Call to Commitment

 

The Jerusalem Council

1.     And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." 

2.     Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. 

3.     So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. 

4.     And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. 

5.     But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." 

6.     Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 

7.     And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 

8.     So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 

9.     and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 

10.  Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 

11.  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." 

12.  Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. 

 In chapter 11, Peter was challenged by a Jewish party in the Jerusalem church, because he entered a Gentile house and ate with Gentile people, something prohibited by Jewish law. Peter explained the total account, concerning a vision of a sheet let down from heaven, containing all kinds of reptiles, birds and animals, unclean according to the law. A voice instructed him to kill and eat, but Peter refused to do so, after which he was commanded not to call anything, which God had cleansed, unclean. There were two elements in this vision, which indicated that it was from God. First, it came down from heaven and then returned three times, demonstrating the heavenly source of the vision. Then, there was a three-fold confirmation of the vision, showing a divine principle… God always confirms His word.

 At the end of the vision, Gentile men, sent from the Roman centurion, Cornelius in Caesarea, buhi arrived at the door of the house in Joppa, where Peter was lodging. Peter immediately concluded that God was sending him to a Gentile house to preach the gospel. It was in obedience to the Lord’s commandment, “What God has cleansed you must not call common,” that he went with confidence, Jews from Joppa accompanying him. Then he told of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles, in the same fashion, as he came upon the Jews on the day of Pentecost.  After this, the church of Jerusalem glorified God, seeing that He was granting repentance and eternal life to the Gentiles.