And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples.
But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”
Comment: Jews were never Jews because they were circumcised, or it would have meant that all the descendants of Ishmael, who was also circumcised, were Jews. The Arabs (descendants of Ishmael) are circumcised. The Jews ‘Jewishness’ was because of a choice by God, or so the Bible teaches. Paul was very strong on preaching salvation by grace through faith alone. Some of the Jewish converts wanted to have all Gentile Christians circumcised. And the demands went further – these Jewish Christians wanted the Gentile believers to be required to keep the whole Jewish Law. I guess it would have been nice for the appearance of unity but looking back into Jewish history keeping the Law had never worked well for them. Not that the way we live and act are unimportant but our acceptance into a right relationship with God is via His Grace in Christ Jesus.
Prayer: Open my eyes to see the breadth of Your dealing with us people, O God.
As I read it! 