Acts 15:1-29 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brothers, and said, Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses… Science informs us that the fiercest hurricanes revolve around a perfect centre of calm. This chapter tells us of disturbance in the centre of the Church. A little examination of this dissension will show that it is, more or less, a type of all Church disputes. It was a conflict between — I. THE RITUALISTIC AND THE SPIRITUAL (ver. 1). 1. The names of these breakers of Church peace are not given, nor do we require them. They were not persons of any authority. Their religion had more to do with the senses than with the souls with the form than with the spirit. I can conceive of them urging — (1) That the law of Moses was the law of God, and therefore immutable. (2) That the religion of Messiah was to develop, and not abrogate, the Levitical economy. 2. The new religion was, on the other hand, preeminently spiritual; it taught that "circumcision or uncircumcision availeth nothing," etc. II. THE TRADITIONAL AND THE PROGRESSIVE. 1. For many ages the Gentile who sought religious light could only obtain it through the Jew. These Judaising teachers had felt that what had been must continue. They were institutional conservatives — they could not give up the past. 2. On the other hand, Christianity was preeminently progressive; it made the old a mere starting point. It left Palestine for the world, the Jew for the race, the temple of Jerusalem for the temple of the universe, teaching men everywhere that "God is a Spirit," etc. III. THE FETTERING AND THE FREE. To bind the Gentile converts to this Jewish rite would be to enslave their souls; hence Peter exclaimed, "Why tempt ye God to put a yoke on the necks of the disciples?" To tie the soul to a ceremony is to enslave it, and this those bigots now sought to do. They would fetter the limbs of a new faith with the trammels of old ceremonies. Christianity is freedom; it invests the soul with "the glorious liberty of the children of God." (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. |
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