The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers

 Meditations on The Acts of the Apostles

 March 15, 2021

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers

So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 15:25-26

 Read: Acts 15:22-35       

 Luke, the author of Acts, makes it clear that the Council dealt with the issue head on, without a cover up or trying to explain away what had happened. The letter from Jerusalem spends more ink on owning the ill-advised teaching by disciples from Jerusalem, and in affirming Paul, Barnabas and the new believers than it does on reporting their decision.

As we have seen previously, the identity of the Jewish people was deeply rooted in how they saw themselves separate and apart from the rest of the world. Their rite of circumcision and their dietary laws were marks of this separation. As the Jewish Christians proclaimed the Good News of Jesus to the rest of the world, they were laying aside these marks of separation, but not without some fits and jerks. (See Galatians 2) However, in their reverence for God, there were some lines that could not be crossed such as idolatry, pagan sacrifice and worship, and sexual immorality.        

Did you notice there is no verse 34? Why? In verse 33 Luke says that Judas and Silas returned to Jerusalem, but as we will read tomorrow, Paul and Barnabas part company, and Paul picked Silas as his companion. (v.40) So did Silas go to Jerusalem or did he stay in Antioch? The earliest and best manuscripts have the text the way we now read it without a verse 34. At some point, someone took it upon themselves to try and reconcile what they saw as a contradiction between verses 33 and 40 and inserted, “But it seemed good to Silas to remain there.” When numbers for the verses were added to the Bible, the editing was still in, and it was numbered as verse 34. The KJV includes verse 34, but most contemporary translations, such as NIV and NRSV omit verse 34 and add a footnote at the end of verse 33.

My Takeaway: The readings from the last few days reveal there will be contention and differences of opinion in the church. Even so, may we never lose sight of our mission, or allow our differences to diminish our witness for Christ.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.