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Figure 1. Tower of David Jerusalem.
And he [Jesus] said to them,
"Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."
Matthew 13:52 NRSV
The Jerusalem Council's Letter to the Gentiles is a claim to 'sight', which is betrayed by colossal ignorance of the Covenant (Acts, chapter 15). One would not expect the Twelve to understand the Covenant at the academic level, since they had no formal training in the Covenant and its Law†; but Paul, on the other hand, should have known better and given a proper lead by questioning the Twelve on what Jesus had to say with regard to the Covenant.
† 13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13 NASB)
Jesus had made it abundantly clear that an understanding of the Mosaic Covenant was a prerequisite to [fully] understanding His own words:
[46] "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. [47] But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" (John 5:46-47 NIV)
Some 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." (Acts 15:1 NIV)
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses." (Acts 15:5 NIV)
The problem centres on Gentile converts, and how they are to be integrated into the Covenant. There would appear to be a presumption of integration into the Covenant.
Resolving the problem according to the [Messianically Amended] Covenant, is outlined before dealing with the Council's handling of the problem. This has been done for effect! Knowing and understanding what should have taken place in the meeting, sharpens and brings into focus the level of evil which actually occurred.
The handling of baffling questions is explained here. Note, however, that this can only take place within the context of understanding the Covenant as Moses understood it together with all subsequent amendments; and this must be backed up by obedience.
The Lord is not going to enter into discussion with those who are aligned with the false covenant of the House of Desolation. He will not supply answers which will implicate Him in their evil. Before He will enter into discussions, He will tell them to first go and understand the Covenant as Moses understood together with all its amendments, and to obey it - an observation-cum-warning-cum-command already voiced by Jesus:
[45] "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. [46] If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. [47] But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" (John 5:45-47 NIV)
When the Baffling-Questions safeguard was put in place, the context was that of the Mosaic Covenant, as it had been understood by Moses. Now, however, following Jesus' life and sacrifice, the context is that of the Messianically Amended Covenant.
Following the outpouring of the Spirit, integration of the Gentile convert into the Covenant with Death - which was in operation at that time - was not on the cards. It was Jesus' Messianic Amendment which killed the Covenant with Death, restored the Mosaic Covenant as the contract which was amended, and which opened the single gate to the one Sheep Pen for Jew and Gentile alike.
The church are faced with a baffling problem. But they do not collectively discuss it with the Lord, as the Covenant requires (Deut. 17:8-13 T). Instead, they fall back on their own judgment:
"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." (Acts 15:19 NIV)
Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. (Acts 15:22 NIV)
Their actions raise a fundamental question, "On what foundation do they base their judgment?"
[Essay: The church leaders at the time of the Jerusalem Council - through careful questioning of the Twelve - had access to far more information than we have today. Opportunity missed!]
The text:
[5] Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."
[6] The apostles and elders met to consider this question. [7] After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. [8] God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. [9] He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. [10] Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? [11] No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
[12] The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
[13] When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. [14] Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. [15] The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: [16] " 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, [17] that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' [18] that have been known for ages. [19]
"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. [20] Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. [21] For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."
[22] Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. [23] With them they sent the following letter:
[From] The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.
[24] We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. [25] So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul--- [26] men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[27] Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. [28] It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: [29] You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things..
Farewell. (Acts 15:5-29 NIV)
[Analysis and implications: Acts 15.]
[5] Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."
[6] The apostles and elders met to consider this question. [7] After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. [8] God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. [9] He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. [10] Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? [11] No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
[12] The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
[13] When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. [14] Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. [15] The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: [16] " 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, [17] that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' [18] that have been known for ages. [19]
"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. [20] Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. [21] For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."
[22] Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. [23] With them they sent the following letter... (Acts 15:5-23a NIV)
Jesus said:
[15] "But what about you?" he asked [His disciples]. "Who do you say I am?"
[16] Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
[17] Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. [18] And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. [19] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:15-19 NIV)
But what does the text reveal?
James - a person of unknown provenance - has seized the leadership (Acts 15:13-19), effectively sidelining Peter and the other Eleven. And, like Paul and the unknown writer to the Hebrews, James is still invested in the Covenant with Death of the House of Desolation. They remain committed to a covenant which Jesus had condemned:
[8] "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." [9] And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!" (Mark 7:8-9 NIV)
[13-14] "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [15] "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." (Matthew 23:13-15 NIV)
That spiritual blindness of the leadership is seen in this passage:
[19] "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. [20] Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. [21] For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath." (Acts 15:19-21 NIV)
First point! The covenant preached from the earliest times (v. 21) had become so defiled that it had become the Covenant with Death. The church leadership, in their blindness, did not understand this; consequently they made no effort to correct the situation.
