1. ACTS 15 THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM A.D.49 Christian Disagreements and how to solve them.

2. WHY THIS COUNCIL IS SO IMPORTANT 1. This is why you are not compelled to learn to understand and speak Hebrew and Greek, but can experience church in your own language. 2. This is why Scripture is translated and used in worship in many languages. 3.This is why Christians have no food restrictions (pork, bacon & seafood O.K.) 4. This is why great cultural variation in church meeting places and worship styles possible. 5. This is why you don’t have to be circumcised

3. 1.FICTION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AS PERFECT Luke reports honestly failures in Acts churches : 1. Ananias and Sapphira’s hypocrisy (Contrast with Barnabas) 2. Simon Magus suggests misusing money to get power. 3. Criticism of Peter going into house of uncircumcised men 4. Unbelief of praying group that Peter had been released 5. “sharp dispute and debate” (15:2) apostles v. Judaisers 6. “sharp disagreement” (paroxysmos) 15:39 P v.B 7. Paul’s letters were written to correct imperfections and errors. Perfect churches would not need corrective letters.

4. 2. PAUL’S 3/4 VISITS TO JERUSALEM? (i) Post conversion Acts 9:26-30; Gal.1:18-20 (i)Private visit Gal.1:18,19 after three years: apostles agree Paul goes to Gentiles. (ii)Famine Visit with B.Acts 11:30 Gal.2:10? (iv) Jerusalem Council with Barnabas: fourteen years later Gal.2:1-5; Acts 15: Academic arguments harmonising visits of Acts 15 & Gal.2. Typical examination question!! vs.24 important “some went out from us without authorisation” Gal.2:12 “men from James”

5. 3. GENTILE CONVERSIONS “ God who knows the hearts 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.” 15:8-9 (i) 6:5 Nicholas (one of Seven, proselyte of Antioch) (ii) 8:4 Ethiopian eunuch (Nubia “uttermost parts”) (iii) 10:45 Cornelius, Roman godfearer & household in coastal garrison town of Caesarea. (iv) 11:21 Syrian Antioch “the Lord’s hand was with them” mass turnings of Gentiles in major city (i)Cilicia Paul’s home province 15:23,41 (vi) Galatia – Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Perga in Pamphylia 13:13-14:25 (vii) Titus – uncircumcised test case Gal.2:1-10

6. 4. DISAGREEMENTS TO BE EXPECTED: so how do we resolve them? Gal.2:11ff Paul confronts Peter in Antioch. This was a major disagreement. Stasis στασις (5x-9x) strife, discord, disunion, Acts 15:2 Zetesis ζητησις (3x-7x) discussion, debate, controversy Acts 15:2 Paroxysmos παροξυσμος (1x-2x) sharp disagreement, attack of fever! Acts 15:39

7. PETER Certain men from JAMES Jews and proselytes in ANTIOCH PAUL Gentile believers in Antioch Barn abas “I withstood him to the face” CHRISTIANS DISAGREE

8. 6. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO RECONCILE CHRISTIANS WHO DISAGREE WITH ONE ANOTHER?

9. 5. SOME PRACTICAL STEPS RESOLVING CONFLICT (i)They discussed with larger group. vs.6 (i)They noted “what God is doing” vs.12 * (iii) They sought Scriptural warrant vs.15 (iv) They were helped by the Holy Spirit vs.28 (v) They put their conclusions in writing vs23ff (vi) They sent recognised representatives vs.27 (vii) Decisions welcomed with gladness vs.31 * Events do not define doctrine, but may illustrate.

10. 7. PETER AND JAMES BOTH ADMIT THEY HAD BEEN WRONG. Barnabas and Paul relate what God has done (15:12) Peter explains his guidance and experience: the Cornelius affair some ten years earlier(15:7) – a “hot potato” unresolved. James appeals to Scripture: Old Testament prophets (15:13-21) ( so both of them changed their position from the one they had taken in Antioch!) “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” MAJOR ROW (Jerusalem and other churches) followed by MINOR ROW (between two individuals). Paul later admits he had been wrong about Mark (2Tim.4:11).

11. PETER “Not authorised by me” says JAMES Jews and proselytes in ANTIOCH PAUL Gentile believers in Antioch Barna bas “I was wrong.. God accepted them and gave them his Holy Spirit” CHRISTIANS AGREE

12. 6. Issue of whether Gentiles should be circumcised Gen.17:10-14. Circumcision was given to Abraham before the Mosaic Law: Gen. 34:24ff The shameful episode of circumcising the Shechemites in revenge for Dinah’s rape Ex.12:48,49 Circumcision was a condition for aliens celebrating the Passover Lev.12:3 Circumcised eighth day commanded in relation to mothers being purified after giving birth to a son. Deut.10:16 makes it spiritual – circumcise your hearts. Hot potato – ten years from Cornelius until Jerusalem Council agreed Gentiles not compelled to accept Jewish culture (cf Islam – both Qu’ran and Shariah are Arabian). Serious Question: Circumcision is commanded in the Law, so how can we disregard? We understand rigorist objection.

