Acts 15:1-6 sets the stage for the Jerusalem
Council. Certain men of Judea who were
Jews but not Christians (as they did not hold to the doctrine of salvation by
grace through faith – see Paul’s defense in Galatians 2) came to the Church of Antioch and began to spread the
lie that the men must be circumcised, as prescribed by the Mosaic Law (Genesis 17:10-17), or they could not
be saved. After much dissension, Paul
and Barnabas go to Jerusalem to settle the matter before James and the apostles
who were residing there at that time.
In verses 7-12 Peter makes a defense of
two key points for the early church.
First, that God had directed the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles
as well as the Jews. The example of
Cornelius in Acts 10 verifies
this. Secondly, the gospel of salvation
by grace had removed the distinction between Jew and Gentile. Peter adds the important point that no one in
history had been able to bear the burden of the law (vs. 10).
Once believers place themselves under
any element of the Mosaic Law as relevant for their salvation, they have placed
themselves under the burden of the whole law, and have made the grace offered
by Jesus Christ of no effect. (See Galatians 3:10-13
and 5:1-4)
It should be
added here that the miracles God performed through Paul and Barnabas were of
great encouragement and excitement to the believers in Jerusalem. The
power of God is a necessary element in His service. (1 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Timothy 3:5)
It would be
good to note the purpose of Councils had some very good reasoning behind
it. Leaders of the faith as called and
appointed in their lives by God were most likely to understand not only the
best way to resolve issues relating to living out the Christian faith, but
their word would have great authority as the church spread into new
regions. A council of godly leaders may
be of great profit to the people of God
Acts 15:13-35 is the summary reasoning and
determination of James in particular and the council as a whole. James first makes the case from scripture
that the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles is in fulfillment of prophecy. He specifically quotes Amos 9:11-12.
Beginning in
verse 19, James refutes the need for
circumcision among the Gentiles. He then
asks that new Gentile believers seek to follow four admonitions. To avoid eating food sacrificed to idols,
fornication, eating the blood of animals (or the animal with the blood in it)
and from eating animals strangled.
These things
seem like peculiar requests today, but the Lord had forbidden all of these
things in the Old Testament for the good of His people. Let’s be sure to make the distinction here
with what James is saying. He’s not
saying these are new commandments, but these are four things that Gentile
believers would do well to avoid.
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Fornication
was a problem for Gentile converts because it was often a prescribed practice
of pagan worship. It had become so
engrained in Gentile culture that it was a serious problem for new believers. (Leviticus
18:6-23, 1 Corinthians 5:11, 6:9-10, etc.)
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Food
sacrificed to idols is mentioned because it was also commonly practiced among
pagan religions. Paul voiced concern
over this issue because it could cause those weaker in their faith to stumble. (1
Corinthians 8) It also was commonly used in pagan worship with the intent
of encouraging the god or goddess to possess the one submitting the
sacrifice. 1 Corinthians 10:20-28 and Revelation
2:12-17 reveal the general sense of this idea. It was important to avoid eating food
sacrificed to devils for reasons of public perception and for spiritual health.
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The
blood of animals and those that had been strangled to death have a similar
connection to food sacrificed to devils.
This was forbidden by God going back to Genesis 9:4. An animal that
had been strangled is by definition one that died in its own blood. As though the creature was “smothered” by its
own blood.
There are
two reasons for this referring to sinister pagan practices. One practice of pagan religions was to take
the blood of an animal and put it in bowl, offering it as a sacrifice to demons
while the animal was consumed. In this
way, the offering was a type of shared communal meal with devils.
Another
pagan practice was the belief that by consuming the blood of an animal or man,
the one who partakes of the blood gains the power of the life/soul of the
animal or man. This is still practiced
today among pagan cultures, especially by those steeped in witchcraft. The scriptures strongly support the idea that
the soul of a man is in the blood.
BLOOD, LIFE AND THE SOUL
The
scripture describes man as a tri-partite being.
That is, mankind consists of a body of flesh, a soul and a spirit. (Job
7:11, Isaiah 26:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12) It’s clear from the scriptures that spirit is
separate from the flesh, yet there must exist some connection between spirit
and flesh, that the spirit would remain within a man until death. It would appear the most likely solution is
that the soul is the point of intersection between body and spirit.
The term soul
in the New Testament is translated from the Greek word psuche. Modern English terms
like psychology are derived from this word.
Psuche refers to the mind of
man, the seat of the will. It is the
place where a person makes choices every day.
It is also the origin of emotional thought and feelings. The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh.
If the soul
is the connection between body and spirit, the soul must also have some place
of connection within the human body.
While it would seem logical this place might be the brain or heart, the
scriptures tell us something else.
Leviticus 17:11 states “The life (nephesh) of the flesh is in the blood, and
I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls (nephesh); for it is the blood that
makes an atonement for your souls (nephesh).”
It is clear
from this passage that the Hebrew term nephesh
is synonymous for both the life of man and the soul. Nephesh
is the result of what happened when God breathed life into Adam in the Garden
of Eden. (Genesis 2:7)
Deuteronomy 12:23 is even more specific. “Only be sure that thou eat not the blood,
for the blood is the life (nephesh),
and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.” Jesus’ parable in Luke 12:16-21 also demonstrates that life and soul are equated as
being the same thing. In the parable psuche is used to refer to the soul of
the man who would forfeit his life that night, but soul and life are synonymous
in this passage.
So this much
is clear from the scripture. The blood
of a person is the life and the soul. While this may be difficult to comprehend, it
is stated quite plainly. This explains
why James felt it important to tell the Gentile converts not to eat the blood
of an animal. To do so was to partake of
the soul of the animal that was sacrificed, a practice not just detestable to
God in ideal, but one that in some way that is not fully clear to us at this
time was detrimental to the souls of men.
That it was
something more than simply an undesired ceremonial issue is evident from the
commands of God in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and James and Paul’s statements in
the New Testament.
