The First Apostolic Tour concluded when Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch of Syria. There they resided a very long time perhaps even a couple of years. This was the time setting of a Private Visit (Galatians 2:1-10) to Jerusalem by the apostles Paul and Barnabas made by them to confer with the apostles and elders of the mother church, a visit by Peter to Antioch in all probability for the Feast of Tabernacles (Galatians 2:11), and the occasion of disconcerting news from Galatia, prompting Paul�s epistle, that some of his converts had reverted into Judaism and paganism (Galatians 1:6, 4:8-9; 5:3-4). It also was the point in time of a very public visit to Jerusalem for a hearing before the apostles and the elders of the headquarters church (Acts 15:2). These matters as recorded in Acts 14:25-15:4 (NIV) read:

14:25and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. ²⁷On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸And they stayed there a long time with the disciples. ^15:1Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." ²This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. ³The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. ⁴When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

There appear to be similarities between the conflict reported in Galatians 2:11-14 and the occasion for the convening of the proceeding at Jerusalem as given in Acts 15:1-2 but these are illusory and require a close reading. Peter came to Antioch to visit the church there and left before the writing of Galatians. It was the appearance  of the group of messianic Jews that had so upset the Galatians at Antioch that prompted the appeal for the matter to be heard at Jerusalem. The preaching of these Messianic Pharisees, done with audacity and indifference to Gentile sensitivities, offended Paul. The congregation called for referral of the matter to Jerusalem because the issue if not resolved could have split the church into Jewish and Gentile entities. The issue became so intense, heated, and involved that the aid of the mother church headquarters was essential. Resolution of the issues had to occur at their source.

The proceedings at Jerusalem occurred during the winter [probably December] in CE 49 or early January CE 50 (Acts 15:1-29). Peter, James and John were present. The apostles and elders at Jerusalem heard the matter and issued a decree addressed to brethren at Antioch, Syria and Cilicia who were from the Gentiles (Acts 15:23). In spite of the arguments of some of the messianic Pharisees that the Gentiles must be circumcised and commanded to keep the Law of Moses the proceeding of Acts 15 brought a final fixed doctrinal solution to the matter of circumcision and the Law of Moses. The church would continue in its established doctrine that the as Law of Moses was not part of the New Covenant neither was ritual circumcision. Becoming a Christian requires belief in Jesus and repentance of sin not adherence to the Mosaic Code. Nevertheless, the decree did not solve the matter for those who determined to remain contentious.

Hearing the matter James concluded that the Gentiles should be troubled no further. He instructed Christians of ethnic Gentiles to abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood (Acts 15:19-20; Deuteronomy 15:23; 12:16, 23). Apparently these matters had surfaced during the conference�s proceedings. The exhortation related to Christians of Gentile origin being particularly circumspect in the three common Gentile practices that offended and infuriated the traditional Jews. These were all incorporated into New Covenant anyway but they were particularly hypersensitive issues with non-Christian Jews. While the Old Covenant spelled out these restrictions it was necessary to bind clearly them as applications of God�s law in its New Covenant administration.

At the Acts 15 proceeding, as at the Jerusalem Conference of 49 CE, the apostles and elders of the mother church confirmed that a Gentile did not have to become a Jew first in order to be a Christian. Hence the observance of the "Law of Moses" and ritual "circumcision" were not to be imposed upon brethren of Gentile descent. Nevertheless some Christian Jews remained unsure whether the terms and conditions of the Old Covenant continued to bind them because of their Jewish heritage or whether they had the same rights and obligations as possessed by their former Gentile brethren. 

Following the Jerusalem Conference, messianic Pharisees who were pseudo-Christians, the "false circumcision," or heteros teachers (that is a different kind of teachers), who could be termed "Judaizers" or "Judaizing-Christians", or preferably christianized Jews were not willing to accept the teaching of the apostles on the question of circumcision and the Law of Moses. It was apparently this group of pseudo-Christian Jews who splintered off as the Ebionites. They continued to insist that Gentiles must come to God through Judaism, that a Gentile, in order to be a first class Christian, must first become a Jewish Proselyte and observe Torah.

Page last edited: 04/13/06 07:40 PM

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