15:23,24
So a letter was put together, it was addressed specifically to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. The letter begins by stressing that the people who had come up from Jerusalem insisting that they needed to be circumcised did not have any authorisation from the Jerusalem church, and they recognised that these people had “disturbed” the Gentile believers.
15:25-27
The two men sent up with Paul and Barnabas did have the authority of the Jerusalem church, so the message they brought was “official”. The letter stresses the credentials of Silas and Judas, they had risked their lives for the sake of Christ. So they weren’t in it just for their own egos! There was a genuine cost involved. Silas and Judas could confirm the contents of the letter and, presumably, answer any questions that the Gentile believers might have.
15:28,29
The letter also claims that they were following the leading of the Holy Spirit. They would not “burden” the church beyond the requirements specifically mentioned in the letter. These were, as noted earlier, “to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality”. They are strongly encouraged to keep to these rules. It is noteworthy that abstaining from sexual immorality is the only one that is an absolute. In Rom 14 and 1 Cor 8 a slightly different line on food offered idols is taken.
No comments:
Post a Comment