ACTS 15
Bible Study Notes Rev. Betsy Perkins
The Council in Jerusalem
- What are the essential things a person must do to become a Christian? Which of those things, if you didn’t do them, would mean that you were in fact not yet a Christian?
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 1:04:10 – 1:11:35
Disagreement in the Church (15:1-5)
- Just to review, what had the church in Jerusalem decided about Gentile believers in 11:17-18?
- Why did the Gentile believers, along with Paul and Barnabas, get upset with the Judean believers who had come to teach Gentiles?
- What did they decide to do to settle the disagreement?
- What do Paul and Barnabas do as they travel to Jerusalem from Antioch (about 250 miles, several weeks of travel)? How are they received?
The Council in Jerusalem (15:6-21):
- Who participated in the meeting in Jerusalem to consider the disagreement?
- What did Peter share with the Council about God’s plan for the Gentiles? What do all people, Jews and Gentiles, need to be saved? How had Peter come to this understanding?
Acts 15 is not simply a matter of ‘tradition’ versus ‘innovation’. It is about the reassertion and the working through of the principle already established in chapter 11, which concerns not a general or abstract point about tradition and innovation, but a very specific and concrete point which is central to the whole of early Christianity: precisely because God has fulfilled His covenant with Israel in sending Jesus as the Messiah, the covenant family is now thrown open to all, without distinction. It isn’t a matter, it can’t be a matter, of belonging to one particular ethnic group, no matter how sacred, how chosen, how blessed with God’s presence and entrusted with carrying His promise to the world. It is time for that promise to be delivered, not kept as a private possession. This is what the ‘tradition’, at its best, was actually about all along. N.T. Wright
- Why does Peter accuse the others of testing God?
- Are there churches today that set requirements for salvation and membership that go beyond simply ‘the grace of our Lord Jesus’?
- Missionaries have sometimes been accused of trying to force people to adopt western culture along with Christianity (for example, with Native Americans). How do we distinguish between faith and culture?
- How does the gracious attitude of Paul, Barnabas and Peter challenge you?
- Who is the James that speaks to conclude the discussion with his judgment? (note Gal.2:9-13)
- Who does James say chose to save Gentiles and when would it happen? How do we know that?
- What does the Church Council decide is required to be a Christian? Does someone need to become a Jew (get circumcised and obey the Law) to be a follower of Jesus?
- Does this now mean that people could do anything and still be Christians?
- What was the reason for requirements against eating idol food and sexual immorality?
Every city and town in the world had Jewish inhabitants at this time, according to the historian Josephus. So, wherever you went, people would be used to hearing what the law of Moses said. And, precisely since the Christians claimed that in Jesus as Messiah the law and the prophets had been fulfilled, and because this claim was always going to be at best puzzling and at worst offensive, the Gentile Christmas were to be encouraged not to offer needless slaps in the face to their as-yet-unbelieving Jewish neighbors. It would therefore be a great help if they would observe the most obvious point: to keep well away from pagan temples and from everything that went on in them. N.T. Wright
- Can you think of any other compromises churches have made to settle disagreements?
The Letter to the Churches (15:22-35):
- Who is sent to carry the letter to the Gentile churches? Why does the early church have the practice of sending people along with letters they write?
- What does the letter say about the relationship between the Jerusalem church and those who had been teaching the need for circumcision? What does it say about the relationship between the Jerusalem church and Paul and Barnabas?
- Are the things listed in the letter requirements for salvation or suggestions for behavior?
Paul’s attitude to controversial questions in ‘his’ churches tended, where possible, to be not ‘Here is the rule which you are to learn and keep’, but ‘Here is how to think as men and women in Christ.’ Give a church a rule and you guide them for a day; teach a church to think and you guide them for life. N.T. Wright
Disagreement between Paul and Barnabas (15:36-41):
- Why would Luke include this account of a huge row and split between Paul and Barnabas?
This is a shameful episode, and the fact that it stands in scripture should not make us afraid to say so. On the contrary, its scriptural status should be interpreted as a sign that the Bible itself is warning us against allowing such a thing to happen. When Paul writes, as he often does in his letters, about the dangers of anger, bursts of rage, and so on, he must many times have looked back on this incident and hung his head in shame. N.T. Wright
- What were Paul’s objections to taking Mark on the next missionary journey? Why do you think Barnabas argued that they should take Mark?
The worst rows, of course, happen when both people are in the right. N.T. Wright
- Does the mission of Jesus Christ fall apart as a result of the falling out between Paul and Barnabas? How does God’s grace bring about good in this situation?
- Psalm 76:10 reads, “Surely the wrath of mankind brings you praise.” Does this excuse human quarrels and church divisions?
That doesn’t excuse sinful human wrath, of course. It simply shows once again what the gospel message itself massively demonstrates: that God can take the greatest human folly and sin and bring great good from it. That is a humbling and necessary lesson for the church to learn in each generation. Luke could quite easily have found a less embarrassing way of explaining the new missionary pairings. I have a hunch that he told this shocking little story partly at least because he wanted this lesson to be heard and take to heart. N.T. Wright
In light of this passage and our discussion, what one truth about God and about yourself stand out as something to “take to heart” this week?
Are there steps you will take, by God’s grace, to more fully apply it to your life?
Resources: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, 2015
N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part 1 2008
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – The Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 2014
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