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"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are JUSTIFIED from all
things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13: 38, 39).
After such a gospel had been preached, it was obviously nothing less than diametric
opposition for anyone to say: "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye
cannot be saved." On such an issue compromise was utterly impossible, for essentials
were at stake. When it was a matter of conscience with regard to the keeping of certain
days, or of eating certain meats, Paul was most willing to meet the troubled believer more
than half-way, but to suggest that the glorious doctrine of justification by faith should be
dethroned from its place and replaced by a legal ceremonial, was a call to arms that no
follower of the Lord could fail to answer without shame.
We must now pass on to the testimony of James, and before examining his words in
detail, we give the structure of the passages.
C | 15: 13-21. Men and brethren. JAMES.
My sentence is that we trouble not the Gentiles. |
f | James . . . me.
g | Gentiles visited.
h | The agreement of prophecy.
i | The knowledge of the Lord.
f | James . . . my.
g | Gentiles turn to God.
h | Write that they abstain.
i | Moses is preached.
James takes up the claim made by Peter--calling him by his Hebrew name Simeon--
and, directing his argument to those who revered the O.T. writings, draws attention to a
passage from one of the prophets:
"As it is written, After this I will return . . . . . and I will build again the ruins thereof,
and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the
Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord, Who doeth all these things . . . . .
which were known from the age" (Acts 15: 15-18).
It should be noted that James does not say `This fulfils what is written by the prophet';
he simply says "To this agree the words of the prophets". The word translated `agree' is
sumphoneo, which gives us the word `symphony', and as a noun is translated `music' in
Luke 15: 25.
We could therefore paraphrase James' meaning as follows:
"The inclusion of the Gentile upon the same terms as the Jew is in harmony with such
a passage as Amos 9: 11, 12 (which in the Septuagint version reads as above) and it is
therefore clear that the spirit in which Peter enjoins us to act now, is that in which the
Lord has revealed He will act in future. He has known these things which He has
commenced to do since the age, and to object or to impose restrictions, is but to tempt
God as our fathers did in the wilderness, with dreadful consequences as we all know."