Acts 15:1
Outline:
I. \\#Acts 1:1-8:4\\ God’s Work in Jerusalem
A. \\#1:1-3\\ The Introduction
B. \\#1:4-26\\ Jesus’ Departure
1. \\#1:4-8\\ The Command
2. \\#1:9-11\\ The Ascension and Promised Return
3. \\#1:12-26\\ The Wait for the Holy Ghost
C. \\#2:1-8:4\\ The Holy Ghost’s Coming
1. \\#Acts 1:1-4\\ The Holy Spirit Comes
2. \\#Acts 2:5-8:4\\ The Power of the Holy Spirit
a. \\#Acts 2:5-13\\ The Power of Languages
b. \\#Acts 2:1-36\\ The Power of Preaching
c. \\#Acts 2:37-41, 47\\ The Power of Salvation
d. \\#Acts 2:42-47\\ The Power of Fellowship
e. \\#Acts 2:44-45\\ The Power of Giving
f. \\#Acts 3:1-11\\ The Power of Healing (miracles) and
more preaching \\#Acts 3:12-26\\
g. \\#Acts 4:1-31\\ The Power of Suffering
h. \\#Acts 4:32-5:42\\ The Power of Chastening
i. \\#Acts 6:1-7:50\\ The Power of Leadership (salvation,
preaching, persecution)
j. \\#Acts 8:1-4\\ The Persecutions Intensify
II. \\#Acts 8:5-12:24\\ God’s Work in Judea and Samaria
A. \\#8:4-40\\ The Ministry of Philip
1. \\#5-25\\ Philip Called to Samaria
2. \\#26-39\\ Philip’s Called to the Desert
3. \\#39-40\\ God Moved Him Toward Caesarea
B. \\#9:1-31\\ The Salvation of Saul
1. \\#9:1-9\\ The Power at Saul’s Conversion
2. \\#9:10-22\\ The Power after Saul’s Calling
3. \\#9:23-31\\ The Consequences of His Conversion
C. \\#9:32-11:18\\ The Ministry of Peter
1. \\#9:32-35\\ At Lydda
2. \\#9:36-43\\ At Joppa
3. \\#10:1-48\\ At Caesarea
4. \\#11:1-18\\ At Jerusalem
5. \\#11:19-30\\ (An update on the church and Paul)
6. \\#12:1-25\\ Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance
III. \\#Acts 13:1-28:31\\ God’s Work in Uttermost Parts of the World
A. \\#13:1-14:28\\ The First Missionary Journey
1. \\#13:1-3\\ The Calling
2. \\#13:4\\ Seleucia
3. \\#13:5-12\\ Cyprus
4. \\#13:13\\ Perga in Pamphylia
5. \\#13:14-52\\ Antioch of Pisidia
6. \\#14:1-5\\ Iconium
7. \\#14:6-19\\ Lystra
8. \\#14:21\\ Debra
9. \\#14:22-25\\ Retracing the Journey
h. \\#14:25\\ Attalia
i. \\#14:26-28\\ Antioch of Syria
B. \\#15:1-35\\ Judaism or Grace
1. \\#15:1-3\\ The Issue
2. \\#15:4-29\\ The Council At Jerusalem
3. \\#15:30-35\\ The return to Antioch
C. \\#15:36-18:22\\ Paul’s Second Missionary Journey
1. \\#Acts 15:36-40\\ Problems in Preparation
2. \\#Acts 15:41\\ Syria and Cilicia
The book of Acts not only tells the story of the spread of
Christianity, but as we have seen, it answers the questions,
1. How did the Gentiles get in? (Acts 10-11)
2. Why did the Jews get out?" (Acts 13)
Now the book begins to answer another important question, "How far
into Judaism must one go in order to be saved?" The answer will be
dealt with more thoroughly in Galatians and Romans. I have seen again
in recent weeks how important this answer is as someone in our church
was confused by those who hold the belief that while Jesus is the
Messiah, true believers will keep the law. This is the rebirth of
Judaism as it was in Paul’s day and is based on the belief that all
of Paul’s writings are false.
