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Acts 15:1–5
“Some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses’” (v. 5).
Today we resume our study of the book of Acts. Luke’s historical narrative takes us to Syrian Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas returned after completing Paul’s first missionary journey (see Acts 13–14). Acts 15:1–5 describes the turmoil in the church sometime after Paul and Barnabas had come back to Antioch.
We see in verses 1–2 that the trouble started when “some men came down from Judea” and were teaching the Christians in Antioch, Jew and gentile alike, that they could not be saved unless they were circumcised. Commentators argue that these individuals—we will call them the “circumcision party”—were almost certainly claiming to represent the authorities in the Jerusalem church. Either this claim was an outright lie, or they were sent by James and other leaders in the Jerusalem church but did not fairly represent the position of those authorities. In any case, it is clear why the circumcision party would claim a connection to the Jerusalem church. Doing so would lend credence to their views, enabling them to deceive more people. John Calvin comments: “Jerusalem was honored not without cause among all churches, because they reverenced it even as their mother. For the gospel was deducted, as it were, by pipes and conduits from that fountain. These seducers come thence; they pretend [to be from] the apostles; they boast that they bring nothing but that which they learned of them. . . . Therefore, we must note this subtlety of Satan, that he abuses the names of holy men that he may deceive.”
The circumcision party taught that the gentiles could not be saved without being circumcised, thereby adding works to faith as the instrument by which we are saved. Consequently, the very integrity of the gospel was at stake in the argument between the circumcision party and Paul and Barnabas, who said that gentiles did not need to be circumcised (v. 2). As we see in the book of Galatians, which was probably written before the events recorded in today’s passage occurred, when we base our righteousness before God on any of our own works, we are ultimately preaching a gospel that is no gospel at all (see Gal. 1:6–9; 2:16–3:14).
Not all believers had access to Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and the circumcision party’s error was disrupting the church even after Paul and Barnabas corrected it. A definitive answer from all the Apostles was necessary to bring peace to the church (Acts 15:2–5).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Satan is a tricky foe who will use all manner of deception to create problems in the church. As in the first century, false teachers will sometimes appeal to great men and women of the faith to justify their errors. When appeals are made to Scripture and to the great thinkers in church history, let us seek to verify them before we accept them. Otherwise, we may be led astray.
For further study
- Deuteronomy 11:16
- Proverbs 24:28
- 2 Corinthians 11:14
- Titus 1:10–11
The bible in a year
- Job 24–25
- Acts 10:9–48