Second point! The preaching of the Covenant with Death in the synagogues, allows the church leadership to split the flock into two. The Jews are catered for because they receive the preaching of the Covenant with Death. That leaves the Gentile converts at the mercy of a letter which is pure evil. Recall that Gentile converts are to be integrated into the Jewish Covenant and community:
6 "As for the foreigners
Who attach themselves to the LORD,
To minister to Him,
And to love the name of the LORD,
To be His servants —
All who keep the sabbath and do not profane it,
And who hold fast to My covenant —
7 I will bring them to My sacred mount
And let them rejoice in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
Shall be welcome on My altar;
For My House shall be called
A house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:6-7 (Tanakh))
This division of the church into Jew and Gentile is also a part of Paul's teaching (Romans 11). Note that it becomes an instance of the injection of error into a cycle of exponential growth of evil.
James, as has already been seen, together with Paul, who claims to be the thirteenth apostle, have seized the leadership of the church. The Twelve are effectively sidelined. Even worse is the fact that the leadership do not see the errors in their understanding of the Covenant and in their doctrine; they do not heed Jesus' words about the Jewish defilement of the Mosaic Covenant - something the Twelve could have supplied had the leadership bothered to ask them. The leadership do not go back to the Mosaic Covenant and correct their misunderstanding; neither do they quiz the Twelve and learn what Jesus had to say about the Covenant and its [Messianic] amendment. Bearing in mind the vitriol Jesus had poured out on the religious leaders and their defilement of the Covenant, the failure of the church leadership [Acts 15] to correct their doctrinal errors is irrefutable evidence of their negligence and incompetence. As to the church, these 'pillars' - and those who follow them - have been, and are building, the new-covenant church of the lord Satan. The evidence is writ large in the history of the new-covenant church, its current evils, and its foundation of evil, courtesy of Paul and the unknown writer to the Hebrews.
The narrative paints a three-dimensional picture. In the foreground are the usurpers wielding their new-covenant doctrine; look closely and you will find, lost in the background noise, a barely perceived vignette of the Twelve, those destined to build Jesus' church, those whose names will be inscribed on the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem:
[14] The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:14 NIV)
[From] The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.
[24] We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. [25] So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul--- [26] men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[27] Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. [28] It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: [29] You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell. (Acts 15:5-29 NIV)
How insightful! Just a few "don'ts" with no positive directions as to the way forward! It would have been better had the letter not been sent, for it has almost no content, and what there is misleads people and engenders a false sense of security.
[29] You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. (Acts 15:29)
[27] Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. (Acts 15:27)
[29] You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. (Acts 15:29)
[21] For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath (Acts 15:21)
Recall the fact that Moses is read in the synagogues within the context of the Covenant with Death. Necessarily, therefore, they must first learn the Covenant and understand it as Moses understood it, if they are to understand Jesus' words and the Messianic Amendment.
In treating the Gentile converts differently to Jews, there follows a division which is with us to this day. Today, the new-covenant church have abandoned the Jews and, by implicating the Lord Spirit in their evil doctrine, led their church into a level of sin which requires their conduct to be on the Blacklist.
[28] It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements (Acts 15:5-29 NIV)
But all is not well in new-covenant Paradise. For all that the new-covenant leadership claim the Lord's authority and direction, disunity soon makes its presence felt:
[36] Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." [37] Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, [38] but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. [39] They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, [40] but Paul chose Silas and left (Acts 15:36-40a NIV)
No one - and I do mean no one - is bringing the matter to the attention of the Lord and discussing it with Him. No one is looking for the Lord's ruling; instead they go their own ways in a pall of acrimony and disunity which will overshadow all who hear of the altercation.
Doubtless many will be deeply offended by these comments. So, a return to First Principles will be necessary in order to sharpen the blade and to drive the point home.
Only those sinners whose names are in the Book of Life will find salvation:
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15 NIV)
Failure to commit to the [current] Covenant is one reason for exclusion from the Book of Life. Another reason is a failure to discuss matters face-to-face with the Lord. Without such discussion, one cannot possibly know the Lord's plans for one's life; equally, the Lord will have no option but to say:
[21] "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' [23] Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV)
Although the Covenant can offer general cues as to personal guidance, it is only through personal discussion that one can discover what the Lord wants one to do with one's life. Without that face-to-face discussion, the Lord has no alternative but to state on the Day of Judgement, "I never knew you."
Version: 2024-09-28