Epilogue

The Jerusalem Council

 

After several months of work in Antioch, Syria, several men came from Jerusalem, insisting that Gentiles had to be circumcised and, in addition, be required to keep the laws of Moses. Paul and Barnabas faced off with them and insisted that this was not required of Christians. Since Jesus took care of all sin on Calvary, men could add nothing to what He had done. Jesus is enough!

The Christians at Antioch felt that this problem needed to be solved once for all. So they sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to meet with the leading apostles on the nature of what to expect of Gentile converts.

Many Jewish Christians—who felt that Gentiles needed to keep the laws of Moses and be circumcised in order to saved—met with the apostles in order to make sure that their point would be heard. It was the same situation Paul had met at Iconium.

At the Jerusalem council (outlined in Acts 15), after listening to the Jewish brethren at length, Peter felt it time to set the record straight: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles [Cornelius and his family] might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." (Acts 15:7-11)

After Peter expressed the Lord’s will regarding Gentiles—that they were saved by Grace through faith—he made it clear that this also applied to the Jews. The Jews had no right making the Gentiles become Jews before they became Christians; and the Jewish Christians needed to turn away from their dependence upon Moses, and instead put Christ first and foremost in their lives.

James, the brother of Jesus, and evidently the chairman at the council, listened to the arguments on both sides, and after counseling with the apostles, summed up the argument by asking only four requirements of the Gentiles: 1) abstain from food polluted by idols, 2) from sexual immorality, 3) from the meat of strangled animals and 4) from eating blood.

In order that the saints at Antioch know that this decree was not something that Paul and Barnabas had drawn up, James sent along two remarkable men with them to testify to the Antioch church that the message was true. Silas and Judas were well known in the Christian community as eminent Christians—prophets. They would also be respected at Antioch as well.

When the message had been delivered, the church at Antioch rejoiced that the doctrine of “Jesus alone” had been upheld by the apostles at Jerusalem.

Most of the brethren from Jerusalem, including Judas, returned home; but Silas stayed on.

Not long after this, Paul felt a longing to see their friends in Galatia, and suggested to Barnabas that they travel back to see them again. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark. But because of the young man’s previous defection, Paul refused. Barnabas began to argue in favor of John’s presence, while Paul argued vehemently against it. The argument grew so hot between them, that they decided to separate.

Barnabas took John Mark with him to continue work on his native island of Cyprus. Paul chose Silas to travel with him on what would later be called his second missionary journey.

 

Looking back on it from this distance, it seems that their squabble could have been allowed by the Lord as a means of forming two evangelistic teams instead of one.

Years later, however, the rift was evidently forgotten. Paul sent greetings from Mark, who was with him, to the Christians at Colossae (4:10). And in a second letter to Timothy, he states: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:11)

 

Paul’s first missionary journey into Galatia and the letter he wrote to them later has blessed Christians down through the centuries, and even today. One message rings loud and clear above all else in his “gospel:” Jesus is Enough.