The Jerusalem Council and the Four Instructions

Acts 15 – The Apostles’ Letter  

As the Gospel spread in the early church [and we are early in the spread of the Gospel in our generation], there arose much disputing regarding the topic of circumcision and specifically whether or not the Gentiles were required to be circumcised.  This council of the Apostles and the resulting letter are important parables that contain instructions for all of us, both Jew and Gentile, who have Christ.  Understanding these instructions, which are commandments, confirms the Scriptures and guides our walk in the truth.

Joh 4:24  God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. 

The snare of seeking knowledge that is covetousness is far greater than we first understood.  This Gospel of the commandments is despised by the carnally minded who rather seek to make a name for themselves and bring glory to themselves, having many possessions.  Seeking riches apart from the true gold of the Lord is one of our most frequent warnings, as the snare is so alluring to all flesh.  We are admonished not to seek those riches in the parable of the rich young ruler and have a score of warnings about false teachers, antichrists, and even in the pronouncement of woes to the Pharisees and lawyers.  Knowledge gives power to and exalts the flesh.

Mat 23:5  But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments

Arguing over circumcision and uncircumcision [not the foreskin cutting but the need for the knowledge] is a hotly debated topic among the Apostles of Jesus Christ in every generation.  These debates shown to us in the Scriptures are words we also live by in our appointed time.    Paul preached the Gospel, meaning the commandments, and put the focus on being a new creation in everything he did.  Yet those who had come to Christ after searching the Scriptures for many years, symbolizing the Jews, disputed with him about the importance and need for the circumcision of knowledge.

Act 15:1  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.

Act 15:2  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.

These Scriptures here in the Acts of the Apostles are here to remind us that we experience the same as a time comes when we are confronted for preaching the Gospel by those teaching the circumcision of knowledge.  It is written in our book to fulfill this, so we best be prepared.

Paul and Barnabas work their way back to Jerusalem to confer with the other Apostles.  The sway of the circumcision done by man’s knowledge is so strong that even some Pharisees who believed confronted the Apostles on this falsehood.  Thus, the council of Acts 15 was initiated with much dissension.

Act 15:5  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.

Act 15:6  And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

There are benefits to possessing the knowledge of the circumcision done by the hands of men, as was discussed in the last letter.  It can be useful for the ministry of the Gospel, especially in reaching other Jews with a similar background in the Old Testament Scriptures.  Yet as we have learned, all that we studied over many years did nothing to change our hearts; we were still beasts at heart without overcoming.  Just the outside of the cup was a little cleaner than the heathens in this world.

Why would a Gentile convert who now believes in the living commandments and the real power unto salvation be put under the same yoke we once laboured?  Why not just teach them to obey the commandments that now live in their hearts?  The answer is clear, and there is no room for debate.

Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Joh 1:17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Rom 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

After much disputing, Peter rose and spoke the truth.

Act 15:7  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. [the indwelling commandments]

Nothing is to be added to or taken away from the commandments. Just doing them is how one is saved from their sins, and this is not works; this is the power of God working inside us unto salvation. A works-based salvation is doing it the Moses way, and getting circumcised with all the knowledge and thinking that makes us holy. Christ, the living Word of commandments, is the only way, the truth, and the life.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father [the holy commandments], but by me.

Entering into the commandments is entering into Christ, which is the rest that remains to be found for the people of God.  There is no yoke or anything else required.

Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

Salvation comes as our hearts are being made new by the grace of God that is correcting us by the indwelling Spirit of the living commandments.  Our days of eating and drinking and getting drunk on knowledge served their purposes for those of us who are spiritual Jews.  Yet this work to try to circumcise ourselves by our own hands is not necessary for the Gentiles to be saved.  All that matters is a new creation.

Gal 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

New hearts are being established not with the meat of knowledge but by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, working mightily in the Temple of God.  We now eat Christ’s body and drink of His blood by the daily communion and intimacy of the indwelling commandments.

1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

Many “Jews” remain outside the true faith, doing many sacrifices, serving the tabernacle, but they cannot enter and eat at the altar where those in the Spirit of Christ dwell and eat.  Those outside the living commandments chase more knowledge and are ever learning but are not able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

After Peter spoke, the Apostle James spoke, showing how the Scriptures foretell this new understanding that the circumcision of knowledge by learning Moses and the law was not required.  James was the first to suggest the four instructions that should be given to the Gentiles.

Act 15:14  Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

Act 15:15  And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

Act 15:16  After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:

Act 15:17  That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Act 15:18  Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

Act 15:19  Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

Act 15:20  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

This pleased the Apostles, and all agreed to send men to preach the Gospel and provide a letter proving that the issue of this circumcision was now settled.  The letter gives instructions regarding abstaining from four necessary actions which defile our walk and leaven our spiritual food [the commands] in Christ.  These four abstentions are the whole of our instructions on how we walk out the Gospel and eat the Lord’s Supper.  Here is the letter released to the church, and the instructions for believers today.

