Narrative Lectionary Program Year – Council at Jerusalem
Acts 15.1-18
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Furthering the Power of God’s Story – Narrative Lectionary Commentary
by Rev. Dr. Clint Schnekloth
The Jerusalem council is a momentous event in the life of the church and the world more generally. For the church, it marks the negotiated moment when the gospel would be intentionally, not just accidentally, spread to Gentiles and Jews.
Here’s the agreement they came to: “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
Now, it’s true that Paul in Galatians records a somewhat different agreement than is recorded here, so you have even in the New Testament a bit of contested interpretation on the “outcome” of the council. But what is incontrovertible, and this cannot be overstated, is that in Jerusalem they adopt a both/and. The gospel is both the fulfillment of the promises to Israel AND a promise extended to new peoples’ because of its very nature and context.
Anyone who closely reads the Hebrew scripture is aware this is not a novum per se for Jewish theology. There has always been space within Judaism for God-fearers and inquirers, and there’s a concept, replete and awesome, within the prophets and other authors that Israel would be a light to the nations and that all peoples would be gathered on God’s holy mountain because of God’s light shining through Israel.
James points this out in his sermon, quoting as he does the prophet Amos.
“On that day I will raise up
the meeting tent of David that has fallen,
and repair its broken places.
I will raise up its ruins,
and I will rebuild it like a long time ago;
so that they may possess what is left of Edom,
as well as all the nations who are called by my name,
says the Lord who will do this.”
The surprise, the outcome of the council, is simply this: through Christ in this moment IS what was promised in Amos. The ruins rebuilt are rebuilt in this way, and this is the way all the nations will possess what is left of Edom.
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Acts 15: Gentiles as Gentiles in Davidic Promise and the Clarification of Paul’s Offer of the Gospel in Acts 13, by Greg Herrick
Conversion, Conversation, and Acts 15, by Lois Malcolm
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“The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.”
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Free Dramatic Reading For This Text (NRSV)
Readers: Narrator, Individuals, Peter
Narrator: Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers,
Individuals: Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
Narrator: And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said,
Individuals: It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.
Narrator: The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them,
Peter: My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.
Narrator: The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied,
James: My brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first looked favorably on the Gentiles, to take from among them a people for his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it is written, “After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; from its ruins I will rebuild it, and I will set it up, so that all other peoples may seek the Lord—even all the Gentiles over whom my name has been called. Thus says the Lord, who has been making these things known from long ago.”