വ്യാഖ്യാനം നിലവിൽ ഇംഗ്ലീഷിൽ മാത്രമേ ലഭ്യമാകൂ. മലയാള പരിഭാഷ പുരോഗമിക്കുകയാണ്.
Acts 15 — We Believe That Through the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ We Shall Be Saved
Men come down to Antioch teaching that circumcision is necessary for salvation. Paul and Barnabas go up to Jerusalem to settle the question. Peter testifies — God which knoweth the hearts gave the Spirit to Gentiles as to us; we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved. James gives the verdict — do not trouble the Gentiles; only certain abstentions. A letter is sent. Paul and Barnabas part company over Mark; Barnabas takes Mark; Paul takes Silas. Two missions go forth.
“But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”
— Acts 15:11
- v.1-5 The dispute over circumcision
- v.6-21 The council — Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James
- v.22-35 The decree and the letter
- v.36-41 Paul and Barnabas separate
By grace... even as they. One way of salvation for both Jew and Gentile — the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The principle that holds the church together is the single channel of salvation.
Notice the symmetry — we... even as they. The privileged group has no different gate. Jews do not enter by Jewish means; Gentiles do not enter by Gentile means. Both come through Christ alone.
James, presiding, lands the verdict: do not lay unnecessary burdens on new Gentile believers. The instinct in every church to multiply rules for the new is checked at the council.
Trouble not. A word the church needs to hear in every age. Add to the gospel what God has not, and you trouble the saved. The freedom Christ purchased cannot be sold back into bondage.
A sober note. Two godly men disagreed sharply enough to part company. The Spirit can work even through a separation, but the conflict was real and the men were imperfect.
Barnabas's instinct to give Mark a second chance was vindicated later — Paul himself asks for Mark as profitable to me for the ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). The sharp parting was redeemed; the second-chance investment paid off.
Verse 11 is the doctrinal pillar of the council and of the church. Salvation is by grace, the same for all. When you are tempted to think that some are more eligible than others — by background, behavior, family, ethnicity — verse 11 is the corrective. We... even as they. Hold this verse close, and the gospel stays open.
The Jerusalem Council is one of the most important moments in church history because it kept the gospel free. Christ's saving work — His grace alone — was protected from the addition of human merit. Without this council the church might have split before it spread; with it, the door stayed open for the Gentiles. The chapter ends with two missions going out instead of one, both carrying the same Christ to more places.
Peter's argument is honest. The law's yoke had been unbearable even to Jews. Why would they impose on Gentile believers what their own history had proved impossible?
Tempt ye God. To add to grace is to test God's sufficiency. The cross either saves or it does not; supplementing it with works denies what it accomplished.