Read Acts 15:22-35
ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” (Galatians 2:16, NLT)
When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.
Part 257: Judas Barsabbas. There isn’t too much known about Judas (also known as Barsabbas), other than that he seen as a prophet and that was chosen along with Silas to accompany Paul on a trip to churches in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia to read a letter that came out of the Council of Jerusalem. Clearly, Judas must have been someone who was known and respected by the Council as well as churches, and so they chose him along with Silas to carry out this important mission.
Since there isn’t much known about Judas himself, let’s discuss the council first, and then it will be clear what Judas’ mission and role was. Up to this point, Paul had been preaching an unrestricted Gospel to the Gentiles. What does this mean? It means that Paul felt that the Gentiles should not be bound to or restricted by a Law that they were not born under.
Therefore, Paul reasoned, a Gentile could enter God’s covenant through faith in Christ. For him, the Law all pointed to being in right relationship with God; however, none of us, not even Jews, follow the Law perfectly. Christ is the only answer to that problem, for he did follow it perfectly and became the sacrificial Lamb of God for us all. Christ is the One who saves, not circumcision. Thus, while Paul was an observant Jew, he put aside such traditions when it came to the Gentiles. This became a MAJOR controversy among Jewish Christians, who felt Paul was abandoning the Torah and the very faith of Christ himself.
Some of these Jewish Christians took it upon themselves to oppose and counter Paul’s teachings in the communities he had established Gentile churches. They were telling the Gentiles that they HAD to get circumcised if they were to have any part in Christ. This enraged Paul and the controversy grew to the point that the Apostles and Elders of the church called together a Council to weigh in on the matter. In the end, according to Luke in Acts, the council agreed with Paul and wrote a letter to be read to the churches. This letter stated that the Apostles had no part in countering Paul’s ministry and that, officially, Gentiles DID NOT have to adhere to circumcision.
This was a MAJOR win for Paul who had been advocating for this from the beginning. Judas and Silas were to accompany him to read this letter to the churches. As for Judas, he was also known as a prophet. In other words, he was someone who was known to have been gifted with the ability to prophesy by the Holy Spirit. His being one of the ones to deliver the message would only lend credibility that this decision was not just that of the Council, but of Christ.
As we can see, the earliest Church was not always a cohesive group. They had quarrels, disagreements, cliques, and even backstabbers. We often look back to “old time religion” as if they were on a higher pedastal than where we find ourselves today; however, that is not the case. The only real difference between then and now is that they TRULY looked to God to guide them in their decisions and, when push came to shove, they humbled themselves and opened up to the possibility of change. We should be challenged to model ourselves after that approach to the Christian witness. Holy compromise and the middle way (via media) are essential in the Body of Christ.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.” – Rev. John WesleyPRAYER
Lord, though we be of different mind on different issues, help us to be of one heart and to live in LOVE with our sisters and our brothers. Amen.