A Constant Threat to True Faith
Returning to our regular preaching after the Christmas break, we find ourselves beginning Acts 15. This is a pivotal chapter in the book of Acts, dealing with questions that form one of the major themes of the book. The theme and the questions rise in several other New Testament passages, notably the book of Galatians. No surprise, the commentaries all mention Galatians and its relation to Acts 15 in their discussion. Some of the points under discussion are not completely settled by conservative commentators, but one thing is certain, the future of the Christian church and the Christian faith would depend on how the questions of this chapter are answered.
Simply put, the question is this: does God intend for the Christian church to be a new kind of Judaism or an entirely new thing altogether? Or to put it another way, what obligations from the Mosaic Law rest on Christians? The issue these questions raise point to something that is a constant threat to true faith in Christ.
When the gospel first came to Gentiles in any significant way, some wondered whether Peter should have any kind of intercourse with Gentiles at all. “Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.” (Acts 11.3) As we read, we can almost hear the horror in these Jewish Christian voices. Later, when disciples are scattered under the persecution of Saul, some go to Antioch in Syria and begin preaching to Gentiles. When this news made its way to Jerusalem, the church there sent Barnabas to investigate. (Acts 11.22)
Following these openings into the Gentile world, the Lord sent Barnabas and Saul (soon called Paul) on a journey into the heart of Asia Minor, amongst a sea of Gentiles. Many of these Gentiles believed the preaching, forming churches all over Cyprus and through south-central Asia Minor (part of the then Roman province of Galatia). Upon Paul’s return to Antioch of Syria, Jewish-Christian challenges rose, seriously undermining and contradicting the gospel of salvation by faith in Christ alone.
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. (Acts 15.1)
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. (Acts 15.5)
At this point discussion of Galatians enters the picture. At about the same time, I believe, similar men arrived in Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and environs to raise the very same issues.
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (Gal 1.6-7)
Scholars debate exactly when and where these who troubled the Galatians were active. I don’t intend to argue the points here, but my view, as mentioned above, is that these Judaizers were actively disrupting the new churches of South Galatia shortly after Paul’s missionary journey. Those attacks, along with the direct frontal assault in Antioch, led to the council of apostles and elders that convened in Jerusalem to settle the issue. That’s what Acts 15 is all about.
All of that is background to a simple point I’d like to raise in this article. The early Christians were wrestling with a question that essentially asked, “Can we preach salvation by faith in Christ alone, or must converts also contribute to their salvation by performing certain religious actions?”
In this case, the Judaizers advocated at a minimum the Jewish rite of circumcision, and then the keeping of at least some non-moral aspects of the Mosaic law, such as keeping the Jewish holy days. We see this struggle happening very early in church history. Any reading of subsequent church history will show that the problem of “a performance-based gospel” is a perennial problem in the Church.
At least some of the early Church Fathers put a curious emphasis on baptism, communicating the idea that baptism is necessary for salvation. As we carry on in church history, we seen an increasingly political church involving its people in all kinds of ritual in order to gain God’s approval. The problem of works-based salvation is not new in the church, nor is it far from any one of us.
Though we are far from the works-based religions of the Roman Church or the Orthodox churches, independent fundamental Baptists can communicate the idea that salvation comes by ritual or human morality as well. How many in our circles think that you must “come forward” in a church service in order to be saved? How many will justify the authenticity of their testimony by starting out this way, “Well, I’ve been baptized…”? We are critical of those who base their hope of salvation on the fact that they are “good people,” but how far are we from those notions ourselves?
The constant threat to Christianity is the ever-present temptation to degrade true religion from faith to works.
Many of us have the doctrine straight, our faith rests on Christ alone, and we press on in love for Christ seeking to serve him faithfully every day. We also know that there are duties, actions, behaviours and so on that God requires of us. May we have the wisdom in our living of the Christian life to communicate carefully, fully, and clearly to our children that all the things we do contribute nothing to our standing with Christ. Jesus did it all! We can’t add a thing.
Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.