A Time for Everything

“But after Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, they arranged for Paul and Barnabas and some others of them to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem concerning this controversy.” (Acts 15:2 CSB)

Solomon tells us in the Book of Ecclesiastes that “there is a time for everything under the sun.” While few people enjoy fighting, there is a time when it is important if not critical to take a stand. Paul and Barnabas found themselves at that point following the completion of their first missionary journey. Some men from Judea went down to Antioch and began teaching that any Gentile believers had to first be circumcised before they could become Christians, that circumcision and the keeping of the law were an essential part of the salvation process, in other words. Paul and Barnabas wasted no time in engaging these men in vigorous debate, and the controversy spilled over so that the matter was taken to Jerusalem for review by the apostles and elders in the church there.

In Jerusalem, folks got together and began to debate this issue back and forth. Peter, uncharacteristically quiet during most of the debate, finally stood up and reminded them of how God had used him to introduce the Christian faith to the Gentiles, and God poured out His Spirit on the Gentiles just as He had on the Jews who believed on the Day of Pentecost. Peter challenged those of the circumcision party that it made no sense to put restrictions on Gentiles that not even the Jews had been able to follow.

Barnabas and Paul began then to share from their hearts how God had used them in outreach to the Gentiles. When they stopped speaking, James, the half-brother of Jesus, who by then was the main leader of the Jerusalem church, gave affirmation to the viewpoints Peter, Barnabas, and Paul espoused, and added that the Gentiles should still be asked to abstain from “things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.” (verse 20) This was written up, and Judas and Silas were dispatched from Jerusalem to the church in Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas to communicate this affirmation.

To us today, this all does not seem to have very much impact, but it was likely one of the most critical issues the church has ever faced. The question was: What does it take for someone to be saved, to be a Christian? The point Paul and Barnabas was making is that we are saved by God’s grace through faith – plus nothing else, minus nothing else. The circumcision party was saying that we are saved by God’s grace through faith – plus circumcision, plus following the law, and that these have to come BEFORE someone can become a Christian.

No one enjoys fights like this, but there are times when Christians of conscience must take a stand about what they believe about what is right and what is wrong. An entire direction could depend on it.

Lord, Help us to be certain when there is a time to take a stand, and when it is not time for that. Help us to know which battles are to be fought, and which are not. Amen.