Acts 15:1-5
First, a couple of brief geographical items… Paul and Barnabas (and a large contingent of Christians) are based in “Antioch”. This “Antioch” is Syrian Antioch, about 300 miles north of Jerusalem, on the northeast coast of the Mediterranean, as opposed to Pisidian Antioch, which Paul and Barnabas had visited in chapters 13 and 14, in the heart of modern-day Turkey. So most mentions of Antioch, with no context or qualifier, refer to Syrian Antioch, the “secondary head” of the church outside of Jerusalem.
Second, when verse 1 says that “…some men came down from Judea…”, their coming “down” relates to the elevation of Jerusalem, which was built on Mount Moriah, the mountain where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac. So “coming down” from Jerusalem does not mean going south like we would refer today. Instead, it’s an elevation thing.
This Jerusalem Council, most of chapter 15, is a good lesson in church unity and leadership, often referred to when divisive issues arise within the church. We’ll see more of how that works out in the next two days. Today all we have is Paul and Barnabas reporting the results of their missionary activity to believers in Phoenicia (Tyre, Sidon), Samaria, and Jerusalem – where for the most part their reports were well received: they “brought great joy to all the brothers” (v. 3) and in Jerusalem they “were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders” (v. 4).
The divisive issue is raised in verse 5: But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” And while circumcision is the divisive issue, it is worth noting that we see a number of Pharisees as believers! Some of them have come a long way, no doubt influenced by Peter and John before their Council (Acts 3-4), Saul’s conversion and testimony (Acts 9, ff.), and other events in and around Jerusalem and Judea. Pharisees as believers is a huge step forward for the Jerusalem church!! Glory!
Slava Bohu!
Wow, good point, Fred!
I would have totally missed that, since the Pharisees were raising a stink about circumcision, it means they had enough of a presence in the church to be a faction—kind of twisted “good news”… 🙂