Acts Chapter Fifteen
False teaching. Twisting the truth of the Gospel. What do you do with that? What do you do when teaching happens that you know is contrary to God’s truth?
This happened at Antioch when people arrived and began to teach that they only way to be saved was to follow the Law given to Moses. This would be going back to what they had before Jesus. This would be undoing the accomplishment of the cross.
What did Paul and Barnabas do? V. 2 " Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently." They didn’t just sit back and say it would go away. They understood the importance of doctrinal purity and stood up for what was right. Unchecked false doctrine has a way of worming itself in to wreak much destruction. They spoke out against what they knew was wrong.
So, this leads to the question: how do you know if something is wrong doctrinally? The answer: You go to the Bible. We are blessed by God to have the completed text of the scriptures. God will never tell you something that goes against the revealed word of God. Don’t ever allow someone to build a doctrine on part of a verse, or by twisted logic of this verse and that verse.
The church in Antioch used great wisdom to send a delegation to the church in Jerusalem to have a conference with the apostles and elders. Reaching out to established spiritual leaders is always a good idea. So, the group went to Jerusalem to discuss the matter.
After a long discussion, Peter stood up and spoke from his experiences when God sent him to be the first to minister to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius. Here is part of his response.
8 "God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus."
Why should we ask them to do something we couldn’t do? Good point, Peter. Often false doctrine and burdensome practices come from people who want to manipulate and control other people. They come up with unbiblical restrictions claiming them to be scriptural requirements. These can come from a confusion between personal convictions and Biblical directives.
As Christians, we will have personal convictions about things that we feel are right for us to do in honoring God. They help us in our walk with the Lord and strengthen us. We cannot try to apply them across the board if the Bible does not command them.
The wisdom and experience of the mature leaders in Jerusalem gave them a good response to not burden the believers with more than is Biblical. They brought the answer back and it was well received.
This chapter ends with a sad situation. Paul and Barnabas wanted to take another missionary trip to see how things were going. On their previous trip they had taken John Mark along. He couldn’t take it and left part of the way through. Barnabas wanted to take him again, Paul refused. It appears that Paul wasn’t quite as forgiving as he should have been. Late in his life Paul recognized the benefits he could add to the ministry. Some times when a believer is young and inexperienced he won’t have the "stick-to-it-ofness" needed. Unfortunately, Paul and Barnabas couldn’t resolve the issue, so they went their separate directions in ministry. This starts the team of Paul and Silas.
Please note: there can come times when two believers can’t agree on a ministry. It’s better to agree to disagree and get on with life than to allow it to destroy the work of the ministry.
Chapter fifteen ends with more missionary journeys starting.
