The Council in Jerusalem – Acts 15:2

For a couple of weeks, I have called the meeting described in this chapter “The Council in Jerusalem.”

But I’ve done so with some degree of hesitancy.

Having been raised in a Protestant church, the word “council” raises images within me that it shouldn’t.

Down through church history there have been many of church councils, usually arranged by the Roman Catholics for the purpose of discussing and determining Catholic doctrine.

For example there was the first Council at Nicaea in northwest Asia Minor in 325 AD.

There were 318 “bishops” present, along with Pope Sylvester and Emperor Constantine.

It lasted two months and 12 days.

From this council came the Nicean Creed, a defense of the deity of Christ, and a condemnation of the doctrines of Arius, the father of the Unitarians.

But that council also fixed the date for observing Easter.

Then there was the first council of Constantinople in 381.

This meeting was called by Pope Damasus in order to determine if the Holy Spirit was truly God.

The third council was at Ephesus in 431.

This council defended the doctrine of the unity of the Trinity, and condemned the doctrines of Pelagius, who was essentially the father of the Arminians.

But it also declared that Mary was the Mother of God.

Following Ephesus came many, many more.

The Roman Catholics have been holding these councils ever since the days of Constantine.

And for every good thing that they have accomplished they produced at least ten evil things.

For every Biblical doctrine that they clarified, they advocated several heresies.

For example the twentieth council was held at the Vatican in 1869.

Among some of the stupid things decided at that meeting was that the Pope, when speaking “ex cathedra” was incapable of error – the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope.

Can you guess where the Catholics find authority for holding these unauthorized church councils?

Certainly, they point to Acts 15 and call it “The Council in Jerusalem.”

So perhaps you can see my hesitancy in given this chapter that name.

But literally speaking it was a council and it was in Jerusalem.

A council is just an assembly of people called together for consultation, deliberation or discussion.

In this case the church in Antioch sought consultation with the church in Jerusalem on the question of the salvation of the Gentiles.

There was considerable discussion of the matter and then James made his judgment.

In the light of the corrupted form of church councils,

And in the light of the fact that Southern Baptists, the Baptist Bible Fellowship and others who wear the name of the Baptist, continue to have various forms of these councils,

Let’s think about what actually took place there in Jerusalem.

Verses 1-2:

“And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said,

Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them,

They determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them,

Should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.”

The Bible teaches that every church is autonomous.

They have the same Head and God, but that head is the Lord Jesus Christ, not any man or pope on earth.

And the fact that all true church have the same God and Head, means that they should believe roughly the same things.

When the church in Antioch, under the Headship of Christ,

Believed that the brethren who had visited them from Jerusalem were teaching heresy,

They felt it necessary to find out exactly what their sister church believed about this important doctrine.

Were these visitors repeating what they were being taught in Jerusalem? Antioch needed to know.

The trip to Jerusalem was not to form a committee in order to determine what is true doctrine.

The difference between truth and error is not determined by the vote of a committee.

Antioch simply wanted to find out what her sister church believed.

The church in Antioch wanted to verify whether or not they could continue in fellowship with the church in Jersualem.

Verse 4:

“And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.”

Paul, Barnabas and the other ambassadors from Antioch, were received by the church, with its pastors and by those apostles who were still there.

The thing to notice is that the church welcomed them; not the city.

This was not a meeting in the Jerusalem Memorial Arena where the delegates from Antioch were given equal authority to the delegates of the church which was at Jerusalem.

Paul and Barnabas were received as honored guests by the church at Jerusalem.

They had no authority over or in the Jerusalem church; not greater or equal authority.

Paul and Barnabas and their Syrian friends were only guests before the Jerusalem church.

Verses 5-6:

“But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.”

If verse 6 was made to stand alone, it might be argued that Paul and Barnabas were called into the church conference room where they met with Peter, James and John, the assistant pastors, the accusers and whoever else remained in town from among Jesus’ Apostles.

But as we see in verses 22 this meeting was open to all the church.

“Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote letters…”

I interpret verse 6 to say that this was a specially called meeting for the purpose of examining this issue.

James wanted to make sure that especially the Apostles were present, as well as Paul and his accusers.

But the whole church was invited and, in fact, participated in the meeting.

Verses 19-20:

“Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.”

Not only are each of God’s churches autonomous, they are democratic in government, under the Headship of Christ.

James is not the owner and dictator of the church in Jerusalem.

When he spoke it was not ex cathedra, like some Catholic pope who considered himself infallible.

First, James didn’t give any commands or orders, only recommendations.

Secondly, he knew that he had no authority over the members of the church in Antioch or any of the churches in Galatia.

And third, to whom was James talking in this verse?

This was not the letter which was written and he wasn’t instructing Judas and Silas about their mission.

Wasn’t he talking to the church of which he was pastor?

In verses 19-20 James was suggesting to the church what they should do about this potential rift between themselves and the church in Antioch.

Verse 22:

“Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote letters…”

Am I reading too much into these verses when I see Pastor James making a recommendation,

And then the whole church, which included some of the apostles, agreeing with that recommendation?

Is it my imagination or do I see the whole church deciding to send this letter with Judas and Silas?

Am I blind or is it true that Paul and Barnabas were not included in the decision to send this letter?

I don’t see a General Church Council with Catholic bishops or Baptist delegates voting on what laws to place upon the Gentiles of Syria, Celicia and Galatia.

I see a single church autonomously voting to encourage other Christians around the world how they think it would be best to serve the Lord.

Verse 28-29:

“For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.”

This reference to the Holy Spirit is worded rather strangely.

But despite the vocabulary, some things are obvious:

For example, the Holy Spirit does not reason and think and decide things the way that humans do.

The Holy Spirit didn’t listen to the arguments of the Judaisers, then Paul, then Peter and then get out a concordance to compare their comments with the Old Testament scriptures.

The Holy Spirit didn’t meditate on this question and then decide that it seemed best to lay no great burden on the Gentiles.

James was only saying that upon careful reflection on his part, it seemed that the Holy Spirit didn’t want to lay a burden on the gentiles that was too heavy for them to bear.

What this reference to the Spirit indicates is that the church spent some time in prayer about this matter after hearing all the arguments.

They felt that their decision and recommendation was under the guidance and leadership of the Holy Spirit.

After, it was the Spirit who inspired Isaiah, Amos, David and the other Old Testament prophets to prophesy the salvation of the gentiles.

And it was the Holy Spirit who empowered Paul and Barnabas.

It iwas the Holy Spirit who lead Peter to Caesarea.

And it was the Spirit who regenerated those Gentiles.

Now the Spirit was leading the church in Jerusalem to encourage those new saints in the best ways to serve the Lord.

Now look at verse 30-31:

“So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.”

When Judas and Silas read the letter that their church had sent, the saints in Antioch were filled with joy.

What they believed to be the truth was corroborated by the brethren in Jerusalem.

Those who were being saved under their ministries were not going to be asked to proselytize to Judaism.

Now, notice one more word before we close: “They rejoiced for the consolation.”

In English the word “consolation” refers to allaying a person’s grief or sorrow.

And that was exactly what this letter did.

But it’s interesting to notice that the Greek word is “paraklesis” ( par-ak’-lay-sis ).

Fourteen times this word is translated “consolation” and six times it is rendered “comfort.”

But then eight times it is translated “exhortation.”

Notice verse 32:

“And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.”

The word translated “exhorted” in verse 32 is “parakaleo” ( par-ak-al-eh’-o ).

It was comforting to hear the exhortation “That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves.”

It was comforting to know that the legalistic Jews of Judea were not expecting them to become Jews.

It was comforting to know that they would enjoy continued fellowship with them as they simply tried to live godly lives in Christ Jesus.

The council in Jerusalem was not anything like the Roman Catholic councils of church history.

Nor was it anything like the denominational meetings of the Southern Baptists and others.

It was simply one church which had been offended by the members of another church for clarification regarding the offending doctrine.