The most crucial thing in studying the Bible is to touch the spirit of the Bible. The basic requirement in studying the Bible is that a person touch the spirit of the Bible. Try to touch the spirit of Acts 15. We have seen above that many brothers were there and that “much discussion” had taken place. Since the Bible says “much,” it must have been quite much. Perhaps those who formerly were Pharisees and who later became Christians spoke many foolish words. The first person’s spirit that I want you to touch is that of Peter.
How did Peter speak when he stood up? He was not affected by those around him. As Peter stood to speak, he was like a newborn baby, free from any outside feeling and not at all affected by the spirit of debate. This should be the situation of the responsible brothers. If a responsible brother is affected inwardly, he is not qualified to bear the responsibility. Hence, the most important thing in reading the Bible is to touch the spirit of the Bible. When Peter stood up to speak at that time, he did not debate at all. Once you get involved with the debate, you are not qualified to be a leader, nor are you qualified to be one in authority. One in authority does not contend with people. Once you contend, you lose your position.
Peter stood up without any word of debate. This was wonderful! Peter stood up to say, “Men, brothers, you know that from the early days God chose from among you that through my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe” (v. 7). Peter was saying, “This was what I told you some days ago. This is not something I say today. I have said it before.” “And God, the Knower of hearts, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit even as also to us” (v. 8). Peter seemed to be saying, “I did not baptize them, nor did I lay hands on them. If I had baptized them, you would have said that this was something done by me. If I had laid my hands upon them, you would have said that it was I who gave them the Holy Spirit. I did not baptize them, nor did I lay hands upon them, nor did I pray for them; it was the Holy Spirit Himself who descended upon them. You cannot blame me for doing that.” He further continued by saying, “And He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Therefore why are you now testing God by placing a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus we are saved in the same way also as they are” (vv. 9-11). His speaking was very clear, simple, and without any debate or spirit of debate.
Brothers, the Bible has its spirit, and you must touch that spirit in order to grasp that book. Peter simply presented his points without being affected or losing his dignity. He was like a person in authority, simply speaking forth these things. I hope you would see that in a conference of the church, if you slip into arguments, you will become like the others and be disqualified from making decisions.
Barnabas then stood up to speak, and Paul also stood up to speak. We need to pay special attention to the fact that when these two brothers stood up to testify, they had to be very serious before God. We must again try to touch their spirit. These two brothers definitely did not stand up to speak clamorously or lightly; they spoke with weight. We must understand the situation at that time. When Barnabas and Paul stood up to speak, their aim was to stop the contention, not to generate it. Contention is stopped by means of God’s presence. In this kind of meeting, idle talk must be stopped. Idle talk is stopped not by our speaking but by bringing people before the Lord. If we are not this kind of person, such a conference will break down. It is useless to imitate. When Barnabas and Paul stood up to speak, everyone was silent. When these two brothers stood up to speak, they could bring others before God. The other brothers were their seniors, but due to these two brothers standing up to speak, everyone was brought before God, and God’s presence was brought into the meeting. The noise of debate stopped, and everyone listened quietly to what God had done through their hands.
Paul had stood many times before crowds and before the Gentiles. There is no way to bring God’s presence to such people that they may sense it, yet every servant of God is able to bring God’s presence into the church of God. When His presence is brought into the church of God, everyone is silent. I hope that the brothers would see this basic principle. Never think that you can use words to deal with words, opinions to deal with opinions, reasonings to deal with reasonings, and contentions to deal with contentions. If you take that position, you will fail immediately.
Peter, who started first, stood up to speak, and his spirit was not at all affected by the debate of the brothers. He showed the brothers from the beginning what his situation actually was before God. While he stood there, he spoke as one who knew God’s authority. As a result, he opened a way for Barnabas and Paul to speak. When these two spoke, they brought in God’s presence and everyone became silent. When God’s presence comes and the authority comes, all the opinions disappear. When God’s authority is absent and God’s presence is absent, any kind of conference in the church will not be carried out well. Man’s opinions are full of confusion. Each one expresses his own view. But when God’s authority comes in, everyone becomes silent.
Verse 12 says that they “became silent.” At that moment only Barnabas and Paul spoke.
After all were silent—I particularly like the words here— “James answered” (v. 13). This was the final authority. He was generally recognized as the leading one among the brothers. He stood up and spoke in a simple way. You can see that the meeting was in his hands. “Men, brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related...” (vv. 13-14). After he repeated the words of Peter, he quoted a verse from the Scriptures. This is what God’s Word says. Verse 19 then says, “Therefore I judge.” He gave a judgment. His opinion was, “Do not harass those from the Gentiles who are turning to God.” This was not a word of debate or of contention; rather, he brought in God’s presence and God’s authority; he brought in God’s word and the consideration and the feeling before God. It was in this way that the conference of the church succeeded.
The brothers and sisters need to learn the things in the Bible. Do not merely learn the method of the things; learn the spirit of the things also. If we only have the method without the spirit, the method is useless. We need to have the method and at the same time we need to imitate the spirit of the people in the Bible. There must be that spirit and that presence. If we live in that reality, we will be able to stop the speaking of the talkative ones in the meeting. If we are loose and casual, if God’s presence is not evident with us, if God’s authority upon us is not clear, if our attitudes, words, and actions are all casual, this kind of meeting will not have a good result. If the flesh cannot be restricted in us, neither can the flesh be restricted in the meeting. If we cannot bind our own flesh, neither can we bind the flesh of the brothers. If we do not allow God’s presence to be manifested in us, submitting ourselves under God’s authority, neither can we cause all the brothers to submit themselves under God’s authority. It is a matter of our spiritual condition. If our spiritual condition is proper, the result will be proper. If our spiritual condition is not proper, the result also will not be proper. We may want to take Acts 15 as a method, but there is not one thing in the Bible that can be used as a method. The words in the Bible are definitely not a formula. If we work according to a formula, even if it is useful, the result is still void of spirit. It is not a matter of method, but a matter of spirit; it is not a matter of a formula, but a matter of spirit. It is not that when you go out you know how to deal with the situations you encounter; rather, it is that you live before God and thus are able to bring the entire meeting before God. If you do not live before God, you cannot bring the entire meeting before God. You may know the correct order of the procedures: Peter spoke first, Barnabas spoke second, Paul spoke third, James made the final decision, and the responsible brothers wrote the letter; however, the Bible does not give any ground to those who are not spiritual. You cannot be a person who is not spiritual and yet merely learn the methods in the Bible. You need to learn to capture the spirit; then you can go forward with all the things falling into place spontaneously.
Sometime later, when we come to the topic of reading the Bible, we will mention again that in studying the Bible the basic requirement is that we must connect with the spirit. Only when we connect with the spirit are we able to understand God’s Word; otherwise, we cannot understand it.