contradicted this. All was in harmony with it as long as God's longsuffering held out to

this people. It agreed with what Amos had written.

So the church at Jerusalem singled out four necessary things--four only--out of the

law of Moses which they would ask saved Gentiles to keep in their walk and practice.

Verse 20: "But that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols

(idolatry, meat offered to idols and so on, one of the great problems of the early church),

and from fornication, and from things strangled and from blood (because God claimed

the life which was in the blood)." But the inference is that the Jewish believer would

keep the whole ceremonial law. Look at the next verse: "For Moses of old time hath in

every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogue every Sabbath day", not just

four points of the law, but the law in its entirety. Now I ask you, could that make for

perfect unity in daily walk and practice? This could never be while there were two

standards of conduct in the same community. How very obvious it should be that here

we are not dealing with the Body of Christ, where there is no Jew or Gentile as such and

no ceremonial law to regulate the daily life and witness!

There may be some who will assert that this decision regarding the four necessary

points of conduct for the Gentile believer was merely the opinion of men even though

they were Christians. But let us read verse 28: "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost

and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things"--these four

points. So God did agree with it; you will have to charge the Holy Spirit with making a

mistake if you think this was not the Lord's will.

Now in chapter 16: you find those deputized to take these four necessary things to

the churches and these are called "the decrees" (verse 4). "And as they went through the

cities they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were ordained of the apostles and

the elders which were at Jerusalem." Now when we come to the truth revealed for the

Body of Christ through Paul's later ministry--his prison ministry--we are told there

distinctly, in the second chapter of Ephesians, that we have been delivered from all these

decrees (or ordinances); they were against us, and in this company of the redeemed they

do not exist any longer. Colossians talks about the ordinances that were against us, and

how Christ has finished them; they have been nailed to His Cross. So, you see, we

cannot be dealing with this church in Acts 15: where these decrees were necessary.

We must now go in fairly big steps. Let us turn to chapter xvii: The Apostle comes

to Thessalonica, and though he had said "lo, we turn to the Gentiles" (13: 46), he still

goes back to the Jew; so that turning away at Antioch was only a local one. As long as

the Jew is in covenant relationship with God, he must have the Word first. So we read

in Acts 17: 1, "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they

came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews.  And Paul, as his

manner was . . . . ." Now that is important because it gives us what Paul did habitually.

As his custom was, whenever he reached a new place, he went straight to the synagogue,

to the chosen people, to the Jew, to give them the message first. "As his manner was he

went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures." He

was dealing with a people to whom had been given the O.T. Scriptures, so what better