Archive for April 27th, 2009
May 3, 2009: Paul and Timothy
The text for this lesson is Acts 15:1–16:5.
Key Points
- Just as many in Paul’s day thought, we think we must do something to be saved. Yet the answer is always Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus, whose resurrection from the dead sealed our salvation and absolved the world.
- Law: I sin when I believe that Jesus is not enough for my salvation, when I think that I must do something, however small, to contribute to my salvation.
- Gospel: Jesus has done it all perfectly for me. My salvation is complete.
Context
In the earliest days of the Church, most believers were Jews. Central to their religious life were the stipulations of the old covenant, such as circumcision. Though Jesus fulfilled these laws, many Jewish Christians continued to practice them. When Gentiles began to convert, some believers, including the Christian Pharisees (Acts 15:5), insisted the Gentiles must keep the Old Testament laws to be saved. This was the chief question of this first council: must the Gentiles keep these laws to be saved? The conclusion was, no, they must not. However, so as not to offend their fellow Jewish believers, the leaders advised the Gentiles to “abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality” (Acts 15:29).
