did God require of them? Acts 15 is Luke’s account of the decision, and Paul’s letter to the Galatians gives his own side of the matter.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The first steps outward
After Stephen’s death, Philip preaches in Samaria, and the apostles Peter and John come to confirm it (Acts 8). Samaritans were regarded as outsiders by many Jews, so the step is significant. Philip then baptizes an Ethiopian official, a man who may have been a God-fearer.
In Acts 9 the persecutor Saul is turned by a vision of the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul himself refers to this experience in Galatians 1:15 to 17 and 1 Corinthians 15:8. Acts then tells of Peter in Joppa, who sees a vision of unclean animals and a voice saying that what God has cleansed he should not call common (Acts 10:15). He goes to the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who with his household receives the Spirit and is baptized. Peter’s defense before the Jerusalem believers closes with the words ‘Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life’ (Acts 11:18).
Step 2: Antioch and the first journey
Some of those scattered after Stephen reach Antioch and preach to Greeks as well as Jews. The church there grows, and Barnabas brings Saul to teach it (Acts 11:19 to 26). Antioch becomes a base for mission. The church sends out Barnabas and Saul, who travel to Cyprus and the cities of southern Asia Minor, preaching first in the synagogues and then to Gentiles (Acts 13 and 14). Many Gentiles believe, and some Jews oppose them.
At the end of the journey, they report to the church in Antioch that God ‘had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles’ (Acts 14:27). Soon after, some men come from Judea teaching that unless the Gentiles are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, they cannot be saved (Acts 15:1). The question is now put before the church at large.
Step 3: The council in Acts 15
Paul and Barnabas go up to Jerusalem, where apostles and elders meet. Some believers who had been Pharisees insist that Gentiles must keep the law of Moses. Peter reminds them of what God did at Cornelius’ house and says that God made no distinction, ‘purifying their hearts by faith’ (Acts 15:9). Barnabas and Paul recount signs among the Gentiles. James, who speaks last, quotes Amos 9:11 and 12 and gives his judgment that the Gentiles should not be troubled, but should be asked to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled and from blood (Acts 15:19 to 20).
The council sends a letter with delegates to Antioch, and the Gentile believers rejoice. Scholars discuss the decree’s meaning. Some think it is a set of minimal ritual requirements based on laws for foreigners in Leviticus 17 and 18. Others, following a variant reading in some manuscripts, read the prohibitions as moral. In either case, circumcision is not required.
Step 4: Acts and Galatians
Paul describes a meeting in Jerusalem in Galatians 2:1 to 10, where James, Cephas and John gave him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that Paul should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. He does not mention a decree. Later in Galatians 2:11 to 14 he describes a quarrel at Antioch, in which Peter withdrew from eating with Gentiles under pressure from men from James, and Paul opposed him publicly.
Scholars hold several views. Many identify Galatians 2 with Acts 15 and explain the differences by the different purposes of Luke and Paul. Others identify Galatians 2 with the earlier visit of Acts 11:30, which would explain why Paul does not mention the decree, since it had not yet been issued. Some think Acts has smoothed over a sharper conflict. No view has gained universal assent.
- Why would circumcision and food laws seem essential to many Jewish believers?
- What does Peter’s vision in Acts 10 teach, and what else in the story shows that God was acting?
- How does Paul’s account of the meeting in Galatians 2 differ in emphasis from Luke’s?
- What is the strength of James’ argument from Amos in Acts 15?
- Why might the council have asked Gentiles to avoid blood and idol food?
- How would the church have looked different if the council had decided the other way?
Examples
The table at Antioch
At first Peter ate with Gentile believers in Antioch. When men came from James he drew back for fear of the circumcision party, and Paul rebuked him (Galatians 2:11 to 14). The story shows how table fellowship was bound up with the question of the law.
Cornelius
A Roman officer who prays and gives to the poor receives a vision, sends for Peter, and while Peter speaks the Spirit falls on all who hear. Peter says that they have received the Holy Ghost as we have, so they should be baptized (Acts 10:47). The Spirit’s gift is the argument.
A letter carried by delegates
The Jerusalem letter in Acts 15:23 to 29 is sent in the names of the apostles and elders, and carried by Judas Barsabbas and Silas. The letter says that it ‘seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us’ (Acts 15:28), a phrase later churches often cited for councils.
