According to 15:2, “Paul and Barnabas had no little dissension and discussion” with the Judaizers. We should not think that Paul was too strong in having dissension as well as discussion. The situation made dissension necessary. How could Paul agree with the heretical teaching that the Gentiles could not be saved unless they were circumcised? He had to raise up dissension with those who taught this heresy.
Because of the dissension with the heretical teachers, Paul and Barnabas and certain others were appointed “to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem concerning this question” (15:2). According to verse 26, Paul and Barnabas were regarded as those who had “given up their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The church in Antioch decided to send them to Jerusalem.
It was not because Jerusalem was the headquarters of God’s move, nor because the church in Jerusalem was the head church controlling other churches, that Paul, Barnabas, and certain others went to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. It was because Jerusalem was the source from which the heretical teaching concerning circumcision came. In order to solve the problem and uproot the trouble, they needed to go to the source. According to God’s New Testament economy, there is no headquarters for His move on earth and no head church, like the Church in Rome, that controls other churches. The headquarters of God’s move in His New Testament economy is in the heavens (Rev. 4:2-3; 5:1), and the One who rules over all the churches is Christ the Head of the church (Col. 1:18; Rev. 2:1).
Acts 15:3 and 4 say, “They therefore, having been sent forward by the church, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, telling in detail the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brothers. And when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.” The going up to Jerusalem of Paul, Barnabas, and certain others was the move of the church, not the move of themselves as individuals. They did not act individualistically apart from the church, but corporately in and with the church. This was the move of the Body of Christ.
Acts 15:5 says, “But certain men from the sect of the Pharisees who had believed rose up from among them, saying, It is necessary to circumcise them and to charge them to keep the law of Moses.” The Pharisees were the strictest religious sect of the Jews (26:5), formed about 200 B.C. They were proud of their superior sanctity of life, devotion to God, and knowledge of the Scriptures. As we have pointed out, the teaching of the Pharisees in 15:5 nullified God’s New Testament economy.
Suppose you were an elder in the church in Jerusalem at the time of Acts 15. What would you have done with those who taught that believers in Christ must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses? Would you have risen up and said boldly that such heretical teaching is not allowed in the church? This is what the elders in Jerusalem should have done.
The most influential elder in the church in Jerusalem was James. There is a hint concerning this in 12:17, where Peter says, “Report these things to James and the brothers.” This indicates that James was a leader among the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. Furthermore, in Galatians 2:12 Paul speaks of certain ones coming from James. Instead of saying that they came from Jerusalem, Paul said that they came from James. This shows that James was very prominent in Jerusalem, that he was the leading elder.