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Unlikely Leaders

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    Thorny Problems Settled by the Holy Spirit

    This chapter is based on Acts 15:1-35.

    When they arrived at Antioch in Syria, Paul and Barnabas called the believers together and reported “all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). The large, growing church at Antioch was a center of missionary activity and was made up of both Jews and Gentiles.ULe 71.1

    While the apostles united with lay members to win people to the Lord, certain Jewish believers from Judea “of the sect of the Pharisees” succeeded in introducing a question that confused and troubled the believing Gentiles. These Judaizing teachers claimed that in order to be saved, one must be circumcised and keep the ceremonial law.ULe 71.2

    Paul and Barnabas opposed this false doctrine, but many of the believing Jews of Antioch thought the brethren who had recently come from Judea were right. Many of the Jews who had been converted to Christ still felt that since God had once outlined the Hebrew way of worship, it was unlikely that He would ever authorize a change in it. They insisted that the Jewish ceremonies become a part of the Christian religion. They were slow to realize that the sacrificial offerings had prefigured the death of the Son of God, in which symbol met fulfillment, and were no longer binding.ULe 71.3

    Paul had gained a clear understanding of the Savior’s mission as the Redeemer of Gentiles as well as Jews and had learned the difference between a living faith and a dead formalism. In the light of the gospel, the ceremonies committed to Israel took on a new significance. What they foreshadowed had now happened, and those who were living under the gospel system had been freed from observing them. God’s unchangeable law of Ten Commandments, however, Paul still kept in spirit as well as in the letter of the law.ULe 71.4

    The question of circumcision brought much discussion and contention. Finally, the members of the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas, with some responsible men from the church, to Jerusalem to present the matter before the apostles and elders. A final decision given in general council was to be accepted universally by the different churches.ULe 71.5

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