The Mission

The First General Church Council

At Jerusalem the delegates from Antioch told of the success that had come from their ministry among the Gentiles. They then gave a clear outline of the confusion that arose when certain converted Pharisees had declared that the Gentile converts must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. 4TC 99.4

The assembly warmly discussed this question and also the problem of foods offered to idols. Many Gentile converts were living among superstitious people who made frequent sacrifices and offerings to idols. The Jews were afraid that Gentile converts would bring a stain on Christianity by buying things that had been offered to idols, making it appear that they approved of the customs of idol-worshiper. 4TC 100.1

Again, the Gentiles routinely ate the flesh of animals that had been strangled, but God had instructed the Jews that when animals were killed for food, the blood should flow from the body. God had given these directions for preserving health. The Jews believed it was sinful to use blood as something to eat. The Gentiles, though, made a practice of catching the blood from the sacrificial victim and using it preparing food. Therefore, if Jew and Gentile were to eat at the same table, the Jew would be shocked and outraged by the Gentile. 4TC 100.2

The Gentiles, especially Greeks, were immoral, and there was danger that some would profess Christianity without turning away from their evil practices. The Jewish Christians could not tolerate the immorality that the heathen did not even consider as criminal. So the Jews held that circumcision and the observance of the ceremonial law should be required of Gentile converts as a test of their sincerity. This, they believed, would prevent the church from receiving as members those who might later bring dishonor on God’s church by immorality. 4TC 100.3

The various points of concern seemed to present the council with difficulties too great to resolve. “When there had been much dispute, Peter rose and said to them: ‘Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.’” He reasoned that the Holy Spirit had already decided the matter they were disputing by descending with equal power on Gentiles and Jews. He told about his vision and the call to go to the centurion and instruct him in the faith of Christ. This message showed that God accepted all who respected and honored Him. Peter told how astonished he was when he witnessed the Holy Spirit taking possession of Gentiles as well as Jews. Light and glory also lit up the faces of the uncircumcised Gentiles. This was God’s warning that Peter was not to consider one as inferior to the other, for the blood of Christ could cleanse from all impurity. 4TC 100.4

Once before, Peter had told how the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles. He had said, “If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17). Now, with equal force, he said: “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” This yoke was not the Ten Commandments. Peter was referring here to the law of ceremonies, which was made void by Christ’s crucifixion. 4TC 101.1

“The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles” (NRSV). 4TC 101.2