For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
Acts 15:28-29 ESV
As a Gentile believer, how much of the Old Testament law am I required to keep? As the early church expanded from its Jewish origins, it began reaching large numbers of Gentiles. And this became a pressing question.
The city of Antioch had a thriving church with a largely Gentile membership. But a dispute arose when some men came from Judea and began to teach in the church that the Gentiles must be circumcised to be saved. After much debate about the issue, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to consult with the other apostles and elders to settle this issue.
Deciding the Issue
As they met to consider this, some believers of the Pharisee party claimed that it was necessary to circumcise the Gentile believers and order them to keep the law of Moses (Acts 15:5). After much debate, Peter rose and recounted his experience with Cornelius and his family. Peter pointed out that the Holy Spirit had come to them just like he had to the Jewish believers. Without them submitting to circumcision or the law of Moses.
After more discussion, the council agreed that the Gentiles were not required to be circumcised or to obey the law of Moses. Instead, they asked them to abstain from four things that were particularly offensive to Jews scattered around the Roman empire (Acts 15:19-21).
This ruling did not abolish the law. Nor did it say that the law had no value for me as a Gentile believer. Much of the law is still helpful in knowing how to live a godly life. But I am not required to keep the law to be saved. As Paul later explicitly stated, and this council implicitly confirmed, salvation is a matter of faith, not of works (Eph. 2:8-9) or obedience to some moral code.
It is important to recognize, though, that the faith that saves us is not passive. Saving faith is fruitful and productive, resulting in good works.
