Commentary on Acts 15:13-20

By Bob Myhan

¹³And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me: ¹⁴Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. ¹⁵And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ¹⁶'After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; ¹⁷So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.'

That is, after Barnabas and Paul had declared the miraculous confirmation of their preaching to uncircumcised Gentiles, James also had something to contribute. Though he makes no reference to the declaration of Barnabas and Paul, he implies that the acceptance of uncircumcised Gentiles into the spiritual kingdom of God was prophesied in ages past. He quotes from Amos 9:11-12 but he could have quoted from other prophets as well (such as Isa. 2:1-3 & Micah 4:1-2).

¹⁸"Known to God from eternity are all His works.

Verse 18 is probably an allusion to, if not a quote from Isaiah 45:21.

Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.

God had His plan from all eternity; it is His “eternal purpose” (Eph. 3:1-11 but see, also, 2 Tim. 1:8-9; Titus 1:1-2). That is, it was always God’s intention to bring Jew and Gentile together in the one body, the body of the saved. This was His intention before there was any distinction made between Jew and Gentile. Before He commanded circumcision as the distinguishing mark between the two, he promised Abram,

Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen. 12:1-3)

This promise is now being fulfilled through the gospel.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."  (Gal. 3:8)

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:28-29)

God planned it all. He knew intuitively that to create a race of beings who could sin was to create a race of beings who would sin. Thus, He simultaneously planned to save that race of beings from sin. This involved sending the Word of God to earth to be born into the family of man in order to grow up among them and teach them by word and deed how they ought to conduct themselves. He would then die in order to bring them into covenant relationship with the Godhead. Those who would chose to enter this relationship would be a single body of people. But this had to be done in stages for man in his infancy would be totally unable to appreciate what had been done. The first stage was the Patriarchal age; the second was the Mosaic age; the third and final stage was to be the church age, in which we are now living. There is still a distinguishing mark (a seal, if you will) which differentiates between those who are and those who are not in this covenant relationship with the Godhead. It is spiritual circumcision and a life of sobriety, righteousness and godliness (Titus 2:11-14; see also 2 Tim. 2:19-22). 

 James continues,

¹⁹Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, ²⁰but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

James judged that to demand physical circumcision of the Gentiles who were “turning to God” would be to “trouble” them, for such was not necessary. The Gentiles were, nevertheless, to abstain from the things mentioned here; not because the Law of Moses demanded them but because they were wrong before the Law was given. Therefore, its having been replaced by the New Covenant did not release one from these particular restrictions because those things were inseparably connected to idolatry. Circumcision was different because it was a matter of positive law not moral law, as was the commandment to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Thus, neither is Sabbath keeping demanded by the New Covenant.

(To be continued)

A Study of the Holy Spirit (Part 24)

By Bob Myhan 

It is alleged by some that the Holy Spirit indwells Christians both indirectly and directly, both impersonally and personally. These sometimes affirm that if the Holy Spirit indwells Christians only representatively (that is, through a medium), then He does not indwell them at all. But it would not be efficient for anyone to do something both personally and impersonally, both directly and indirectly. To act impersonally and indirectly is to act through a medium or a representative. For example, when the president of the United States speaks to the American people, he does not go from house to house; he goes to them via television and/or radio.

Now, either the Holy Spirit dwells in Christians directly or He dwells in them indirectly. Consider the principle of parsimony. To operate both directly and indirectly in the same work is redundant and inefficient. If He operates directly (without means), there is no need for means. But, if He operates indirectly, the means are necessary because God never acts unnecessarily. He always and only does that which is necessary to be done so as to accomplish His eternal purpose. Otherwise, He would not be the perfect Being that He is. Therefore, in any area of work, if the Holy Spirit operates directly He does not operate indirectly and vice versa.

Consider the day of Pentecost on which the kingdom of God was established. The Holy Spirit operated on the apostles directly by giving them utterance to speak in several languages. (Acts 2:1-4) However, He operated indirectly on the audience by the words He gave the apostles (Acts 2:5-12; 22-41). It would have been inefficient and redundant to operate both directly and indirectly on either the apostles or the audience.

Every other act of conversion is the same. The Holy Spirit operated directly on the preacher and indirectly on the audience. There is one exception where the Holy Spirit operated directly on prospects and that was in the home of Cornelius. But this direct operation was not for the purpose of converting those on whom He thus operated. It was for the purpose of confirming to the apostles and others that Gentiles were to be received into the kingdom on the same basis as the Jews. They had to do nothing more, nothing less and nothing other than what the Jews had to do. (Acts 11:1-18; 15:7-11)

The same is true with the child of God. The word of God hidden in the heart will keep him from sinning, make him complete, thoroughly equip him for every good work and save his soul. (Ps. 119:11; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; James 1:21). A personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit is unnecessary and, therefore, would be redundant and inefficient.

(To be continued)