Act 15:23  The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

Act 15:24  Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

Act 15:25  It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

Act 15:26  Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Act 15:27  We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.

Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

Act 15:29  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols,  and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

This council and the resulting letter are a parable of instructions on righteousness in a hidden tongue.  None of them are literal actions, and none of them are new commandments that we do not already know.  Yet seeing them again in the light of these simple instructions should solidify one’s faith to know they are the blessed of God.

These four instructions are the whole of our instructions.  What they say in a parable is that we are to obey ALL of the Commandments.  Our instructions on walking by faith are not complicated.  How we walk and how we eat in the Kingdom of God is to DO the Commandments.

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 

The Apostle’s instructions say nothing about physically eating or drinking, as these phrases and the instructions are parables of what and how we are to think and act.   We need to keep ourselves set apart and clean from the ways of the world and examine our ways to ensure we do not stray off the highway of holiness.  Many stumble, not taking heed of these instructions, and as a result, bring damnation to themselves, becoming spiritually sick, and some even die.

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

1Co 11:30  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Abstaining from meats offered to idols: There is only one true God, the Lord, and His Father.  Meat is our spiritual sustenance, our thought life, said another way.  We are commanded to abstain from eating meat offered to idols.   Pursuing the lust of riches, be it physical or spiritual knowledge, we pollute ourselves and create idols that compete for our affection, which is to be solely on the Lord’s commandments.  This covetousness is idolatry.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Engaging in worldly conversation and activities is vanity and can easily tempt us to sin, speak evil of others, and judge according to the flesh.  What we say and how we say it are very important, as we do not want to fall into temptation or tempt others with our speech.  We are to take our eating of the Lord’s supper and the Holy Commandments very seriously.  Being slothful and undisciplined turns us into idolaters and makes light of the serious things of God.

1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

Partaking of this “meat” is engaging in carnal dialogue and is eating meat offered to idols. A great example in play in the world today is the snare and pollution of political conversation.  We cannot avoid this altogether lest we be taken out of this world [1Co 5:10], yet if we find ourselves in such a “meat market”, we are to ask no questions and just listen.

1Co 10:25  Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:

1Co 10:26  For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.

1Co 10:27  If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. 

Doing this is very hard, but it is possible with God.  Our calling is very high, and the Lord is truly separating a remnant unto himself, being holy and without blame.  The carnally minded world is always going to seek to engage us and thereby tempt us by asking us to eat their sacrifices unto their idols.  Christ showed us the way and answered not when the Pharisees tempted Him.

Mat 27:12  And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.

Joh 8:6  This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

Abstaining from blood:  We do not eat the Word of God where there is still life in it.  Blood sustains life in a flesh body, and we are only to eat what is dead.  We sin when we take into our hearts [eat] anything that is not dead, meaning it still has blood, the life force in it.  This has always been the Lord’s command, as we see in the first covenant made with Noah after the great flood.  If we eat blood, we are abiding in spiritual death [carnal mindedness] and are cut off from the living.

Gen 9:3  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Gen 9:4  But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Gen 9:5  And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 

Spiritually speaking this is engaging in carnal reasoning, judging in the flesh and not resting solely on the commandments.  This keeps the old man alive who is dead while he lives. That life must be lost, poured out on the earth to become acceptable to God.

Lev 17:14  For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

The accusing and excusing mindset of the carnal mind [serpent’s mind] is how we kill ourselves and our brothers in Spirit and eat blood.  This is the merchandising of Babylon, trading in the souls of men [Eze 28:16] as the corrupt cherub.

We are to give our brethren the commandments to eat and just do them, which is the love of God.  We are to do no violence. Violence in the Spirit is engaging under the accusing and excusing law for the lawless, which is the carnal mind and the bread of the devil.  Abstaining from blood is how we partake of the Lord’s supper and walk being led by the living bread of life, the holy commandments.

Deu 12:16  Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.

Deu 12:27  And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.

We are the soldiers in Christ’s army, and are commanded to do no violence, nor falsely accuse, both of which are eating blood.  Carnal thoughts, accuse/excuse, up and down, running to and fro on the earth is doing violence to the Word of God we eat.  We are to take all such thoughts captive to the obedience of the commandments and rest from these carnal labours.  Standing on the simplicity of the commands is doing no violence.

Luk 3:14  And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages [the living commandments in our heart].

Christ showed us the way we are to follow.  He made His grave with the wicked, meaning He laid his life down and did not contend with them in carnal arguments and reasonings.  He did NO violence, and NO deceit was found in His mouth.

Isa 53:9  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

We can judge the fruit but not the man, or else we are false accusers, which is eating blood.  Christ and His Christ come to save the world, not to judge the world.  The world judges in the flesh, we are to be judging righteous judgment, which is abstaining from eating blood.

Joh 8:15  Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.

Mat 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Before Christ comes to us and the living commandments take root in our heart, all try to enter the kingdom of heaven by engaging in this violence [accuse/excuse] that is eating of blood in Spirit.

Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

This is incredibly difficult to do and we can only do it with the power of God, the Gospel leading us into all righteousness.  When we pervert the Gospel to take away the suffering required to abstain from all of the world’s carnality and foolish talking, we are eating with blood and not judging righteously.  As living sacrifices unto the Lord, we are to reckon ourselves already dead as we ONLY eat the body of Christ, which is the commandments dwelling in our heart.  Anything still alive is eating blood.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

When Christ the living commandments take root in our hearts by the power of His Spirit, then violence is no more heard in our land but only salvation.  Christ the power of the Gospel is come!.

Isa 60:18  Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.

Abstaining from strangled meat: The meat of the Word is Jesus Christ and Him within us crucified.  This is the only meat we are to eat.  The meat of Jesus Christ is to do the commandments.  That is what having the faith of Christ means.  We know not of this meat until the Spirit comes to us and makes its abode with us.

Joh 4:32  But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

Joh 4:34  Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

Strangled meat is suffocated meat, meaning there was no shedding of blood in the killing of the sacrifice.  Such spiritual meat is defiled as it means there is no cross, no suffering, representing another false Gospel.  Eating this kind of meat does not take away our sins, and there is no overcoming.

Lev 17:11  For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement [forgiveness] for the soul.

Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Strangled meat is killed by choking the air out of the animal.  In the spiritual realm, this is choking out the Spirit of Christ from the meat.  The result is that we are turned over to the lust of the flesh without the power of the living Spirit of commandments to keep us on the straight path.  This meat turns the grace of God into lasciviousness.  Many meat peddlers sell this meat to those who fail to examine the food they eat in their heaven.   We are to beware and abstain from partaking with them.

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Without the shedding of blood and by choking out the Spirit from our sacrifice, there is no nutritional value from eating this meat, and it defiles us before the Lord.  It is not an acceptable sacrifice; it is the way of the world.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The meat that those in the Gospel eat requires that the blood be poured out on the altar of God in our hearts.  This is the suffering, the loss, the laying down of our lives.  We eat Christ’s body and not strangled meat.

1Jn 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Abstain from fornication:  Spiritual fornication is where we meditate on carnal thoughts and are led astray by such reasonings and justifications of the serpent’s carnal mind.  We are to take all thoughts captive to the obedience of the living commandments to avoid fornication.   We saw in our study of Phinehas that the fornication of Israel with the Midianite women resulted in a plague on Israel, and many died.  The Lord is a jealous God.

1Co 10:8  Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

We live in a carnal world, full of spiritual fornication. We have to fight the fight of faith and immediately shut down the fornicating speech that comes out of our mouth or into our minds.

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

We need to be careful about how we eat the Lord’s supper.  It is necessary, as the Apostle’s letter establishes, that we abstain from fornication.  It is a grievous sin for us to keep out of the Lord’s temple and in our communion with one another.  We cannot be joined to a harlot and claim to be one with the Lord.  We sin against our own Body [within and without] when we commit fornication.

1Co 6:15  Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

1Co 6:16  What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

1Co 6:17  But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

1Co 6:18  Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

We are to separate from fornicators that sleep with the wife of the devil [father’s wife], as we see in 1 Corinthians 5.  Godly love is withdrawing from all that fail to abstain from these four necessary things until and unless the Lord grants them repentance.  Living in the world, we cannot completely avoid keeping company with those who practice these things.  However, we are commanded not to share our spiritual food with them.

1Co 5:9  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

1Co 5:10  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

A little leaven does leaven the whole lump.  We cannot be intimate with our Lord, His Word, His commandments, or with His Christ while we are fornicating or eating with those who do.  If we belong to Christ, He owns us as we have been redeemed for a price.  We are to glorify Him in all our thoughts and behavior.

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The Apostle’s letter agrees with all the instructions given throughout their epistles.  The focus of one’s thoughts and speech is always on the commandments, that is, the doctrine of Christ.  The Lord’s will is our sanctification by His Body and Blood.  This is only done by way of the living commandments dwelling in us as we become a living sacrifice, He in us and we in Him.  Nothing else is to be added or taken away.  Our meat and drink is the pure and undefiled holy commandments of the Father now given to us in power.

We are to take heed to these instructions.  Those in the Spirit are being taught of God to abstain from these fleshly and worldly lusts.  Obeying the commandments is to abstain from 1) idols, 2) fornication, 3) blood, and 4) strangled meat, and it is by our obedience that we are making our calling and election sure.

1Th 4:2  For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

1Th 4:3  For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

1Th 4:4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

Let us obey the Lord and only eat and partake of those things which are clean.  What we put into our hearts and minds comes back out and defiles a man.  May His will be done in our lives.

A subsequent article was written that spoke in more depth to the Commandments regarding eating meat that is sacrificed or offered unto idols.  That post is here: Eating Meat Sacrificed Unto Idols