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Today we are covering a highly controversial and hotly contested question in the church. To add a layer of complexity on top of that, it also involves a subject that is sensitive. This controversy has caused many divisions in local churches with prominent church leaders unsure how to answer it. You’re probably leaning in and asking “What could this question possibly be?” Well, good news—this highly divisive question was answered for us over 1,900 years ago in Acts 15. But I don’t want you to lose that tension you were feeling because this was a MAJOR question—I can’t express how big a question this was—and the answer is one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture.

Here it is: “Do you have to be Jewish first before you can become a Christian?” Today we can easily answer this question, but in the first century it was complicated and hotly debated. Let’s set it up: 

The promised Jewish Messiah had come. Born in a Jewish town, to Jewish parents, becoming a Jewish rabbi, selecting Jewish disciples, and mostly ministering to Jewish people in Jewish locations, he fulfilled prophecies given to Jewish prophets as recorded in Jewish scriptures. Are you seeing a pattern here?

God was clear that the reach of his mission and church would not be limited to Jewish people. He told His closest disciples to “make disciples of all the nations” and to “[tell] people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Jesus movement was to go worldwide, bringing in non-Jewish people from ALL nations—that part wasn’t in question. The question was, “Is being Jewish FIRST a prerequisite to becoming a follower of Jesus?” After all, Jesus was Jewish, the Jesus movement was birthed out of Judaism, and Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish scripture.

This may not seem like a big deal, but for non-Jewish people it was. For instance, if Christians had to follow all Jewish customs, we’d have to observe Jewish Sabbath customs—no work at all from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday including not even touching all writing utensils, currency, electronic devices, and tools of all kids. We’d have to observe Jewish eating customs: never eating bacon, ham, pork, lobster, crab, shrimp of catfish. And if you’re a man, there’s one more thing. Converting to Judaism requires circumcision. If you had to stop at Judaism before you arrived at Christianity, it would involve a scalpel. 

God doesn’t come to early church leaders and speak in an audible, booming voice to answer this question. Instead, He guides them through a series of circumstances to discern the right path to take. In Acts 10, we see that Peter is called to a Gentile man’s home in an incredible, supernatural way—you should definitely read it. Here’s the short version: God tells Peter through a crazy vision that salvation is for both the Jewish people and for Gentiles. Cornelius and his family put their faith in Jesus, received the Holy Spirit, and are baptized. When Peter returns home, he says, “God gave these gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” For us, this is not a big deal, but for early church leaders it was mind blowing that Gentiles could be saved as easily as a Jewish person.

In Acts, Paul takes a church planting trip through several major cities. On this trip, many Gentiles believe in Jesus and are saved. “Upon arriving in Antioch (the church that sent them when their trip was over), they called the church together and reported everything God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too.” It was shortly after this that the debate reached a boiling point. Here was the position statement: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved” (15:1)”. As you can imagine, “Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently” (15:2). Called the Jerusalem Council, they meet in Jerusalem to come to a decision.

After a long discussion, the big dog stood up. Peter said, “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the good news and believe (talking about Cornelius). God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us (referring to Jewish people). He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors could bear? We believe we are all saved the same way: the undeserved grace of Jesus.'” 

Can’t you just see Peter motioning Paul and Barnabas to come to the floor and speak? “Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.” Then James took the floor to close the church council, saying, “We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” Then he went on to tell those Gentiles to not engage in practices that would offend their Jewish brothers and sisters.

That’s it. The debate was over. While some would keep pushing for Jewish regulations for Gentile believers, the decision was made. 

You didn’t have to become Jewish first to be a Jesus follower.

So does your church make it difficult for people who are turning to God? Are you unintentionally adding things to the grace of Jesus? Do you believe that you have to put your faith in Jesus PLUS read the Bible from a particular translation? Or be a member of a particular denomination? Or you must participate in this or that religious ceremony?

Don’t make difficult what Jesus made simple. Salvation is by grace alone. No ifs, ands, or buts.

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