The Inside

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

THE INSIDE

Acts 15:1-4

15:1 Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

NIV

We are going to hear this discussion which includes statements from both Peter and James about what just happened here. We know and should keep in mind that sometime later Paul writes about the fact that having a circumcised heart is the point at which we can be called true Israel rather than having circumcised flesh. But this question, this dispute is not really about that issue as much as it is about being subject to the Law of Moses, or at least the customs of Moses. They did not use the word law, as that might seem a little too restrictive but their point was the same. Salvation can only come by some kind of adherence to rules and regulations, in this case it was first having to become, at least on the outward appearance, a Jew by being circumcised in the flesh. Who makes up these rules? Why would these men from Judea impose such a rule on those gentiles? Didn’t they have the same teaching as all the other believers? Maybe many of the Jews who have become believers in Jesus, just were not prepared for Gentiles becoming believers because they thought Jesus came just for them and he never taught them about how Gentiles should come to him. So if Jesus didn’t teach about it, then they had to make up their own rules about Gentiles getting saved. It appears time has not changed much. Although we might all agree salvation is free, and it is by grace and grace alone, we certainly are guilty of making up rules and regulations about things that Jesus never taught. We should be content with the fact that if the word of God is silent about something, it means it is silent about it and therefore we should also be silent about it. But it seems there are some who would impose their set of rules in order for us to belong to their group. That is fine, it is all well and dandy that any human organization can have rules or bylaws that must be abided to in order to be a member of that organization, to be called by their organizational, or denominational name. But in order to be a believer in Jesus Christ, in order to be a Christian, in order to be saved, it only requires faith. We will see this point later in the discussion among the Apostles in Jerusalem. But for now, let us just be content with knowing outward signs are pretty meaningless. These men from Judea were only interested in the Gentiles taking on the outward sign of being a Jew in order to be saved, at least which is what it says here. We might look good, look like a “Good Christian” on the outside, but what is the condition of our heart? We might say all the right things, but what do we actually believe? It is not how we look that counts, it is how we are. Yes, there are behaviors that we should avoid, behaviors that do not reflect the influence of God nor do they please him, but the lack of those behaviors do not save us, or make us any better of a Christian than any other for we all are but sinners saved by grace.  The point here is that we need to be, not act, who God wants us to be. It is not about the outside, it is all about the inside.