At this point, I would like to ask a question of those who are elders in the churches today. Suppose certain ones in the church begin to teach that the believers today should be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. What would you do? In a proper way you should say, “We ask you not to speak in the church meetings and not to spread this teaching among the saints. You are teaching heresy. If you continue to spread this heresy, we will not allow you to remain in the church.”
To tell believers to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses nullifies God’s New Testament economy. It also nullifies the death of Christ. It makes both Christ and His death of no effect. This is exactly what Paul says concerning such teaching in Galatians 2:21. In this verse Paul tells us that he does not nullify the grace of God.
Any who teach the heresy that believers must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses should be told to have a change in their understanding. Otherwise, the church cannot receive them. The church can receive only those who believe in our Savior Jesus Christ, in His redeeming death, in His resurrection and ascension, and in God’s New Testament economy. The law of Moses is dispensationally over.
Acts 15:6 says, “And the apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.” This verse mentions the apostles and the elders. The apostles are universal, and the elders are local.
Why were Paul and Barnabas sent from Antioch to Jerusalem, when the problem they were facing was in Antioch? They went to Jerusalem because the source of the problem was there. We may say that the “flow” of the problem reached Antioch, but the source was in Jerusalem. It would not have been right to deal with the flow without dealing with the source. Even if the flow had been dealt with, the source would still have remained. Therefore, they went to Jerusalem to deal with the source; they did not go there because the church in Antioch regarded the church in Jerusalem as the head church.
Likewise, Paul and Barnabas did not regard Peter and James as high officials. If such had been the case, then a hierarchy would have been in existence. But there was not any hierarchy, and Peter in particular was not a “pope,” as Catholicism falsely claims.
Here in Acts 15 we have the unique conference held by the apostles of the universal church and the elders of the local church in Jerusalem. Both were the leading ones in the Lord’s New Testament move on earth. There was no chairman. This conference was under the presiding of the Spirit (v. 28), the pneumatic Christ, the Head of the church (Col. 1:18) and the Lord of all (Acts 10:36). Acts 15:7 says, “Much discussion had taken place.” This indicated that everyone in the conference had the freedom to speak. The decision made was based on the testimony shared by Peter (vv. 7-11), the facts related by Barnabas and Paul (v. 12), and the concluding word given by James, who was the leading one among the apostles and elders in Jerusalem (12:7; 21:18; Gal. 1:19; 2:9) because of the influence he exercised over the believers through his piety.
Some think that the conference in Acts 15 was the first church council. This is a mistaken understanding. Here we do not have a council but a gathering for fellowship, with the Holy Spirit as the One presiding. Later, it was said, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...” (v. 28). There was no voting, and there was neither autocracy nor democracy. Autocracy and democracy should not exist in the church life. Instead, in the church life there should simply be fellowship in the Spirit. Acts 15 is a record of this kind of fellowship.