Evaluating the purpose of the Apostolic decree of Acts 15:19-21, and its intention, is most critical for an overall evaluation of not only understanding the inclusion of the redeemed from the nations within the Body of Messiah--but also their relationship to the Torah. The Apostolic decree was specifically issued by James the Just to combat the idea that the new, non-Jewish Believers coming to faith had to be ordered to keep the Law of Moses (Acts 15:5, ESV) and circumcised as proselytes to be saved. Averting a crisis, James instead ruled, "Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath" (Acts 15:19-21). When the four requirements listed would be followed by the new, non-Jewish Believers, what would their effect be? The old pagan and social religious spheres of influence would be off limits! What would their new sphere of social and religious influence be? A Jewish community that recognized the One God of Israel, and one in which the Torah of Moses was taught every Sabbath (Acts 15:21).
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 14:32:53 +0000
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