Acts 15: Misconceptions

Q. In some of my Bible classes it was mentioned that there were contentions with Jews who didn’t believe in Yeshua and new Gentile believers in Yeshua over whether or not they were to keep the Torah. Some of these contentions were specifically over dietary laws. My question is, was this a point of contention in the early congregations?

A Well, first of all there are some misconceptions in your question. Let’s look at one contention in particular and that will be found in Acts 15. The contention was between Jewish believers. So, the premise from which you discussed the question was not accurate. Here’s what was going on. People came from different back-rounds and beliefs in the first century. Two main factions or sects of the Pharisees was the School (of thought, interpretation) of Shammai and the School of Hillel. Shammai was a great teacher in the 1st century and was stricter in his interpretations than Hillel was. Shammai believed that a gentile who came to the Lord must be circumcised ritually, or become Jewish, to have a part in the World to Come, or be “saved” as it is understood in Acts 15.1-3. Hillel didn’t think that was necessary and so the two sects disagreed on what to do with gentile converts. Paul was taught in the School of Hillel.

Now, some of these people became believers in Yeshua but they carried some of the same “theology” with them into the Faith. So, when gentiles became believers they still had some of the old contentions. To settle the issue, they go to Jerusalem to the elders of the sect of the Nazarene, in other words the sect that believed that Yeshua was the Messiah, and they brought the issue up to be settled. Each sect had elders and their own “halakah” or way to walk before God. They had their own “rules of conduct” so to speak. The issue was over what to do as a sect of believers with the gentiles coming into the faith. Do they have to become Jewish (get circumcised) or not. Peter brings up the salvation of Cornelius, who received the Holy Spirit and wasn’t circumcised.

Paul gives his testimony about all the gentiles coming into the faith, receiving the Holy Spirit without being Circumcised (becoming Jewish). It was decided that gentiles did not have to become Jewish to be saved but they were to start with some minimal standards of obedience in order to maintain fellowship in the congregations. These minimal standards are found in Leviticus 18 and 19 and are known as the “heart of the Law”. These standards were to quit engaging in sexual uncleanness, idolatry, eating blood and raw meats and eating carrion. While doing that they could go to the local synagogues and learn the rest of the Torah and what they were to do (15.21). So, in short what was going on was far from what is being taught today. The gentile was welcomed into the faith without having to become Jewish, was to start following the Torah commands about some major issues and then go to the synagogues on the Sabbath day to learn what else applied to them.

That is a far cry from the premise you were discussing in your class and that is why there is so much error taught by so-called Bible teachers today. Peter said it best in 2 Peter 3.15-16 when he said Paul was being misunderstood because unlearned and unstable people distort what he said as also they do with the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction. The Book of Galatians is also a good example of this question. The question in Galatians is again over some brethren who came and tried to get the Galatians to ritually convert to Judaism through circumcision according to a long standing, man-made law concerning it as it related to a gentile convert.

The Galatians began to entertain the idea thinking their salvation was deficient and they fell short of it. Paul again presents the case that it was unnecessary to submit to man-made traditions and doctrines. They already had salvation and God had already accepted them so why did they think they were short of it. This had nothing to do with obeying the God-given commandments. It was over man-made traditional laws concerning the ritual conversion of gentiles to Judaism in order to be saved.