13. 8. SCRIPTURES PROPHESYING INCLUSION OF GENTILES Rom. 15:9-12 Paul quotes the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms: Psalm 18:49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations… Deut.32:43 Rejoice, O nations with his people Psalm 117:1 Praise the Lord, all you nations, extol him all you peoples Isaiah 11:10 The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations, the Gentiles will hope in him. James says “Simon (his Jewish name) has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: (Amos 9:11, 12) “After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord who does these things.” Oddity here is that James quotes LXX version, not Masoretic text : but Dead Sea Scroll in Hebrew matches. Other prophets Zech.2:11 striking: “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people” Mal.1:11 “My name will be great among the nations from the rising to the setting of the sun.”

14. 9. CONCESSIONS TO ALLOW TABLE FELLOWSHIP Acts 15:20,29 How could Jewish Christians who kept the law, have table fellowship with gentile Christians, who did not? Dramatic Antioch division. 1Cor.8 and Rom. 14 & 15 discuss “days” observed; “meat” abstained from in Jewish, Greek and Asian quarters of major cities. (i) abstain from food offered to idols Leviticus 17-18 Israelites or any alien living among them 17:8 whether native born or alien 17:15. This passage specifically mentions aliens, non-Jews and it included them in obedience. There was Old Testament authority for applying this law to aliens and proselytes etc. (ii) from blood (as food) because intended for sacrificial cleansing (iii) meat of strangled animals (not kosher, not drained of blood) (iv) abstain from sexual immorality : at first sight, peculiar as it is the seventh commandment – what about murder & theft? However context of Lev.18: is against incestual relations with close relatives.

15. 10. MAJOR ROW FOLLOWED BY A MINOR ONE. Sometimes differences are personal: Mark was Barnabas cousin, but classic disagreement whether the work or the worker more important. Paul used strong word (αποσταντα) Acts 15:38 “Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia” (i) Barnabas was older Christian who had befriended newly converted Saul Acts 9:27 and later fetched him from Tarsus to Antioch 11:25. (ii) Paul later admitted he’d been wrong 2Tim.4:11 (iii) In God’s providence two teams instead of one. (iv) Tradition in Cyprus: Barnabas stoned to death by Salamis synagogue, explaining his disappearance.

16. 11. RESULTS OF JERUSALEM COUNCIL 1.Church broke free from Jewish culture and traditions: Scriptures and worship to be in their own languages. 1.Immediate issue of table fellowship with Gentiles made possible. 1.However Jews antagonised by church’s refusal to observe ‘shabat’ and the Law, frequently Jews stir up opposition. 1.Growing tension for Christian Jews welcoming Romans as brothers in Christ, while nationalist zealot Jews about to revolt against Rome (broke out AD66 – Masada fell 73). 1.Current Jewish Christian majority would soon become a minority in a largely Gentile church.

17. 12. LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN ACTS CHURCHES From the beginning churches had to contend with a mixture of three main cultures and languages, but cosmopolitan port cities heard other languages also. Scripture (classical Hebrew) needed Aramaic explanation in synagogues. John 19:20 Pilate’s notice “was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek” Acts 21:37 -22:2 Paul’s arrest “Do you speak Greek?....when they (the crowd) heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Acts 6:1 the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews”(NB the Seven were all Hellenistic Jews with Greek names). Acts 11:20 “men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks also… (N.T. WAS WRITTEN IN GREEK) Acts 18 Greek Corinth was totally destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. and refounded by Julius Caesar as a Roman colony in 44B.C. Nearly all first century inscriptions in Corinth are in LATIN (as in Rome!!) Acts 26:14 “I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic: Saul, Saul….”

18. A. CHRISTIAN WORKERS VISITING CORINTH MULTI-ETHNIC PAUL – Hellenistic Jew, Roman citizen from TarsusDRAMATIS SILAS – Hellenistic Jew, Roman citizen from Jerusalem (Acts 18:5) PERSONAE TIMOTHY –Greek father, Jewish mother from Lystra (Acts 18:5) IN APOLLOS – Hellenistic Jew from Alexandria (Acts 19:1) CORINTH CEPHAS – (PETER) Aramaic speaking Jew from Galilee (1Co.3:12) B. CONVERTS FROM CORINTH SYNAGOGUE (HELLENISTIC?) AQUILA – Hellenistic Jew from Pontus, tentmaker by trade (Acts 18:2) PRISCA – his gifted and hospitable wife from Rome (Acts 18:2) CRISPUS – Jewish ruler of synagogue and his household (Acts 18:8) SOSTHENES – Jewish ruler of synagogue (Acts 18:17 with 1Cor.1:1) GAIUS TITIUS JUSTUS – Roman godfearer (Acts 18:7; Rom.16:23) LUCIUS, JASON AND SOSIPATER – Paul’s Jewish kinsmen (Rom,.16:22) C. ROMANS (MAJORITY OF 1 ST C. CORINTHIAN INSCRIPTIONS ARE IN LATIN) ERASTUS – city director of public works (Rom.16:24) TERTIUS (& QUARTUS his brother?) who wrote down Romans for Paul (Rom.16:22) STEPHANAS – first convert & household (1Co.1:15; 16:17) FORTUNATUS & ACHAICUS – visit Paul in Ephesus, freedmen/slaves of above? (1Co.16:17)

19. SOME RELEVANT NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING Gal.5:19 “desires of the evil nature…discord, dissensions, factions… and the like” Gal.5:22 “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,…gentleness, self-control” 1Co.13:4 “love is patient, kind, is not proud or rude, selfseeking, or easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs” James 3:17 (KJV) “”the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality….”