However, Peter himself acknowledged the inspiration of Paul’s
writings \\#2Peter 3:15-16\\. In addition, these false prophets fail
to account that it was not Paul but Luke, via Acts 15, who is the
first to pronounce that salvation and Judaism are not the same. Hence,
this chapter is not important for history’s sake only, but also for
dealing with error in our day.
I. \\#15:1-35\\ Judaism or Grace
A. \\#15:1-3\\ The Issue
1. \\#1\\ "men …from Judah …said, ‘Except ye be
circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be
saved.’"
a. These are what I call Judaizers. They are men, not
necessarily Jews, who require Christians to keep some
part (or all) of the Law for salvation.
b. It stands to reason that the church would have to deal
with this issue at some point.
c. However, the bases of this line of thinking is that
keeping the Law in the Old Testament somehow produced
salvation. If one does not think that the sacrifices
of the Old Testament produced salvation, there would
be no reason to suppose they could in the New
Covenant.
d. That is an assumption that the Bible disagrees with.
Ga 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for
if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is
dead in vain.
Ro 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by
the law is the knowledge of sin.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
e. In this chapter, the early church would consider the
issue and give their Holy Spirit lead understanding
of the matter. Paul, being a missionary to the
Gentiles, would then devote a good portion of his
life to making sure that the church’s degree was
understood and followed. Paul might well have been
the most powerful proponent for grace.
f. Understand that Judaism is making a resurgence today.
A group that calls themselves Messianic Jews (they
stole that name from Christian Jews) is attacking the
writings of Paul as uninspired, the Christians as a
cult, and church as heretics. They say we have not
called on the name of the Hebrew Messiah because the
name Jesus is not Hebrew. I have spoken with two
ladies afflicted with our church who have been
confused by these Judaizers. Like those in Paul’s
day, they want a Messiah but they want Him under the
Old Covenant.
2. \\#2\\ Paul and Barnabas disagree with them and it is
decided that the church of Jerusalem must be involved.
This shows the respect of the Antioch church for the
church at Jerusalem and the apostles.
3. \\#3\\ They travel through the Gentile regions of
Phoenicia, the region which includes Tyre and Sidon, and
Samaria, where the Samaritans lived, on their way to
Jerusalem.
a. The verse specifically said that Paul and Barnabas
told the churches in those regions of the Gentiles
being saved and that the news made the "brethren"
very joyous.
b. Since several years had to have passed since Peter
had gone to Cornelius’ home, I would guess these
churches were mixed, both Jews and Gentiles.
c. All the saved where simply happy that more people were
being saved!
B. \\#15:4-29\\ The Council At Jerusalem
1. \\#4\\ Report-Once at Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas
reported what had been accomplished by God.
2. \\#5\\ Conflict-But the "believing Pharisees" thought
the Gentiles had to keep at least part of the Old
Covenant law.
a. The Bible says the Judaizers were both Pharisees and
believers.
b. That means that these people were saved but confused.
It is possible for saved people to believe WRONG
doctrine.
c. They were Pharisees. While their religious order has
suffered because of the hypocrisy and wicked acts
they have done, once saved, these Jewish leaders
could have been godly servants of the Lord. Remember,
Paul was a Pharisee. However, like those in Jesus
day, they still placed more stock in their view of
what the Law meant than in what God intended.
3. \\#6-11\\ Testimony from Peter
a. \\#7\\ "had been much disputing"-The issue was not
easily nor quickly resolved. In fact, even after the
church officially settled the matter, it continued to
be a problem until the Jewish temple was destroyed
and the Jews were scatter from the land.
b. "God made choice among us, that the Gentiles
…believe"-It was God who made the choice that the
Gentiles could be saved. Interestingly, that point
did not seem to be in question at all.
c. \\#9\\ "put no difference"-In Christ, all are the
same.
d. \\#10\\ "why tempt ye God"-Peter considered the
thought of making the Gentiles adhere to the Law as
tempting God. That statement means that Peter had no
doubts in what God thought in this matter.
e. "put a yoke" not "able to bear."-Peter acknowledged
that no one was able to keep the Law. Paul will
take this same thought and preach it repeatedly to
those attempting to put Gentiles under the Law.
f. \\#11\\ "through the grace …we shall be saved"
The church may only have been 17 to 18 years old, but
they were advocating salvation by grace, apart from
the law and works.
