Saul (the Pharisee) had to write this to the church in Ephesians because this was an unpopular message with the Jewish people - even with the Jewish believers in Jesus. Most of the other Jewish believers thought that if Gentiles wanted to become believers and part of the religion, they needed to convert to Judaism. However, Saul preached a different version of the Good News:
The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above. By reading this you are able to understand my insight about the mystery of the Messiah. This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of His power. Ephesians 3:3-7
It’s rather understandable how they people of Israel didn’t accept this so easily, though. Their history with Gentiles was nothing less than hostile:
and so that you do not associate with these nations remaining among you... Joshua 23:7
Therefore, make a confession to Yahweh the God of your fathers and do His will. Separate yourselves from the surrounding peoples and your foreign wives. Ezra 10:11
They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them but mingled with the nations and adopted their ways. Psalms 106:34-35
For those without the revelation of Messiah, the belief still holds true today: “To be saved, you must be Jewish.”
Since God made the covenant of blessing with Israel and no other nation, it is believed in Israel that only Jews have a place in the world-to-come. Therefore, a Gentile could secure a place in the world-to-come only by becoming a Jew. However, after years of study, revelation and teaching Gentiles in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas believed that salvation had been extended to the Gentiles through faith in Yeshua alone.
All the nations You have made will come and bow down before You, Lord, and will honor Your name. Psalms 86:9
The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast for all the peoples on this mountain — a feast of aged wine, choice meat, finely aged wine. Isaiah 25:6
He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. Daniel 7:14
He says, ‘It is not enough for you to be My Servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ Isaiah 49:6
To settle the matter, Paul brought the question to James and the court of the apostles in Jerusalem. He argued that Gentiles did not need to go through conversion and become Jewish before they could be saved. He believed that God could save both Jews and Gentiles, and that Gentiles needed only to have faith in Yeshua for salvation. When the LORD began to reveal this plan of salvation for all nations to His apostles, it was understandably hard to navigate at first. Israel had been told to separate themselves from the surrounding peoples since they were established, and now the LORD is having the nations assimilate into their own? Surely, they‘d have to convert to Judaism first before being welcomed into their community. But Peter and Paul argued that if they were to convert before being accepted, then the prophecies of salvation for all nations would not be fulfilled. The leaders of the believing community realized it was true, and so they agreed to allow Gentile assimilation into their community, on certain conditions. These conditions are explained in Acts chapter 15.
Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved!’ But after Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, the church arranged for Paul and Barnabas and some others of them to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem concerning this controversy. Acts 15:1-2
While Paul is in Jerusalem, other Jewish believers charged that for a Gentile to be saved, he had to be “circumcised according to the custom of Moses” (Acts 15:1).
A co-heir with Israel has an inheritance in all the promises God had made to Israel, particularly the promises of the Messianic Era. Those promises include spiritual regeneration, forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and even the resurrection from the dead. Paul’s opponents reserved those promises for the people to whom God has given them: the Jewish people. That is why they taught the Gentiles, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses (I.e., become Jewish) you cannot be saved.” Thus initiates the famous debate.
The Jerusalem Council
But some of the believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses! Acts 15:5
The formal charge was that Gentiles must be circumcised (become Jewish) and required to obey the Torah of Moses in order to be saved.
After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: ‘Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them by giving the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.’ Acts 15:7-11
Peter’s rebuttal was that Jews and Gentiles are both saved by grace, not by keeping the Torah or being Jewish.
After they stopped speaking, James responded: ‘Brothers, listen to me! Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for His name. And the words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written: After these things I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again, so the rest of humanity may seek the Lord — even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, declares the Lord who does these things, known from long ago.’ Acts 15:13-18
The “tabernacle of David which has fallen” refers to the Davidic throne and Messiah, the Davidic king. James explains next that the Amos 9 prophecy clearly speaks of God-seeking Gentiles in the days of Messiah. Therefore, in the days of Messiah, there must be both Jews and Gentiles -an impossibility if all Gentiles are forced to be circumcised and become Jewish.
Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God, Acts 15:19
The decision was that Gentiles should not be required to become Jewish or even Torah observant as a prerequisite for salvation. With both Jew and Gentile, God makes no distinction in regard to eligibility for salvation.
