An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 15:7-9, 22-31, for Sunday, September 22, 2024 with the title, “The Gospel.”

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  During the 1960 campaign for President, “Allen Dulles, Chief of the CIA, was sent once by President Eisenhower to brief the Democratic candidate (John F. Kennedy) … As the two left the Kennedy cottage, where they had talked alone, (Kennedy) was heard to remark, “Haven’t you got any good news in that black bag of yours?” (Theodore H. White, The Making of the President 1960, p. 305)

Well we DO have some “good news,” don’t we? — and that good news is what we call the Gospel — which is our focus for this week’s message from Acts 15.

ANOTHER way you could introduce this lesson would be to share about an important historical meeting which had lasting consequences: like the Second Continental Congress of 1776, where the U.S. colonies decided to declare independence, or the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945, in which the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union decided on terms to end World War II in Europe — which divided Europe and Germany determined world geopolitics for decades to come.

??? You might then ask your group to share another important conference or meeting — perhaps one from history, or even one which significantly impacted their own lives???

And then indicate that in today’s lesson we’re going to look at one of the most important “meetings” in all history — yet one which many Christians are not that familiar with — the Jerusalem Conference of Acts 15, which made a historic decision about the nature of Christianity which would impact us to this day! 

CONTEXT

Paul & Barnabas are still on what we call their “First Missionary Journey” in what is now Turkey. We saw last week that they preached and experienced persecution and established churches at Lystra and Derbe. Following that, the end of Chapter 14 tells us they went south to Perga (GET YOUR MAP BACK OUT!) 

where they preached, then went to Attalia, where they had landed in Asia Minor, and from there they sailed back to Antioch, where it says they gave a report about their mission, and spent a long time with the disciples.

But it seems like there’s always problems, aren’t there? Chapter 15 opens with a new one: and this is, again, not outward persecution, but inward controversy and dissension. 

15:1-2 “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And 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.”  So some Jews came to Antioch saying basically that the Gentile converts had to become circumcised and become Jews — that they had to keep the Law to be saved. They decided they needed to go to Jerusalem and bring this before the apostles and elders there. This would lead to one of the most important decisions in the early church, one which would impact Christianity from that day forward: what would the Gospel message include? What would be required? This decision came at what Bible historians call “The Jerusalem Conference” of Acts 15. Verse 6 says “The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.” which brings us to our passage for today:

OUTLINE

I.   The Nature of the Gospel of Grace (:7-9)

II.  The Report of the Conference (:22-31)

TEXT

I. The Nature of the Gospel of Grace (:7-9) (I’m gonna be top-heavy on this point; it’s the main point here, about the nature of the Gospel)

So the Bible says they brought the debate about whether new believers would have to be circumcised and follow the Old Testament Law to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem:

(:7) “After 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; (:9) and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.”

There are several key concepts in this section which define the Gospel:

A. IT’S A GOSPEL OF GRACE: HEARING & BELIEVING

:7 “by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe” “Hear and believe”, :7 says, and :8 says God gave them the Holy Spirit. We see this important combination of “hearing and believing” to be saved, all through the New Testament:

(You could just share the following cross-references, OR you could distribute them to class members beforehand to read at this point, and then you can comment on them:)

— John 5:24 Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life.”

So we see this same combination: “hear,” and “believe”, and then you will have eternal life. 

— Acts 4:4 “many of those who had heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5000.” 

How did these people come to be saved? They “heard” the message, then they “believed.” You see it there again: “hear” and “believe.” 

— Acts 18:8 “many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.”

— +x Romans 10:13-14 talks about hearing and believing regarding salvation:

:13 “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

(:14) How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?”

So we see this combination again: they have to “hear” the word, and when they hear, then they can believe, which leads to calling on the name of the Lord to be saved.

— we see it again in Ephesians 1:13 “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” We see those same words there, don’t we? 

— they heard (“Listened”)

— they believed

— and as a result they were sealed with the Holy Spirit, who came into their lives when they believed.

So all these passages show us how it is just “hearing and believing” that saves us, not performing a bunch of religious works. Salvation is by God’s grace, not works, through faith.

Verses :10-11 aren’t in our “focus passage” but I’d hate to leave them out, because they serve to sum up Peter’s argument:  

“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.”

— :10 shows how we all fall SHORT of the Law: “a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” None of us can keep the Law; none of us can be saved by works.