4. \\#12\\ Testimony from Paul and Barnabas-Paul and
Barnabas gave testimony to the fact that God HAD been
saving Gentiles without them keeping the Law. The logic
would be if God had been saving them for several years
already, why should we attempt to change what God was
doing?
5. \\#13-21\\ James’s Scripture and Sentence
a. \\#13-18\\ James’ Scripture
(1) \\#13\\ "James"-This would probably be "James
the Lord’s brother," \\#Gal 1:19, 2:9\\ "who
seemed to be pillars" in the church.
(2) \\#15-17\\ James moves past experience and
testimony to Scripture. loosely quotes from
\\#Amos 9:11-12\\ to say that God has known from
the beginning that He possess "all the heathen."
(a) While the Scripture James used is given, the
argument that went along with it is not so
we are left to interpret how James meant
this passage to be applied.
(b) \\#18\\ "Known unto God …from the
beginning"-The argument might have been
that God had always planned on the Gentiles
coming to Him and never once gave an
indication that they were to keep the Law
to do so.
b. \\#19-21\\ James’ Sentence
(1) \\#19\\ His Verdict-"that we trouble them not"
Changing what God had already begun to do and
making the Gentiles learn and keep the Law would
certainly have been trouble.
(2) \\#20\\ His Stipulations-However, three
stipulations were given.
(a) "they abstain from pollutions of idols"
Even the Gentiles must know to turn from
idols to God.
i. James’ thought was that the Gentiles
must be taught a truth known only to
the Jews up to this point, i.e. that
there is only ONE God.
ii. \\#29\\ Notice that in the letter sent
to the churches, this included that
they "abstain from meats offered to
idols," a teaching that will continue
to cause the church problems
\\#1Cor 8:4-13, Rom 14:13-16\\.
iii. While the idols were not gods, their
association with demonic activity and
the damage that eating such meat could
have on the testimony of a Christian
were very real.
(b) "from fornication"-And they must be taught
a truth practiced by very few then or now,
namely that sex is a holy gift from God to
be shared only by a husband and wife.
(c) "things strangled and from blood"-And they
must understand a truth which predated the
Law \\#Ge 9:4\\, that is, that the life is
in the blood and we may not eat the blood.
If an animal were strangled, the blood
would still remain in its body.
(3) \\#21\\ His Reasoning-"Moses …hath in every
city"
(a) James and the church drew a distinction
between being a Jew and being a Christian.
(b) The Law of Moses would continue to teach
people how to be a Jew while the church
would teach people how to be a Christian.
(c) From this point, it was understood that Jews
could be Jews without being Christian, and
Christians could be Christians without
being Jewish.
6. \\#22-29\\ Agreement and Documentation
a. \\#22\\ "to send chosen men of their own company" The
decision being made, the church had to share it with
the congregations scattered abroad.
b. They pick Paul, Barnabas, Judas, and Silas. This is
the first time Silas is mentioned.
c. \\#23\\ "Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia"-Antioch
was the city north of Israel which had become the
"Gentile headquarters." Syria was the region north of
Israel where Antioch was located. Cilicia was the
region north and west of Syria, running along the
Mediterranean Sea.
d. \\#24-29\\ A copy of the letter these men took to
those regions is enclosed.
(1) \\#24\\ They called the doctrine of making
circumcision a condition of salvation a
subversion. They further state that they never
gave any such command.
(2) \\#25-27\\ So to clear this teaching up, they
were sending men who have "hazarded their lives"
to notify the church what they really said on
the matter. That would indicate that these men
were well known and respected.
(3) \\#28-29\\ And the only things that they would
have the Gentile church to do were the
aforementioned, i.e. that they abstain…
(a) "from meats offered to idols"
(b) "from blood, and from things strangled"
(c) "from fornication."
ISSUE-Some would use this Scripture to assert that—at most—these
three elements are the ONLY aspects of the Old Testament Law about
which the New Testament Christians need to be concerned. To them.
teaching or adhering to any other aspect of the Old Testament would
then be legalism; hence, the church should not adhere to the Old
Testament teaching on homosexuality or holiness. Is that what the
Church at Jerusalem meant? NO! Why?
