Sabbath Message 18/3/27/120
Dear Friends,
This Sabbath it is appropriate to write about an erroneous view that has been
pushed into the Churches of God from late Protestantism. It is based on the
forgery in Acts 15 in the Receptus and strikes at the Law of God.
As most of us know the text in Acts 15 deals with the circumcision debate in the Church with Peter and the other disciples and elders, regarding circumcision and also the purification rituals that the Pharisees had introduced. It was made obvious from that conference that the Gentiles, (Nations) coming into the Church, had some serious problems regarding the adult males being circumcised, and as many were slaves this was exacerbated. One was not allowed to interfere with (hence circumcise) another man’s slave with impunity. The text in Acts 15 outlines the problems and the resolution of the matter.
The correct doctrinal position as it was carried out in the Church has been published in the paper Purification and Circumcision (No. 251).
The problem arose because some of the people in Judea, perhaps some of the priests mentioned in Acts 6:7, came down to the churches in Asia Minor and remonstrated with the people demanding that they be circumcised, or they could not be saved. Paul and Barnabas disputed with them and then, with a party, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to argue this matter with the apostles and elders. They came via the coast road as far as Caesarea, coming via Phoenicia and Samaria, and proclaimed the extension of salvation to the Gentiles, and the people rejoiced.
There were members of the sects of the Pharisees who were converted, and these rose up in Jerusalem and demanded that the Gentiles be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. The Church considered this matter and Peter rose and said:
“Men and brothers, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the
Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness and gave them the Holy Spirit as He did to us, and put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by faith. Therefore why do you tempt God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they” (Acts 15:7-11).
The brethren then listened in silence as Barnabas and Paul gave an account of the miracles God wrought among the Gentiles through them.
James (Yakob, the Lord’s brother c.f. Acts 12:17 and fn. to Companion Bible; and Gal. 1:19) then stood up and said: “Men and brethren listen to me.” He then used Peter’s real name when he said: “Simeon (i.e. Simon) has declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out a people for His name; and to this agree the words of the prophets, for it is written: after this I will return again and build again the Tabernacle of David (i.e. the Tent of David as a lowly condition), which is fallen down and I will build again the ruins (things overturned, c.f. Rom. 11:3) thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men (kataloipos, the faithful remnant) might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called” (taking the second place; c.f. Zech. 8:23 and see also Deut. 28:10; Jer. 14:9; Jas. 2:7).
James did a number of things here. He showed that he was the senior apostle, or chairman of the conference, and that Peter was not the senior apostle. Paul also showed here that he was part of and subject to the direction of the council of apostles and elders of the Church who were under the chairmanship of James, which fact he also acknowledged, as did Peter. James also shows that the Temple was to be destroyed, as this conference took place in Jerusalem when the temple still stood. The faith and salvation were thus intended to be extended to the Gentiles, who would also compose the tabernacle of David. That edifice preceded the temple of Solomon and obviously extended beyond the physical structure. James showed here that the prophecy extended to all nations, and that the people to whom the salvation of God extended would be the faithful remnant. Thus, there must be a remnant of mankind faithful through the tribulation. But faithful to what one might ask?
James then continued with what has been turned into the most baffling of pronouncements. He said:
Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the age (aeon). Therefore my sentence is (I judge or decide): that we do not trouble them from among the Gentiles that are turned to God. But that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled and from blood. For Moses of old time had in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day” (Acts 15:18-21).
Then the apostles and elders and the whole Church sent out Judas Barsabas and Silas, chief men of the Church with Paul and Barnabas, with letters written by them to the churches in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.
They said:
“Forasmuch as we have heard that certain men went out from us troubling you with words unsettling you to whom we gave no such commandment. It seemed good to us who were assembled with one accord to send chosen representatives to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have hazarded their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas who will tell you the same things by mouth” (Acts 15:22-27).
This text has in it a forgery in the KJV from the Receptus in which the words: “Saying you must be circumcised and keep the law” have been added after the emphatic you and before to whom we gave no such commandment This text is not present in the ancient texts and it was inserted into the Receptus in the Reformation. It has no basis in fact. This text is used to justify the grace-law argument saying that the Law is done away and that the only limitations on the Gentiles and hence also the Church in its entirety, given the failure to identify the nations of Israel, are those listed here in this text (see the paper The Relationship Between Salvation by Grace and the Law (No. 82)).
The text then continues in Acts 15:29:
“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:
That you abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: If you keep yourselves from these you shall do well.”
They went back to Antioch and delivered the message there first and Judas and Silas being prophets exhorted the brethren and remained there for some time strengthening the brethren.
