We had a tree fall last week. I have been out in the yard most of the time cleaning it up. It has given me the opportunity to listen to the Bible while I work. I was listening to Acts during one of the sessions. When I came to Acts 15, I didn't think I would find anything new in it. I've read the chapter multiple times as it is one that is incorrectly used to defend not doing the Law. But I did get something new; two things actually.
The first is that the initial group that says all the new gentile believers must be circumcised to be saved; they weren't random Jews of the circumcision party like I had previously believed; they were followers of Christ. You have Paul debating them, which you know he is using the Scriptures to back up his stance, and not coming to any resolution. This tells me they also were using Scriptures to back their stance. If these were non-Yeshua believing Jews, why would Paul need to debate them on how to follow Yeshua? It wouldn't matter what they thought. Most of Paul's letters are covering the traditions those non-Yeshua believing Jews are following and telling new believers they mean nothing. So what happens? They go to the council for a ruling on it. If these were random non-Yeshua believing Jews, there would be no need to go to the council. The council then says that these initial men, came from them. Acts 15:24 - "that some persons have gone out from us".
The second thing is that this is a Church vs. Bible comic playing out in Scripture. Not only that it is playing out in Scripture, it is still happening today. We have believers that are telling other believers what actions they must take in order to be saved. They might not use the blunt wording of "to be saved", but they will make a lot of blanket statements that lead to no other conclusion. "Not a true follower", "being deceived", and "following pagan theologies" are a few examples. I've run into several of these statements just this last week online and in our fellowship. They are doing the same thing the "men from Judea", as Scripture calls them, were doing. They are taking things that may be things believers should be doing and tying it to Salvation. As stated, these are things believers should be doing, yes, but that isn't their Salvation.
I've written about several times on this comic and in my blog on things I have done wrong. My first ~25 years as a believer, I wasn't doing Biblical things. I was doing traditions. It didn't make me less saved. Once I started trying to follow the Bible more and do Biblical things, I still did things wrong. We still made people work for us on the Sabbath, by going to grocery stores, shopping malls, and restaurants. We did that for almost a year. We weren't any less saved. The Holy Spirit eventually convicted us of it, causing us to search out Scripture on the subject and we stopped doing it. Now, 5 years later, there is probably something we are still doing wrong. And that is okay. His Grace covers us and when He sees we are ready, He will have His Spirit convict us to test us and see if we will be obedient. It won't come from Joe Bob Believer, who has been on a tangent about some subject, trying to make everyone do what he thinks is best. It will come from God and it will be unmistakable.
http://thestraightandnarrow.cfw.me/comics/363
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