1. \\#Acts 15:1\\ Notice that this degree was dealing with the
influence of the Old Testament commands on New Testament
SALVATION. Some were teaching you could not be SAVED
without keeping aspects of the Old Testament.
a. The church had been preaching salvation by faith and
repentance. Some were wanting to add elements of the
Law, in this case, being circumcised.
b. The church determined that the only things that needed to
be preached to the Gentiles FOR SALVATION beyond faith
and repentance were these three aspects of the Old
Testament Law (stay away from idols, blood, and
fornication.)
c. This degree was never intended to remove Old Testament
teaching from defining sin or holiness.
d. How do I know? Because Paul and the remainder of the New
Testament continued to do so!
2. The writers of the New Testament continued to use the Old
Testament to define sin and holiness, among many other
things.
Ro 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin?
God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the
law: for I had not known lust, except the law had
said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For
without the law sin was dead.
Ro 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the
commandment holy, and just, and good.
1Jo 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law: for sin is the transgression of the
law.
Ro 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou
shalt not covet; and if there be any other
commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this
saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself.
Eph 5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or
covetousness, let it not be once named among you,
as becometh saints;
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are
upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry:
1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for
I am holy.
We could not and cannot know what sin and holiness are without the
Old Testament.
C. \\#15:30-35\\ The return to Antioch Antioch Map
1. \\#30\\ "they came to Antioch"-It seems likely that the
four traveled throughout these regions as a unit so that
they could each verify the others. It may have taken
some time for them to complete their mission and to
return to Antioch.
2. "they delivered the epistle"-The short letter from the
Church at Jerusalem seems to be the first "epistle," at
least the first that God saw fit to preserve. From this
time forward, Paul and others began to write the
remainder of our New Testament epistles.
3. \\#31\\ The people "rejoiced" in the simplicity of the
gospel.
4. \\#32\\ "Judas and Silas" stayed in Antioch for a time to
confirm the words of Paul and Barnabas to the people of
Antioch.
5. \\#33\\ Then they were released from their duties to go
to the "apostles," that is, to the church at Jerusalem,
no doubt for another assignment.
6. \\#34\\ However, Silas choose to stay in Antioch.
7. \\#35\\ And so did "Paul and Barnabas," along "with many
others also."
II. \\#Acts 18:36-18:22\\ Paul’s Second Missionary Journey
A. \\#15:36-40\\ Problems In Preparation
1. \\#36\\ Paul desired to return to the cities in which he
and Barabbas had started churches. Barnabas seemed to
agree with that idea.
2. \\#37\\ But Barnabas was determined to take Mark with
them.
3. \\#38\\ Paul did not think it wise to take Mark since he
departed from the previous journey. \\#Acts 13:5, 13\\.
4. \\#39\\ So Paul and Barnabas went in different directions.
a. Barnabas took John Mark.
b. \\#40\\ Paul took Silas.
Note: While Barnabas is not mentioned in the book of Acts again, he
is mentioned as being with Paul in other passages after this event.
#1. \\#1Cor 9:6\\ Paul mentioned Barnabas to the church at Corinth
in such a way that it seems obvious that the two labored
together in Corinth. Paul will not reach Corinth until the
last half of the 2nd missionary journey \\#Acts 18:1\\.
#2. \\#Gal 2:11-13\\ Paul mentioned Barnabas as being "carried"
away in the confusion at Antioch when Peter withdrew from the
Gentiles. While there is no other record to this event in
Scripture, it most likely occurred between the 2nd and 3rd
missionary journeys.
Paul also spake pf Mark as "profitable" in his last epistle
\\#2Tim 4:11\\.
B. \\#41\\ "through Syria and Cilicia" Cilicia Map
1. Paul and Silas stuck with Paul’s original idea and went
to revisit the church already started.
2. "churches"-This time, instead of traveling via the sea,
they took the land route allowing them the opportunity to
visit the cities of Derbe and Lystra for the first
recorded time, although it is obvious that the gospel had
already been preached.
3. This is the area that Paul had worked in after being sent
from Jerusalem when his life was threatened
\\#Acts 9:30, Gal 1:21-24\\. These may be some of his
earlier works or perhaps they are works that he helped to
start.
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