Now if this were a comprehensive synopsis of the requirements of the faith then we are rudderless indeed. Why would we need a Bible, and all the subsequent epistles of the Church, to deal with matters that arose in the keeping of Sabbaths and New Moons and feasts, if they were cast aside for the Gentile Churches of God?
This list, if taken on its supposed intent of restricting the Law of the Pentateuch given to Moses to these few categories, does away with the Ten Commandments.
John’s entire treatise on love and the transgression of the Law is meaningless. So also James’ epistle is meaningless and contradictory to this his own ruling. Paul’s entire series of treatises are rendered nonsense and so is Peter’s. Hebrews is made nonsense also unless it is admitted that the Churches of the Hebrews are subject to an entirely different Law and sequence, than the Gentiles. The gospels and Christ’s words and actions are placed in total opposition to what is said here. Christ’s teachings are cut to the ground with this view. God is made capricious and blasphemed.
If this interpretation that the Law is reduced to these categories is correct, then we are able to abuse God, hold any view of theology we wish, adopt any calendar we thought suited us, or keep no days at all, abuse our parents, murder or kill by euthanasia or abortion, lie, break agreements with impunity, cheat, rob, covet and eat any filthy thing. We can take as many concubines as we wish and as many wives as we wish. There are no prohibited relationships and incest is permitted. We can do what even the Gentiles would regard as scandalous. Our societies can do what they do now and introduce relative morality. The very condemnation of Paul in 1Corinthians 5:5 where a man was living with his father’s wife would be meaningless. It would be a valid marriage after the fact. The interpretation of Acts 15 on these lines would make Christianity a laughing stock among the nations, and would have seen its death knell within a few months after such an interpretation. No reasonable person would have ever bothered with Christianity. It would have been an amoral cult, and every state would have had an obligation to restrict it.
This is the view that antinomians would have you adopt, but it is a false teaching or interpretation. No church of the Reformation ever adopted such an interpretation. The views of the Protestant churches are all covered in the paper Distinction in the Law (No. 96). The distinction is between the sacrificial law and the Laws of God as expressed from the Commandments.
The issue here was in the manner of dealing with food, and the introduced legislation of the Pharisees regarding handlings and purifications, which the Gentiles could never keep because of their environment. The slaves were held in marriage and they were unequally yoked in many cases. Concubinage was endemic. That is what was meant here, in a society that was vastly different to our own.
James says to be doers of the word and not hearers, calling the Law the perfect Law of liberty (Jas. 1:25). He says in James 2:8-14: "If you really fulfil the Royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” you do well. But if you show partiality you commit sin, and are convicted by the Law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole Law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said: “Do not commit adultery” also said: “Do not kill.” If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the Law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment. What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can his faith save him?
James is therefore saying something entirely different in Acts 15 than what is being portrayed by the antinomians. He is not removing the Law of God. There is no authority for that, and indeed he would be disqualified from the faith if he were to do so. If they do not speak according to the Law and the testimony there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20).
The later provisions for the release of the slaves under Christian masters was made in accordance with the Law of the Pentateuch, as had happened and rescinded, as recorded by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 34:8-17.
Peter says that Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree (1Pet. 2:24). John tells us that sin is transgression of the law (1Jn. 3:4). No one born of God commits sin for God’s nature abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. By this it may be seen who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil; whoever does not do righteousness is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother (1Jn. 3:9-10). Thus how can we be guilty of transgression of the law of God and then be told that we are at liberty from the law which required us to be baptised into the body of Christ. Then we are allegedly told it need not be kept anyway. How can the penalty be other than capricious if such were the case? There is no logic to this thinking and it makes the Church out to be feeble minded.
The Churches of God have those among them who utter these puerile sentiments. They are as ones who come in among us planting tares, and seeking to subvert the Churches of God by this false teaching. By this you know those who do not speak in the Holy Spirit. The elect are those that keep the commandments of God and the testimony or faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).
It is written: You shalt love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind (or understanding). This is the great and First Commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbour as yourself and on these two Commandments hang (or depend) all the Law and the prophets.
The Law and the prophets were teachers to bring us to God through Christ. We are not removed from the Law but rather placed in a position to live within it as the perfect Law of liberty, and go beyond it in grace and mercy. We are freed from sacrifice through the sacrifice of Christ. The whole body of sacrificial law was fulfilled in Christ. The Law of God was not fulfilled, and not one jot or tittle will pass from it until all is accomplished and heaven and earth pass away.
Love one another and keep yourself free from the sins of the world.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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