Gentile Issue Settled

Acts 15:23-29; Galatians 2:1, 2, 9, 10, 20, 21

GOLDEN TEXT: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”—Romans 5:1

ONE of the outstanding issues in the church during the days of the apostles was what should be done with Gentile converts. To understand why this should be it is necessary to remember that for more than eighteen hundred years the Israelites had been the only people to enjoy God’s covenant blessings. They had come to look upon Gentiles as “dogs” and considered themselves to be the chief favorites of heaven.

For a Jew to accept Christ as the Messiah did not in itself change this traditional Jewish attitude toward. Gentiles, hence, when Gentiles commenced to infiltrate into the, churches it posed a serious problem, which had to be dealt with officially in an apostolic conference at Jerusalem. The findings of this conference, and the rules it laid down, furnished a background of authority for the apostles, and later for others to consult whenever and wherever a dispute arose over the question.

The difficulty in the church was that some of the Jewish converts—apparently among the teachers—insisted that Gentiles, in order to be received into the fellowship of the church, should be circumcised and otherwise brought under the bondage of the Law Covenant. Jews who had been strict in their adherence to the law, and who had viewed Gentiles as unclean, found it hard to realize that one could be clean and acceptable to God by simply believing in Christ and consecrating himself to His service. As they grew in grace and knowledge they could understand this, but there were no Christians of long standing in the church when this issue arose. They were all beginners in the narrow way. As Jews, they had accepted Jesus as their Messiah and the Son of God, but few of them had grasped the full import of the truth that they could be justified by faith in His blood. They had a zeal for God but it was not always according to knowledge.

In due time, however, and in His own way, God arranged to deal with the Gentile problem. His new apostle, the converted Saul, figured largely in those arrangements, although not exclusively. The Scriptures indicate that Paul was a special apostle to the Gentiles. By special revelation from God he grasped the issue clearly, and made it plain that justification was through faith in Christ, and not by the keeping of the Law. Yet Peter’s experience in taking the Gospel to the first Gentile convert had no small bearing upon the decisions reached at Jerusalem where the Gentile issue was discussed. He there related what to him was unquestionable evidence that God was accepting Gentiles into the church, and the testimony he gave was used by James in his summing-up address.—Acts 15:13-21

Paul and Barnabas also had much to say at that conference, although their testimonies are not recorded. (Acts 15:12) As Paul writes about it in his letter to the Galatians, it was with some difficulty that the conference was influenced to decide that it would not be necessary for Gentiles to be circumcised. But a victory was gained which must have meant much in the way of spiritual progress in the early church.

The conference did not decide to impose no restrictions at all upon Gentile converts. It was decided, rather, to recommend that they abstain from blood, from fornication, from eating things that had been strangled, and from eating meat which had been offered to idols. All of these things were customary among the Gentiles of the time, and were not looked upon by them as being wrong. To the Jewish minds they were all very wrong. Because Gentile converts were associating with Jewish Christians, it was quite fitting that they be required to make this overture to Jewish feelings.

In recommending to the conference that letters to this effect be dispatched to the churches, James explained that it was because of the fact that in every city there were those who still held to the teachings of Moses. The apparent thought was that if they hoped to reach these and help them in the Christian way, some consideration must be given to their viewpoints. Fornication was wrong anyway. As for the other things, it depended somewhat on the way one had been trained as to how he would view them; but it would work no special hardship upon Gentiles to change their habits of life to the extent of giving them up.

We find that Paul himself, as we would say today, practiced what he preached. In I Corinthians 8:13 he expresses his view on the subject. In Romans 14:12-23 he elaborates on it still further. In these lessons he shows that the principle involved was that of love for the brethren.

It was apparently this principle that guided the brethren at the Jerusalem conference to reach the decision they did. Perhaps, indeed, Paul presented similar arguments at the conference to those he used in his epistles to the Corinthians and the Romans. In any case, a controversy that threatened to disrupt the church was officially settled, and, without doubt, in a manner pleasing to God. Gentile converts, without having the yoke of the Law imposed upon them, were given the privilege of exercising a measure of restraint with respect to their former customs, in the interests of peace and good fellowship among all the brethren.

QUESTIONS:

What was one of the trying issues in the early church? and how was it officially settled?

Why did some of the Jewish Christians think it was necessary for Gentile converts to be circumcised?

What fundamental principle of Christianity guided the apostles in reaching their decision at Jerusalem?

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