Forming Faith Blog

Listening to Experiences (Acts 15)

Posted on May 6 2025 by Gregory Rawn

The early Church encountered a real, understandable, and serious controversy: Did non-Jews need to become Jewish to follow the Jewish Messiah? While Scripture seemed to say “yes,” the experiences of the believers said a resounding “no.”

A parishioner holding a Bible while sitting, likely listening to the experiences of others.
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com
The Birth of the Church

From the (completely accurate) “idle tales” of the first female evangelists, through the enlightenment of a few disciples on the way to Emmaus, to the testimonies of the “table waiters” Stephen and Philip, the early Church is growing quickly! Thanks to the Holy Spirit (with some unintentional help from Saul the persecutor), more people in more places are hearing the good news about Jesus. A movement that started with a small group of Jewish people traveling between Galilee and Judea is now spreading throughout the Roman Empire. 

Jewish Origins

The early Church (like our churches today) is filled with people. That means they are filled with broken, flawed, and limited people (that’s all of us, btw). Our backgrounds (education, cultures, etc.) matter. Not just because they make us different (and diversity is an awesome thing), but because they affect how we approach issues. And a diversity of perspectives is a very awesome thing! But it will cause disagreements and conflicts.

The growing Church ran into a major problem pretty quickly. You see, Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, fulfilling God’s promises from the Jewish (Hebrew) Bible, and working among the Jewish people. And one thing that is very clear in the Hebrew Bible is that the most important thing about the children of Israel is their covenantal relationship with God. The non-negotiable sign of the covenant is male circumcision, and the people’s responsibility is to obey the Torah, the Law that God gave Moses and the people at Mt. Sinai. It was very important for the Israelites to separate themselves from their neighbors, following God and not whatever the cool kids were doing (like that fad of sacrificing your children by fire). This separateness was drilled into their collective consciousness over and over again by the prophets.

And now we have Jesus, who again is the Jewish Messiah. While he healed some non-Jews (Gentiles), his ministry was clearly focused on the Jewish people. His followers, being Jewish, would be circumcised (the males), and they would follow the Torah.

Gentile Believers

So, it’s really not surprising that a portion of Jesus’ followers would believe that to be a Jesus-follower, you had to first become Jewish with circumcision and Torah-following. That’s what all of the believers were doing up to this point. The Pharisees get a bad rap in the Gospels, but they were trying to be faithful to God’s covenant. [It’s also important to know that what is now (rabbinic) Judaism arose from the Pharisees, so we need to make sure that we aren’t vilifying them.]

Now, things are changing. The word of God is not only spreading throughout the Jewish Diaspora, but many Gentiles (non-Jews) were coming to believe in Jesus and follow him. How do Gentiles fit into this Jewish movement? Those who came from the Pharisees looked back at Scripture, and it was clear: the converts had to become circumcised and follow the Torah.

But there was a big problem with this (logistical, among others). Jews were, well, already Jewish and therefore wouldn’t have to do anything besides believe and be baptized. Gentiles would have to submit to a minor (but painful) surgery and a complete lifestyle overhaul. Not exactly an even playing field, and a major deterrent and obstacle for evangelism.

The important part, though, was: What was God’s will for the situation?

Conversation

While the conflict was brewing, the leaders (apostles and elders) met to consider the issues. The “believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees” had made their perspective clear. Theirs was the response gained from biblical study. But then there were the testimonies, the experiences that other leaders had. And, presumably, they all (including the Pharisees) listened. They listened to Peter tell of his experience with the Roman Cornelius (Acts 10). They listened to Barnabas and Paul tell their experience of “all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles” (Acts 15:12).

Decision

I must admit that, before rereading the text for this blog post, I thought that the leadership council’s decision was made through consensus. But verses 13-21 indicate that the final decision was James’ alone, or at least he seemed to have made it alone. Perhaps this is what happened in its entirety, with everyone just obeying James’ decision, with the later verse “we have decided unanimously” (v. 25) just an agreement on the decision of which representatives of the Jerusalem council would be sent with Barnabas and Paul. But that doesn’t strike me as consistent with much of the rest of Acts (note I’m referring to a consensus of leadership, not laity). I like to think that there was more of a consensus reached than a decision declared. But just because I want something doesn’t mean that I get it.

Action

Once a decision was made (or agreed upon), the leaders acted. They wrote a letter to the Gentile believers (and presumably also to the leaders teaching the necessity of circumcision and Torah-obedience) outlining the most basic code of conduct: avoid things polluted by idols, fornication, blood, and “whatever has been strangled.” Even these, like every other expectation for conduct, are not conditions for God’s acceptance but directions on how to respond to God’s love.

The apostles and elders designated some representatives from the council to accompany Paul, Barnabas, and the letter to make it clear that this directive is not just from these apostles to the Gentiles, but from the council itself.

Faith Formation Connections

In terms of faith formation across many age ranges, you can pull three main messages:

  • Theological: God loves and freely accepts all people (Gentiles as well as Jews) without precondition, and we should do that, too. Inclusion is not only a Godly virtue, but a command.
  • Cautionary: The Pharisees had the Bible (or at least their interpretation of it) on “their side.” Peter, Barnabas, and Paul shared their public experiences of what they saw the Holy Spirit doing. So, a reliance on a particular interpretation of the Bible without observing experiences is problematic at best.
  • Practical: We can use this story as a model for community decision-making. The leaders listened to different perspectives (Bible-based and experiential), consulted Scripture, considered how their decision would impact others (the Gentiles in this case), decided, and acted.

Not all age groups can understand all this, but you can determine how much to include based on your experience. You can see the free activity from our Living the Word: Kids (3rd-6th, NL) to see one way to connect it to younger participants.

In faith,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

Download a FREE activity for 5/18/2025
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