Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Sept 1956

Chapter 15 of the Acts with the first five verses of chapter 16 are of great interest and importance in the administration of the will of God for God's people in this dispensation of Grace. First of all, we have that which is of prime importance regarding the matter of salvation, that is, how it pleases God to save sinners. This has been a burning question from the days of the Lord's earthly ministry until now. Satan has disputed every inch of the ground. He will continue to foster in the minds of men that they have some means of goodness in themselves, and that by strict adherence to some code of laws or rules God will be so pleased with them as to admit them into the presence of His Holiness. Men could not be more deluded than to follow this line of thought. Much is said in the Old and New Testaments as to the utter depravity of all men. The entrance of sin into the human race so perverted human nature as to render it quite incapable of doing good. Hence it was that in the law governing sacrifices God taught His people Israel (such, at !east, who had ears to hear), that provision for sinners and their sin was by means of a creature which knew no sin being offered on their behalf. Forgiveness of sins was possible by a work done for them outside of themselves, not within them. Moreover, the penalty and punishment of sin is death (Romans 6.28); this is sin's wages, which have ever been so. How then could or can a spiritually dead man, dead through his trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2.1-10) ever hope to attain life when he is not only without strength (Romans 5.6), but utterly incapable of developing any? To seek life and salvation from within a creature who is dead is quite as futile as the hunt of scientists to find the source and origin of life in matter that is void of life. Sometimes in their experiments the shout has been raised that they have found the source of life by their experiments, but the shout was raised too soon, for it was found that their experiments were faulty. Life is derived from life, and in the long line of things producing after their kind, through seed or division, we must reach at last to an original Cause; there must be a beginning of all creature life, and He who stands at the beginning is One who had no beginning Himself, but is "the Beginning of the creation of God" (Revelation 3.14), the One who became in incarnation the Babe of Bethlehem. He who was the Word of God in creation, by whom all things were made, and in whom is life (John 1.1.14), became the incarnate Word to bring life and salvation to ruined men (John 1.14). Nothing is more true, more simple and sublime than this revelation of life to men. But many are not satisfied with this, God's way, and they want to sketch another plan, which has man as the beginning and the end, instead of Him who says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 22.18). So said the Lord Jesus, the Hoot and Offspring of David, the bright, the morning Star (verse 16)..

Certain men who went down from Judea to Antioch taught the brethren

"Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts

15.1). Here was the mixture of law and grace, of Christ's work and man's. Christ to such men was not sufficient; man must add his quota; faith in Christ was necessary, of course, but He was only a make-weight; man was good, though not perfect, and all he needed was for Christ to add His worth to man's to make man complete to enter heaven and to share the honours of salvation with the Lord! Rome in her way makes it out that that church through its official priesthood gives to its people these necessary qualifications. But what is the Romish church that has such powers? It is, alas, an international conglomeration of unregenerated, and for the most part, illiterate men and women and any who hold that those who believe that salvation is by faith in Christ alone are under the curse of that church. Many of its priests are immoral men and some are sexual perverts. The question might well be asked, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" The answer is-None.

Circumcision put men under the obligation of law-keeping (Galatians 5.3). The law was not given to be a means of life, it was to keep Israel walking aright until Christ should come (Galatians 3.19-22). It could never give life. Christ alone can do that. He gives eternal life to all that believe in Him (John 10.9, 27-29; 17.2).

The coming of those from Judea who taught circumcision (and consequent law-keeping) as being necessary to salvation brought much trouble to the saints in the church of God in Antioch. Paul and Barnabas and also others definitely disagreed with the teaching of these brethren from Judea. In consequence of this division of mind it was decided that Paul, Barnabas and certain others should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about the question (Acts 15. 1-8). We can see how soon on the heels of the gospel preachers, whose feet were beautiful upon the mountains Romans 10.15), came the heavy tread of those who were out with chains to bind the saints in legal bondage and to destroy the gospel. How busy was the devil! and he still is. The representatives after a joyous journey through Phoenicia and Samaria, lands of peoples alien to the Jews, reached Jerusalem and were received of the church and the apostles and the elders. In Jerusalem there was found the same error, for we read, "But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, saying, It is needful to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the law of Moses" (Acts 15.5). The plague of a Judaized gospel was in the very centre of the work of God.

There is a matter which should not be overlooked in the consideration of this chapter, and that is, what the historical record of the Acts does not reveal, the dissembling (or hypocrisy) of Cephas (Peter). He had been eating with the Gentiles prior to certain coming from James from Jerusalem, but fearing them which were of the circumcision he withdrew and separated himself from the Gentile believers. Then the rest of the Jews dissembled with him and even Barnabas was carried away with the dissimulation. One cannot but admire the clear mind and courage of Paul. He resisted Peter to the face, because he stood condemned by his actions (Galatians 2.11-21). Straight speaking was necessary even amongst the apostles, for they were fallible men. These is one thing which is infallible which was given by inspiration-the Holy Scriptures.

Of the going to Jerusalem of Paul and Barnabas further light is shed on this visit in Galatian5 2.1-10. Paul not only went as appointed by the brethren in Antioch, he went up by revelation and he laid before men of repute-reputed to be pillars-such leaders as James and Cephas and John, the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles. There was complete unity of mind among those leaders. It would have been a cause of serious disaffection had the meeting of the apostles and elders opened with these leaders being of different minds on this serious issue. How quickly the devil would have seized the advantage gained through the Judaizers of the sect of the Pharisees, to bring the work of God to disaster and to kill the infant churches at the start of their lives! Peter had learned his lesson at Antioch. Barnabas had been recovered. Now the apostles stood united to lead the flock of God through the valley of the shadow of death to the green pastures and the peaceful waters beyond. Here is a picture drawn by the Spirit of God for us to admire and to seek to follow in the instruction it gives.

When the conference of the apostles and elders opened there was much questioning, as there had been in Antioch earlier. This arose as a necessary consequence of the fact that the streams of law and grace in the matter of salvation can never mingle. These opposite principles can never coalesce. Then Peter spoke, referring back to Matthew 16.19 and Acts 10., and ending with an expression of faith that salvation for Gentile and Jew is by grace, not law. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke rehearsing the wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. At the close James summed up the matter, giving his judgement as to what was to be required of the Gentiles, in which circumcision and law-keeping find no place (Acts 15.6-21). The decision was circulated among the churches.

After this f0llows the rupture between Barnabas and Paul over John Mark. Barnabas was a good man and an apostle, but a good man can make a hasty and unwise decision. He went off without the fellowship of his brethren, but Paul and Silas went forth commended by the brethren. Then we reach on to Timothy in chapter 16 who is numbered amongst the faithful workers with Paul from that

time onward.

J. Miller | Sept 1956
Jottings