Different perspectives
Catholic view
The Catholic Church sees Acts 15 as the first ecumenical council in miniature, with Peter speaking, James giving the judgment and the whole church agreeing, a pattern for later councils. The Church teaches that the apostolic decree was disciplinary and no longer binds, while the central point, that Gentiles need not be circumcised, remains.
Orthodox view
The Orthodox Church also holds Acts 15 as the model of conciliar decision-making, where the church acts together under the guidance of the Spirit. The Orthodox canon law still includes the decree’s prohibition on blood in some collections, though in practice it is not widely applied.
Protestant view
Protestants see in the council the confirmation that salvation is by grace through faith and not by keeping the law, in line with Peter’s words in Acts 15:11. Evangelical readers often cite Galatians 2 beside it. Protestants differ on how to apply the decree’s ethical parts.
Jewish and Messianic Jewish views
Jewish scholars note that the council reflects a Jewish debate about how Gentiles relate to the covenant, and that the decree resembles the Noahide laws in later rabbinic thought. Messianic Jewish believers hold that the council freed Gentiles from the law but did not release Jewish believers from it, a reading that other Christian traditions debate.
Why it matters
The council was a hinge in the history of Christianity. Without it, the church might have remained a Jewish sect. The debate also shows early Christians settling a conflict by prayer, argument from Scripture and experience, and shared decision, which later churches took as a model. It frames the reading of Paul in the next module.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: The council abolished the law for Jewish believers too.
Correction: Acts 15 addresses Gentile believers. Acts later shows Jewish believers, including Paul, continuing to observe Jewish customs (Acts 21:20 to 26). How this fits Paul’s letters is debated.
Misunderstanding: Acts and Galatians contradict each other.
Correction: They give different accounts for different purposes, and some details are hard to reconcile. Scholars offer ways to harmonize them and also note real tension. They agree on the main issue and the main result.
Misunderstanding: The Gentile mission began only with Paul.
Correction: Acts shows Philip, Peter and anonymous believers at Antioch reaching non-Jews before Paul’s mission.
Misunderstanding: The decree’s food rules were meant for all time.
Correction: Churches differ. Paul’s discussion in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 treats idol food more flexibly, and later Christians generally did not hold the decree as binding in all details.
Knowledge check
What question did the council at Jerusalem decide?
Whether Gentile believers had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. The council decided that they did not, but asked them to abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from strangled meat and from sexual immorality.
What role did Peter’s experience at Cornelius’ house play?
Peter said that God gave the Holy Spirit to Gentiles as to Jews, making no distinction, and purifying their hearts by faith. This experience was an argument that God had accepted them without circumcision.
How does Galatians 2 differ from Acts 15?
Paul describes a private meeting with James, Cephas and John who agreed on his mission to the Gentiles and added only that he remember the poor. He does not mention a decree. Scholars identify the meeting with Acts 15 or with Acts 11, or think Acts simplifies.
What happened at Antioch in Galatians 2:11 to 14?
Peter had eaten with Gentile believers but withdrew when men from James came, and others followed him. Paul opposed him publicly, since this action implied that Gentiles were not fully accepted. The passage shows the conflict was real and continuing.
Why is Acts 15 important to the churches?
It is a model of how the church decides a hard question: through testimony, Scripture, discussion and agreement. Churches also see in it a basis for the principle that Gentiles enter the people of God by faith and grace.
Think it through
- What do you think made Peter change his mind about Gentiles?
- How do the church’s decisions in Acts 15 combine Scripture and experience?
- Are there matters today where a church faces a decision like this? How might Acts 15 guide it?
- What does Paul’s rebuke of Peter suggest about how early Christians dealt with conflict?
Independent assignment
Two accounts of one meeting
In your own notebook, write 350 to 500 words. Read Acts 15:1 to 29 and Galatians 2:1 to 14. Make a list of what the two accounts share and where they differ, and then write a paragraph on which explanation of the differences seems most reasonable to you and why. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Read the discussion of Acts and its relation to Paul’s letters.
- Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., The Seven Ecumenical Councils (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, vol. 14) Read the introduction to the early councils and compare their procedure with Acts 15.
- Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians Read for a later view of unity among Jewish and Gentile members of the church.
- Acts 10:34 God is no respecter of persons.
- Acts 15:19 James’s judgment.
- Galatians 2:11 Paul withstands Peter at Antioch.
- Genesis 17:10 Circumcision as the sign of the covenant.