Text: Acts 15:1-5
"1 ¦ 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.
2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had
no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul
and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto
the apostles and elders about this question.
3 And being brought on their way by the
church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion
of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
4 And when they were come to Jerusalem,
they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they
declared all things that God had done with them.
5 But there rose up certain of the sect
of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise
them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses."
When we read the Bible, there is one important matter to pay attention to. That is to understand the parables and to understand the truths hidden in them. Jesus rebuked his disciples, "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?" So, to understand parables is critically important.
In addition, biblical truth is not hidden meaninglessly, but purposefully, waiting for its manifestation. For, it is written "For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad."
If we read the Bible without a correct understanding, we face the possibility of doing something against God's will or even in severe collision against his will. This text deals with that possibility. It says there were some Jews who came down from Judaea to the church of Antioch. It is meaningful that the word "disciple" is not used for this group of people and the Pharisees in verse 5. Why? Because it is written that "The Lord expounded all things to his disciples."
These Jews read the Bible and they insisted as the verse says "to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." But, Paul and Barnabas opposed this view, and they decided to go up to Jerusalem to defend the purity of the gospel concerning this matter with the apostles and elders.
"Law and faith" is and important issue even for us Christians today. It comes as no surprise that they had a dispute upon this subject in Jerusalem. But, when I read this passage, I feel something else. I think this dispute indicates the difference between the people who understand parables and the people who do not.
A Pharisee might insist like this: "The law of Moses clearly commands us to keep the law, and requires satisfaction for us to be accepted by God through it. God also commanded the Gentles who would worship with Israel to be circumcised and have seek righteousness through it. It declares this to be so in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and other books. Why are you neglecting these clear commandments of God and do not require Gentiles to be circumcised and keep the law?
Actually, many scriptures in the old testament talks about "the law." God's people walked with the law and continued to do so for many years. It seems only natural for Israel to insist, "If the Bible is the unchangeable word of God, then even Gentile believers have to keep the law." Such line of reasoning seems only very reasonable. If we had actually been attending this debate and heard the many citations from the word of God concerning the necessity of keeping the law, whether Jew or Gentile, then we would almost have been persuaded of their seemingly sound argumentation from scripture. What was Paul's counter argument? The actual contents of Paul's defense is not outlined in the book of Acts. Instead we find his counter argument in the book of Galatians. Of course, his argument also comes from the old testament Bible. So, please note this fact that even though they both read about the same topic from the scriptures they reach completely different conclusions. Paul's argument is quite different from the pharisaical believer's. The pauline argument is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible. Instead, his interpretation comes from understanding allegory or parable, which contains a hidden truth.
How did Paul come to this conclusion that righteousness comes by faith? Let's take a look. Paul read his old testament Bible and find the description of Abraham that "his faith is considered his righteousness". And he found that this verse about "faith" was the most important key in the Bible.
On the other hand, what is "the law?" How is "the law" kept so that righteousness is obtained? He read the Bible more and found the fact that "law" is given through an angel and not through God. God is not a changeable being but angel is. So, he realized through this fact that Bible shows "the law" as temporary. The Bible intentionally says that the law is given through an angel. God, the author of the Bible, writes this fact of the law intentionally being given by angelic intermediary. Paul correctly found this fact and understood God's intentions hidden in this fact.
This topic of "faith or law?" that was discussed in Jerusalem is an important topic even for the present church. However, please note that the truth "righteousness through faith" is a truth which will never be found if we just read the Bible aimlessly. This is a truth which will never be found if we do not seek the understanding of parables to uncover hidden truth.
If we read the Bible rationally and literally, we may reach the same conclusion as the Jews. If we also read the Bible without preconceived ideas, we may also come to the same conclusion. Instead, Paul's opinion sets a new testament precedent for us. But some may argue that "Oh, but it is only written as 'his faith is considered as his righteousness' but once in the book of Genesis. And can we really be free from the law's demands mentioned in Bible so many times by only this one sentence? If we were in Paul's time, which opinion would we agree with? But then, what is God's truth and his conclusion? Actually, God willed it exactly as per Paul's insistence. God really wrote the Bible as per his insistence that a person satisfies the demands of the law by faith and not by flesh. The Bible is a book to be read as per Paul's insistence on justification by faith alone. Even in the old testament days a person was justified by faith alone, that's why it said, Abraham was made righteous by his faith. The Pharisee believers' interpretation was false and apart from God's will; their view exalted flesh in obedience to law while God's view exalted grace by faith. Their literal interpretation of Exodus and Leviticus was not tempered by the narrative of Genesis and the example found in Abraham, and they failed to see into the most necessary characteristic of biblical interpretation, parables and allegory. This conclusion seems counterproductive but this is the wisdom of God hidden in the Bible. We have to know the character of the Bible through this example. A major characteristic of the Bible is that is is a book of parables and book of hidden truth. There are many scriptures having superficial layers of meaning. In other hand, the truth of the kingdom of God is written in a hidden style. This is the disciple layer where truths are revealed to God's true disciples like Paul who sought for the hidden truth.
It is meaningful that the word "disciple" is not used for these Pharisee believers. Why? Because it says, "For them (not disciples) it is not permitted to know the mystery of kingdom of heaven."
In the discussion held at Jerusalem in Acts 15, those without an understanding of the parable might insist like this with a loud voice, "You are not keeping God's commandment, which is clearly described in the scriptures!" Since the law commands so many times about circumcision and such, they never would have thought that they just might be wrong. But they were very very wrong. Absolutely dreadfully wrong. Please note that if their insistent mentality was so close to the truth but so far from it, then we today might have the same mentality in other areas of interpretation and subsequently be in bondage under the law.
If there is no one who would understand parables today, even now, God's truth might stay covered. Some people may ask why didn't God write the Bible with a more comprehensible style and make it easier to know the truest truth? Why did God allow for the possibility of misunderstanding? The Bible is written in the wisdom and way of God. So, we can not claim to know God's purposes fully with mere human wisdom. What is the wisdom of God? This is to use parable. In parables he makes his disciples know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven and with parables he excludes others from the truth. God wants his disciples to understand parables, just as Paul did. But, he does not want anyone but disciples to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven.
There are many parables and hidden truths in Bible. But, God's hope is to reveal them to his disciples. Likewise he offers his spiritual gifts to those disciple who seek for them.
What we have to do as servants is to read the Bible in the way God intended it to be read and to understand God's hidden will correctly. May it never happen to us as it was said of those who were "seeing but [did] not see."
Now this was the story about the very first church conference held in Jerusalem. This story has something to tell us in this present age. Right now we have a Bible, a book of parables. But there are two kinds of people: the ones who seek for the understanding of parables and the others who do not do so.
God is still talking today about many things through this book. Let's
seek the understanding of parables as the Lord's disciples.
end.