Is Faith Enough?

Some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”   Acts 15:1

There was no problem as long as only a few Gentiles professed faith in Jesus, but soon the trickle became a flood, and some of the leaders in Jerusalem became alarmed. The Gentiles who professed faith in Jesus were not being circumcised or embracing Judaism; they were simply professing faith in Jesus and being baptized.

Even in Old Testament times, God’s people had opened their arms to outsiders. The question was whether a Gentile could be accepted as a follower of Jesus without embracing Judaism first. The men from Judea were telling young Christians at Antioch that faith in Christ was not enough for them to be saved. Something else had to be added. But as soon as people say that, they have undermined the gospel.

Had Jesus done everything that was needed to save those who would come to him, or were other “rites of passage” necessary? Was it necessary for Gentile believers to embrace the traditions of Judaism as they came to Christ, or was it possible for Gentiles to come from their varying traditions directly to faith in Jesus Christ?

It is not surprising that this led to “arguing vehemently” (Acts 15:2). Paul and Barnabas were appointed by the believers in Antioch to go to Jerusalem and meet with the apostles and elders there. The issue was discussed openly, and the result was clear and decisive: Jesus Christ had opened the way for people from every background to come to God, and they determined not to put anything extra in the way.

The apostles and elders also wrote a pastoral letter making two points: First, the new believers must make a decisive break with sin—patterns of sexual immorality that were notorious among the Gentiles must stop. Second, new Gentile believers were asked to show sensitivity toward the Jewish believers, refraining from food that their Jewish brothers and sisters would not eat—not as a condition of the gospel, but as an expression of love (see Acts 15:23-29). Whenever you restrain your liberty out of love for others, you are demonstrating the unity of the body of Christ.

For further reading, see Romans 14