GRACE plus what?

Acts 15.1-35 http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Acts+15.1-35
v. 8 - God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them [the Gentiles] by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us [the Jews]
v.10-11 - Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

Good Day~

Okay, so things had been going rather well, hadn't they? The Jews seemed to be accepting of the fact that God had sent the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles as well as them. Really, everyone was playing nice, but then. . . "some men"--not authorized by the church leaders in Jerusalem, took it upon themselves to travel down to Antioch to let the new Gentile believers know that they had to be circumcised in order to be saved. (I'm sorry but I can't get it out of my head--how would they know if the new believers had been circumcised or not?) Paul and Barnabas are then appointed by the Antioch church to head up to Jerusalem to have a meeting about this important matter, which was great, because they did not allow it to fester and splinter the group. No, the leaders met to decide on a resolution.

Once in Jerusalem, it is the very pious Pharisees who take the lead in the discussion--'The Gentiles must be circumcised and obey the law of Moses.' After discussion, it is Peter who stands up to point out that it was God who caused the Gentiles to believe the gospel, and God who showed His acceptance of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them. . . 'remember--just like on Pentecost?' Peter says. "He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith." So, who do you think you are then to add to what God required of them? Hey! "We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." Grace that saved? Yes, Grace + belief = justification. (being made right with God) It is not GRACE + circumcision + the Law--No! It is GRACE PLUS NOTHING. Just believe. (What is particularly interesting to me is that these Pharisaical Jews were not debating the facts of the gospel, only these extraneous matters.)

Paul and Barnabas backed this claim of "grace + nothing", by telling of the miracles God had done among the Gentiles through them. And then, James (the leader of the church, the 1/2 brother of our Lord, the author of the book of James) stands up to address all of them. Now you have to understand that James had the uttermost respect of those congregated there--he had a high level of personal holiness and was known to be a man of prayer; he lived a 'set apart' lifestyle--and said "we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God". He suggests writing to them to require three things only: abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, and from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. The two issues of what not to eat had to do with offending their Jewish brothers, and were not a condition of salvation; as for sexual immorality- this was a timely cultural admonition because the pagan worship of many of the Gentiles condoned sexual misbehavior. The society in which the Gentile Christians lived was so sexually polluted that the church had also been influenced by it. (And yes that is much like today, isn't it?)

What are we to take from these Acts 15 verses today--anything? Yes, indeed. Most importantly, people who respond to the gospel message of Jesus Christ need only believe and receive the grace of God brought to them through His Son. Period. It is not Grace plus Baptism, or Grace + Confirmation, or Grace + tithing, or Grace + going to the 'right' church, or being a certain percentage 'good' or reading your Bible everyday, or praying the Lord's Prayer ten times a day, or doing your mitzvahs--no, while all those things are fine, many of them very right, they do not make you right with God. Recently, my friend said, 'how can I be sure that when I get to Heaven, I am really 'in'--that I really have done enough to be 'saved'? Sometimes other people just seem so much more spiritual or Christian than me. . .' Well, that may be true, people have different levels of spiritual maturity, but there is nothing you can DO to make yourself more acceptable to God. He already DID it, through Jesus. Jesus was enough--He did it all on the cross; otherwise why would God have sacrificed His beloved Son? Who could be that cruel, if there were other ways to Him? And as for what you can DO--just believe. . . and receive His grace. You see, that is why we call Grace "amazing". . . it is! There is nothing logical about it. Paul will later write, "For it is by grace you have been saved by faith. Not of works, otherwise people would boast." Ephesians 2.8,9 You see, when you add something to the gospel, then you turn it into religion.

Another thing I would like to point out is that sexual promiscuity is nothing new--duh. Infiltrating the church--nothing new either. However, it seems like Christians have blurred the lines about it; no one wants to be accused of being 'hard line' or 'old school', right? Sex outside of marriage is sin. It was sin in the Old Testament; it was sin in the New Testament; it is sin in the 21st century. (Some of you are saying--'even if. . .?' Yes, 'even if. . .' Wrong. Period. Not convenient. Sorry.)

Finally, look at the leadership gifts of the young church. They did not allow a different viewpoint--albeit on a very important matter--to divide them. They went TOWARD the conflict--toward resolving it, not acting like it wasn't there, or trying to do their 'own thing' in parallel disharmony.

You just gotta love grace, don't you? Where would we be without it, Eric? Orrei? Christine (DiGiacomo)