Acts 15:5, commentary and pictures

Certain believing Pharisees demanded that Gentile converts be circumcised and commanded to keep the whole ceremonial law of Moses as a condition of salvation and full membership in the church. They pressed this claim at Antioch after Paul and Barnabas reported how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, and their insistence brought alarm and sharp controversy that had to be sent to the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for settlement. They urged it from zeal for Jewish customs and national privilege and as a test of conversion and safeguard against idolatry and immorality, not yet seeing that Christ's death had fulfilled what the sacrifices and ceremonies foreshadowed. The Jerusalem council faced the dispute and decided that Gentile believers were not bound by circumcision and the ceremonial law, though Jewish converts might still observe those ordinances for themselves. That rejection of the ceremonial requirement settled the short-lived difference and united the believers, and later attempts to impose it again opposed that decision.

Setting and Demand

The demand arose at Antioch in Syria after Paul and Barnabas returned from their mission and reported how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. The church there was large and growing, one of the most important bodies of believers and a center of missionary activity, made up of many classes of people from both Jews and Gentiles united with ministers and lay members in earnest effort to win souls. Certain Jewish believers of the sect of the Pharisees came from Judea to Antioch and raised the dispute with great assurance. At Jerusalem and at Antioch, Paul defended Christianity against their narrow restriction of Judaism.

They insisted that Gentile converts had to be circumcised and commanded to keep the law of Moses, meaning the entire ceremonial law, in order to be saved. Their demand made circumcision and obedience to Jewish rites and ceremonies a condition of salvation, church fellowship, and full membership in Christ's church. They regarded circumcision and keeping the ceremonial law as a test of sincere conversion and a safeguard for the church. They believed these requirements would keep out those who accepted the faith without a changed heart and would guard converts from Gentile society against idolatry, improper use of blood and violations of Jewish food customs, sexual immorality and excess, and disgrace brought on the church.

Their insistence reflected zeal for the ceremonial law, attachment to Jewish national privileges, customs and traditions, and the belief that Christianity had to retain Jewish laws and ceremonies and preserve the distinction between Jews and other peoples with Israel holding a privileged place in God's promises. As Christianity moved away from those customs they became jealous and indignant, were troubled that the new faith was leading away from Jewish ceremonies, and viewed Paul with disfavor as lax about the continuing obligation of the Jewish law. They did not yet see that Christ's death fulfilled what the sacrifices and ceremonies had foreshadowed, so those rites no longer had binding religious value. By contrast, the Ten Commandments continued as distinct from the abolished ceremonial rites.

The claim brought consternation and alarm to the believing Gentiles and stirred serious conflict, confusion, controversy, and threatened division in the church at Antioch. Many believing Jews there favored the newcomers, while Paul and Barnabas promptly opposed bringing the subject to the Gentiles. Because of this the question was sent to the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for a decision that the churches would accept.

Council Decision and Lessons

The demand of Acts 15:5 belongs to the account of the apostolic council, where the opposition over the requirements for Gentile believers had to be faced. There the council heard Paul's account of his conversion and of God's work among the Gentiles, the Spirit witnessed to his words, and its members set aside their prejudices and affirmed his position. That affirmation was then sent out in an address to the churches. The apostles and elders at Jerusalem addressed the disagreement as counselors, leaving room for the Holy Spirit to guide the decision rather than settling it by church authority alone.

The Jerusalem council considered the dispute and decided that Gentile converts were not bound by the ceremonial law, rejecting the requirement to impose circumcision, Jewish rites, and the law of Moses upon them. Mosaic ordinances could be observed by Jewish converts but must not be imposed on Gentile converts. The council's decisions recognized Paul's apostolic position, and he followed those decisions in his work among the Gentiles. At the council some who had criticized the apostles' work came to a broader view of God's purpose and joined in decisions that helped unite the believers.

That decision rejecting the ceremonial requirement remained in force. Later false teachers who urged Gentile believers to observe the ceremonial law were opposing that decision and mixing Jewish traditions with the gospel. The later advice to Paul to observe a Jewish ceremony was inconsistent with it and was not prompted by the Holy Spirit. Apart from this brief question about circumcision and whether uncircumcised Gentiles should be admitted to the church, union prevailed after the resurrection and ascension, with believers of one heart and mind. The difference was short-lived and soon settled, and through the divine illumination and sanctification of the Holy Spirit the believers were perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. That restored harmony shows that unity in understanding truth and in judgment exists only in proportion to illumination and sanctification and is and always will be the fruit borne under the influence of the Holy Spirit.