— :11 shows how we are all included in the Gospel: “we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

It’s the same for everyone: Jew or Gentile, American or anybody else. As Romans 10 makes clear: “WHOEVER will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” 

And HOW are they saved? By the grace of God, as :11 says.

By “hearing” and “believing,” the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and we are saved.

This would be the focus of the argument at the “Jerusalem Conference”: are people saved by faith in Christ only, or by works of the Law also? And as we see, the answer was that it is “hearing and believing.” “Through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Not by works.

ILLUSTRATION:  During the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) the U.S. Judge Advocate General laid before Lincoln, who loved to pardon men, a flagrant case of a soldier, who, in the heat of battle, affected others by his cowardice, “throwing down his gun and hiding behind a tree stump. The court-martial found he had neither father nor mother living, nor wife nor child; he was a thief, stealing from comrades on duty, by all standards unfit to wear the uniform. ‘Here is a case,’ said Judge Holt to the President, ‘exactly within your requirements; he does not deny his guilt; he will serve his country better dead than living … no relations to mourn for him … not fit to be in the ranks of patriots.’” In other words, this man had done NOTHING to deserve a pardon, YET Lincoln, so merciful in such cases, pardoned him! He didn’t “deserve” it, in any way. It was all of grace. (Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years and the War Years, p. 589)

The same is true in regard to our salvation. We are not saved by any merit or favor in us,  or anything we have done to earn or deserve it; only by the grace of God when we hear what Jesus paid for us, and believe. This is the point Peter was making here — and which has been the teaching of Christianity ever since. The Gentiles didn’t have to keep the Law. They are saved by grace through faith, when they hear and believe.

So as we apply this today, let’s make sure we don’t “demand extra things” of people when they get saved. Just like us, they are not saved by what they do, but by the grace of God. That is the gospel, salvation by God’s grace, not works. 

An exercise you could do at this point, would be to have some snippets written down, and have your class decide if each is the Gospel, or something else. For example:

— “You need to get your hair cut and get a good job.” (NOT the Gospel!)

— “You need to stop drinking and doing drugs.” (NOT the Gospel!)

— “You need to vote Republican!” (NOT the Gospel!)

— “God wants you to live your best life now.” (NOT the Gospel!)

— “God wants to heal you of all your diseases, because ‘by His stripes you are healed.’” (NOT the Gospel!)

— “Put your trust in what Jesus did on the cross to save you.” (THE GOSPEL!)

After this exercise, (or maybe as an alternative to it) you could ask your group:

??? What are some examples of things WE might be tempted to demand of people in addition to “grace by faith alone”? 

— Different kinds of moral reform

— Traditional American socio-economic values

— “our kind” of music, dress, habits

And on and on. 

Let’s remember: our traditions, customs, and values are NOT the Gospel. Let’s be sure that like the church in the 1st Century, WE do not “lay upon people a yoke” of some kind of “law” that no one can bear. That is not the Gospel. That is not how we are saved. Let’s remember that the Gospel is NOT other people conforming to OUR customs, traditions, or laws. The Gospel is hearing and believing what Jesus did for us on the cross: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” (I Cor. 15:3)

That’s the Gospel of the grace of God. 

Then notice a couple of other things about the Gospel in this text:

B. IT’S A GOSPEL FOR ALL/“NO DISTINCTION”

— It says there is “no distinction” in the Gospel. “No distinction between us and them” Peter said. The word “distinction” here (diakrino) means a “separation.” God doesn’t “separate” us into groups on who He will save by grace through faith in Christ. It doesn’t matter who you are, what your racial or ethnic or economic background is; this Gospel will work for YOU! If you will call on the name of the Lord, you WILL be saved!

+x Romans 10:11-13 “For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” (:12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; (:13) for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’’

C. IT’S A GOSPEL THAT WASHES AWAY SIN!

— “cleansing their hearts by faith”

This is what Jesus does for us when we’re saved by grace through faith: He cleanses our hearts from our sins. 

— as Psalm 51:7 says “Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.”

— I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

When we are saved, we are washed/cleansed from our sin!

I’ve been staying at the rehab center here in Pearland Texas with my wife Cheryl this week following her stroke, and one night I accidentally knocked over a vase of flowers our daughter had sent, which spilled water all over and made a mess. Thankfully a cleaning lady was standing right there when I did it, and with a sweet foreign accent she said, “No worry mister.” She very graciously cleaned it all up, and on her way out she said “Nothing happen here Mister. Now look like nothing happen here.”

