Passage of the Day – December 20, 2010

Acts 15:1-12

 ¹Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

 ²And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.

 ³Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren.

 ⁴When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

 ⁵But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses."

 ⁶The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.

 ⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.

 ⁸"And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;

 ⁹and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

 ¹⁰"Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

 ¹¹"But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."

 ¹²All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Tricky business here.  The key word is in verse 5 – “necessary”.  Necessary for what?  To be saved?  Does one need to be circumcised in order to be saved?  Is it necessary for Christians to observe the Mosaic Law in order to be saved?  No.  However, as a testament to our faith in God through Christ, we ought to adhere to the law because we have faith that God established the Law for mankind’s benefit.  If a choice is not an extension of our faith, then it is actually sin.