Download The Jerusalem Council

3.7


Solving Church Problems: The Jerusalem
Council (Acts 15:1-35)
In Acts 15, the church
faced a problem that
could have torn it
apart; should Gentiles
(non-Jews) who
accept Christ, be
required to obey
Mosaic (OT) Law?
In other words, was
Christianity simply an
evolution of Judaism
or was it something
brand new?
James is credited with taking a
leadership role at the council
Problem: The first Christians were virtually
all Jewish converts.
Many of them retained their Jewish
traditions (e.g. circumcision), even
though they accepted Christ as Messiah.
 As more non-Jews accepted Christ, some
Jewish Christians began to insist that
Gentiles should become Jews first.

The Jerusalem Council
That is, they should
follow OT customs
as well, in order to
be considered a
“real” Christian.
 This caused great
concern to the
church leaders – will
this rupture and split
the church?

A 16th C, portrait of Paul
The division looked like this…
Jewish Christians
(converted Pharisees):
-
Accept Christ
Keep the Law (snip)
Gentiles are saved but are
not “full” members
Solution?
 The leaders agreed that
Jewish Christians should
not impose Jewish
customs on non-Jewish
converts.
Apostles: (Paul, Peter)
-
Accept Christ
God saves without the
Law
Jews are saved by Grace
so don’t impose Jewish
laws on Gentile
Christians