Later I thought: This is what the Lord does for us: we’ve sinned; we’ve made a mess of things; our hearts are stained with sin. But by faith in Christ’s death on the cross, He “cleanses our hearts by faith” — so that now “look like nothing happen here!” It’s “just as if we’d never sinned” as the old expression goes, because Jesus has cleansed our hearts. That’s the beauty of the gospel. 

So we see some extremely important things about the nature of the gospel in this section: it’s a gospel of Grace/hearing and believing, not of works; it’s a gospel for ALL regardless of ethnicity; and it’s a gospel that cleanses us from all sin. 

II. The Report of the Conference (:22-31)

“Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas—Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, 23 and they sent this letter by them,

“The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.

24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, 25 it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”

30 So when they were sent away, they went down to Antioch; and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.”

(Now, the Lifeway “focus passage” does omit :13-21, which tells how James stood up after Peter had spoken, and recommended his decision. Remember: this is NOT James the brother of John; he had been put to death by Herod in Acts 12. This is widely regarded to be James the brother of Jesus, who is now seen to be the most significant leader of the early church. He exercises his leadership here, and recommends that they adopt Peter’s position — really the gospel position — that circumcision is not required for salvation, but that it is by grace through faith. He also recommends that they ask the Gentiles to avoid 4 things which were adopted in the final decision.)

So this last section gives the official “pronouncement” of the Jerusalem Conference. It takes the typical form of a letter — if you notice it’s similar to Paul’s letters: telling who it’s coming from, and to whom it’s addressed, right at the beginning, with “Greetings!”

Then it gets to the heart of the matter, and it’s very clear:

— they said “we gave no instruction” to the people who taught they had to keep the Law — thus distancing themselves from that errant teaching. This is huge. They are saying you DO NOT have to keep the Law to become a Gentile Christian. As we have previously seen in this passage, salvation is by grace through hearing with faith alone.

— They did ask them in :29 to “abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication.” Why these? Idols and fornication are found in the 10 Commandments and are basic Christian doctrines anyway. There is a lot of discussion about why “things strangled and from blood” were included, but many believe it had to do with not offending their Jewish brothers, because these things were prohibited in the Law, and it would be offensive to them. It’s interesting that in Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, he says that Beza’s most ancient copy of the text, and in 3 other manuscripts, it adds: “”and whatsoever ye would not have done to yourselves, that do ye not to another.” In other words, just keep the Golden Rule. Don’t offend people. Love your neighbor as yourself. But you are not obligated to be circumcised, or to keep the whole Old Testament Law, in order to be saved. 

— Notably, :25 says they were “of one mind.” So this wasn’t a
“split decision” of any kind. They all agreed on it: “The apostles and the elders and the whole church.” That’s big!

In contrast, there have been some pretty significant decisions rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court that were split decisions:

— The Roe v. Wade decision to allow abortion in 1973 was 7-2

— The Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade was 6-3

— The Oberkfell decision that compelled all U.S. states to grant same-sex marriage licenses was 5-4! 

But significantly, the decision of the Jerusalem Conference that salvation for all men is by grace through faith and not Law was UNANIMOUS!  “the apostles,” “the brethren,” “the elders” were of ONE MIND. It was an extremely significant, and unanimous decision — a historic decision, which impacts us to this day.

By the way, one application for us today, is that for major decisions in our churches, we ought to be of one mind. 

— I wouldn’t want to “win” a vote on some major decision in a church 50-49! That’s not a win. That’s an indicator that you are not united, and this is likely not God’s will, at least at this time.

— Many pastor search committees agree that they will not call a candidate unless every member of the committee is agreed and they are unanimous.

— And while perhaps it may be asking too much for a vote on a pastoral candidate to be unanimous (I think of my wife Cheryl, who, as a teenager, when we were in the process of calling one of the greatest pastors in our church’s history, just decided to vote “no” for no apparent reason; how often does this kind of thing happen?) yet the vote should be strong enough to indicate that the church is indeed “of one mind.” 

And we all today certainly need to be “of one mind” about the main topic today: the Gospel. That salvation is by grace, through hearing by faith, without distinction, for all who believe.

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