1. 3.7 Solving Church Problems: The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-35)
In Acts 15, the church faced a problem that could have torn it apart; should Gentiles (non-Jews) who accept Christ, be required to obey Mosaic (OT) Law?
In other words, was Christianity simply an evolution of Judaism or was it something brand new?
James is credited with taking a
leadership role at the council

2. Problem: The first Christians were virtually all Jewish converts.
Many of them retained their Jewish traditions (e.g. circumcision), even though they accepted Christ as Messiah.
As more non-Jews accepted Christ, some Jewish Christians began to insist that Gentiles should become Jews first.

3. The Jerusalem Council
That is, they should follow OT customs as well, in order to be considered a “real” Christian.
This caused great concern to the church leaders – will this rupture and split the church?
A 16th C, portrait of Paul

4. The division looked like this…
Jewish Christians
(converted Pharisees):
Accept Christ
Keep the Law (snip)
Gentiles are saved but are not “full” members
Solution?
The leaders agreed that Jewish Christians should not impose Jewish customs on non-Jewish converts.
Apostles: (Paul, Peter)
Accept Christ
God saves without the Law
Jews are saved by Grace so don’t impose Jewish laws on Gentile Christians