Acts 15
15 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers:“Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad.
4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” 6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question.
7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
It will always be an issue of what Christ has done and what we do for Christ. The New Testament churches all experienced teachings that would challenge the finished work of Christ at the cross. The challenge would sound religious but it actually challenges the cross. It declares – the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is not enough, we need to add a little more.
A little more prayer time
A little more good works
A little more generosity
A little more of my part in my salvation.
Brothers and sisters, it will always be a gospel issue, nothing more nothing less. Will you add more to the gospel or believe that the finished work of Christ is enough.
Acts 15:19 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.