Devotional: Acts 15:22-35

Today’s passage: Acts 15:22-35

Helpful thoughts:

• The churches who had been troubled by the false teaching of the Judaizers received this letter from the entire Jerusalem church.
• The churches who received the letter were asked to keep these requests in verse 29 not in order to get saved, but to love their Jewish neighbors.
  • It may seem strange that the Jewish believers thought they would need to ask the Gentile Christians not to commit fornication…but when we remember that fornication was a component of the idol worship that these Gentiles were saved out of, it makes more sense.
    • The Apostles, elders, and all the Jerusalem church were calling the Gentile believers entirely out of their pagan idolatry, which they were happy to do!
• Some manuscripts contain an additional bit of information (Verse 34), “However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there.”  This may have been included to help explain how Silas was still around to join Paul later in the chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. Whether it is religious legalism (The Judaizers) or pagan idolatry (The Gentiles), when we are saved by the grace of God through Christ, we are called out of our past beliefs and idolatrous practices.  What are the false beliefs you held before coming to faith in Christ?
2. What may be some commonly held beliefs that have crept into the faith of many people in our day who claim to be “evangelicals”?  What are some things that cause people to think they’re a Christian today outside of the gospel?  What are some things people say today in a phrase such as, “If you don’t ________, then you’re not a Christian?”
3. What is the message that we receive which encourages us to be certain of our faith?  How can this letter to the Gentile Christians in the first century call us (21st century Christians) to trust in the gospel alone?