Freedom In Christ Breaks Every Chain

Listen to Tasha Cobbs Leonard - Break Every Chain

Would you expect someone who escaped from slavery and obtained their freedom, to willingly go back into slavery again?  We would question the sanity of that person, because freedom is so precious and vital to our souls.  In this week’s scripture (Acts 15:1-11), certain believers from among the Pharisees argued that Gentile believers weren’t saved unless they were circumcised and they kept the Law of Moses.  But Paul, Barnabas and Peter all argued that God had given salvation and the Holy Spirit to Gentile believers without requiring that they be shackled all over again with Jewish tradition and trying to keep the Law.  Let us pray that we would not abandon the freedom we have in following Christ, just to shackle ourselves and others to traditions and rules that won’t save us and only make us slaves to legalism.  Amen

Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.  Some people came from Judea to Antioch to teach their views among the gentile believers that they must follow the Jewish tradition of circumcision in order to be saved.  Paul and Barnabas disagreed with these restrictions and conditions on salvation and tried to convince these people that their teaching was wrong.  Ultimately, not being able to change the thinking of these people from Judea, or reach consensus locally, the church at Antioch appointed Paul and Barnabas to go to Jerusalem to reach agreement with the broader church leadership on the question.  Resolution to this question was no small matter within Christianity.  The question of what was required for salvation was a fundamental one for the church and for believers. Along the way on their journey to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas told others in Samaria and Phoenicia about how Gentiles had believed and received the Holy Spirit. The believers who heard this were glad at the news.  They likewise reported to the leaders in Jerusalem what God had done through them. 

Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”  (Acts 15:5) These Pharisees stated their case to the council regarding the requirements for Gentiles to be saved. Their position?  That Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the Law in order to receive salvation. 

The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors 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.”  (Acts 15:6-11) After much discussion on the question of what would be required of Gentile believers to be saved, Peter addressed the council. God had sent Peter to preach the gospel to a Centurion named Cornelius.  He and his household believed and received a he Holy Spirit.  Based on this experience of conversion of a Gentile household, Peter’s position was that God had already decided the question because God had made no distinction in between the Jews and the Gentiles who believed, even though the Gentiles had not been circumcised or kept the Law. Given that God made no distinction or further requirements in offering salvation to the Gentiles, Peter reasoned that they should not put the “yoke” (burden) of the Law on Gentile believers.  He further added that the very Jews who wanted to add these requirements (nor their ancestors) had ever been able to keep to the Law. 

Not unlike we do today, the early church argued with one another regarding what should be the positions and teachings of the Church.  Just as they did, we should do our best to remain faithful to the Spirit’s leading.  Their process to determine the Spirit’s leading took time, conversation involving the input of multiple voices, experience and understanding of scripture.  Through this process God offered the light necessary for the Church to see its way along the journey.  God still does that for us today when we seek the leading of the Holy Spirit.  He will guide us so that we can remain faithful as Christians, without imposing restrictions and traditions on ourselves and others that negate the freedom we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ ….  for Christ came to break every chain that binds us and keeps us from the free gift of salvation.

Blessings, Rev. Glenn

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  ~ Luke 4:18-19