Then Peter began to speak: “Now I really understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him. Acts 10:34-35
According to Simon Peter, God purified the hearts of the Gentiles by faith, and that inner, spiritual purification had more relevance to the discussion than uncertainties about the ceremonial purity of the Gentile believers.
Peter said to them, ‘You know it’s forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner. But God has shown me that I must not call any person common or unclean.’ Acts 10:28
After hearing Peter and Paul’s arguments, the council (the Christian Sanhedrin made up of apostles with James at the head) came to a verdict:
For it was the Holy Spirit’s decision — and ours — to put no greater burden on you than these necessary things: that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things. Farewell. Acts 15:28-29
The Gentile believers are to abstain from what is sacrificed to idols (Exodus 34:15-16), blood (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:10-14), things that are strangled (Genesis 9:4; Exodus 22:31; Leviticus 17:15; Deuteronomy 12:15-16), and fornication (Leviticus 18; Deuteronomy 22:20-24).
These were the basic laws required for shared table fellowship within the community, but he then also added:
For since ancient times, Moses has had those who proclaim him in every city, and every Sabbath day he is read aloud in the synagogues. Acts 15:21
At the time of the Jerusalem council, Jewish and Gentile believers were still assembling in the local synagogue every Sabbath. And in those synagogues, the Torah was ready every week. The assumption was that Christians would naturally assimilate into the community of Israel and observe the Torah regardless.
Many scholars have noticed the parallels between the four prohibitions of the apostolic decree and the seven laws of Noah. Jewish scholar Mark Nanos believes that the four essentials of Acts 15 are connected with an early form of the laws of the Noah. He thinks they reflect standards that the Jewish community already had in place to regulate relationships between Jews and God-fearers.
Judaism already assumed that a basic minimum standard of the Torah’s moral and ethical laws applied to all human beings.
The Torah speaks of “a stranger who sojourns among you.” The stranger is not a full proselyte. Nevertheless, he lives among the Jewish people and receives certain protections and privileges from the nation. Even if they did not live in the land of Israel, the God-fearing Gentile believers could be considered as strangers among the Jewish people. They were servants of the Jewish king.
The God-fearing Gentile believers were more than “sons of Noah” or simple God-fearers. Through her allegiance to the King Messiah, a Gentile believer entered into close fellowship with the Jewish people and became an adjunct member of the nation.
Laws for Strangers within Israel
1. “Abstain from things sacrificed to idols…”
Taken from the command against idolatry in Leviticus 17, this is not the same as a general ban on idolatry. Judaism includes the prohibition on idolatry in the universal laws of Noah that apply to all of humanity. The prohibition on things sacrificed to idols requires a heightened distancing from idolatry and things polluted by idolatry.
2. “And from blood…”
The apostles considered the law against murder as part of the universal laws of humanity given to Noah. Gentiles are permitted to ingest an animal’s blood so long as the animal is dead. As strangers in the midst of the people of Israel, Leviticus 17:10-11 specifically prohibits Gentile believers from consuming blood.
The prohibition on blood forbids disciples of Jesus from consuming blood in any form.
3. “And from things strangled…”
The Torah allows Gentiles to eat a carcass, but it requires the “stranger who sojourns“ within Israel to employ the Torah’s method of slaughter, pouring out the blood upon the ground.
Most Christians no longer abide by this apostolic rule, but early Christians did. Even after their separation from Judaism, Gentile Christians still observed the apostolic prohibition against consuming blood and meat from non-kosher slaughter. Tertullian says, “Christians abstain from things strangled or that die a natural death. They do so only to avoid contracting ritual pollution, abstaining even from blood secreted internally.” Second-century Gentile believers in France still purchased kosher-slaughtered meat even after the church had begun severing its ties from Judaism.
At a minimum, Gentile disciples are obligated to keep the Torah’s prohibitions on consuming blood and the meat of animals that have not undergone a kosher slaughter. Ironically, most Gentile believers are unaware of these prohibitions of simply disregard them. As Rabbi Leichtenstein observes, Christians are at a loss to explain why the apostles required these laws:
This is a difficulty in the minds of the preachers and commentators. They claim that the old Torah was completely annulled along with its ceremonial statutes. Then why did the apostles impose on the Gentiles the prohibition against strangled meat and the prohibition against consuming blood? In reality, the Gentile Christians are not careful to think these matters through.
4. “And from fornication.”
As strangers in the midst of the people of Israel, the Torah holds them to the same standards of sexual purity to which it holds the Jewish people.
The apostolic decree forbids the Gentile believers from acts of sexual immorality as defined by Torah law. The Torah offers over twenty-five commandments dealing with proper sexual relations. Leviticus 18 forbids bestiality, homosexuality, incest, and sexual relations with a woman during her monthly cycle. Leviticus 15 gives further details regarding this injunction including a minimum length of time for the period of separation.
The apostolic decree requires believing Gentiles to abstain from meat contaminated by idolatry, from meats that are not slaughtered according to a kosher standard, from the consumption of blood, and from sexual immorality. The four laws are not a substitute for the rest of the Torah, nor are they meant as the four minimum commandments that will merit salvation. Since Gentile believers have been “grafted in” to the nation, the additional four laws apply to them, over and above whatever applies universally to all human beings, and for good reason.
Each law created an obstacle between the Gentile and social interaction with the pagan world.
The laws brought the Jewish and Gentile believers closer together in table fellowship by assuring the Jews that meat served by Gentiles was slaughtered in a kosher manner consistent with Jewish laws.
They were not only important then but are relevant for Christians even today. James maintained that the God-fearing Gentile believers should be held to the legal standard of a stranger in the midst of Israel even if they lived outside the geographical border of the nation of Israel.
James could also depend on the Gentiles learning Torah - both the commandments that applied to them and those that were not incumbent upon them - as they attended the synagogue and heard the Torah read each Sabbath. The apostles did not require the Gentile believers to observe the Sabbath, but they assumed that they would keep the LORD’s holy day to some extent.
Their message “encouraged and strengthened the brethren.” Perhaps for the first time, the God-fearing Gentiles felt like they had a defined place within the Jewish community. At the same time, the decision set the Jewish believers at ease, and they felt free to socially interact with the God-fearers.
And the Jews?
Traditionally, Christianity has often insisted that Jesus and His followers taught the cancellation of Torah and Judaism. Rabbi Shim’on ben Tzemach Duran (Rashbatz, 1361-1444) complained that Christianity did not even understand their own teacher or His first disciples. Why should he become a Christian and forsake the Torah, when Yeshua and His disciples (including Paul) were Jews who kept it faithfully? In his work, Keshet Umagen, Rashbatz summarizes:
Note that he admits here the perpetuity of the Torah for Israel. For if the one who is circumcised is made subservient to the whole Torah in its entirety, then that means that the commandment to circumcise his son also applies to him, as it is a commandment in the Torah, and so it is passed on from father to son, and from that son to his son, until the end of the world.
Rabbi Jacob Emden (1697-1776) states:
However, it is completely different as far as the Jews are concerned, for they became obligated to fulfill the Torah because God delivered them from the iron furnace [Egypt] to be the people of his possession. Therefore they and their children became subject to it forever. This, their covenant, will not be forgotten from their mouths, nor be discontinued from their children.
Rabbi Shim’on ben Tzemach Duran (1361-1444) states:
In all actuality, the intent of [Yeshua’s] disciples was to lighten the yoke of the Torah and commandments from upon the Gentiles, in order to draw their hearts to the faith, because they saw that if they forced them to take up the yoke of circumcision and the yoke of practical commandments, they would not enter into their faith. But as far as Yeshua’s intent for Jewish people, it did not even occur to him to change the Torah for them, nor for himself or for his disciples; after all, they were Jewish, and upheld the Torah themselves, as I have mentioned from their words. As far as what appears in the words of the apostles to the contrary, it is because their intention was to draw people from the Gentiles into their faith. (Rashbatz, Keshet Umagen)
More on the Jerusalem Council can be found in the Hayesod curriculum from First Fruits of Zion as well as their Chronicles of the Apostles set available on their website.
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