Acts 15 records the decision of the Council of Jerusalem regarding the rules that Gentile Christian converts would be required to follow. Modern-day Ebionite/Judaizing heretics like Seventh Day Adventists have seized on one particular verse of the Chapter. I will highlight it in bold face; and debunk the Adventist’s deceitful and disingenuous argument that it indicated Gentiles would be required to follow the Mosaic Law, including the Sabbath:
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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.”
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9 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
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To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
There can be no doubt this section is dealing with an ongoing debate between the Jewish Christians, who wanted the entire Mosaic Law enforced against the Gentiles, versus the missionary Apostles who only wanted the so-called Noahide laws applied. What gives the Ebionite/Judaizing/Seventh Day Adventist non-Christian heretics their ammunition is the highlighted verse. They argue that it indicates that the Gentiles had been keeping the Sabbath all along; therefore they did not need to be instructed to keep it in this decree. A more deceitful and dishonest rendering of the text cannot be imagined. I will now turn to analyzing exactly what the Mosaic Law was in relation to Gentiles, since the verse is clear:
"For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
…..
Unfortunately for the Ebionite/Judaizing/Seventh Day Adventist heretics, the Mosaic Law that is mentioned in this verse created a virtual apartheid society in the relationships between Jews and Gentiles. The following excerpts are taken from the Jewish Encyclopedia, which incidentally has been available since 1903:
GENTILE - JewishEncyclopedia.com
First and foremost, under the specific terms of the Mosaic Law, Gentiles were only required to follow precisely the same Noahide Laws mentioned in Acts 15:
“Levi enumerates six commandments (prohibitions of polytheism and of blasphemy; the institution of courts of justice; prohibitions of shedding of blood, of incest, and of robbery) which are binding upon all men (Gen. R. xvi.; Midr. Teh. to Ps. i. 10; the "Torat Adonai" is said to consist of these universal laws; so that to be the "happy" man of whom the psalm speaks one need not necessarily be a Jew). Levi is, however, very severe in his reflections on the morality of the Gentiles (Cant. R. to vi. 8; see Bacher, l.c. p. 329, note 7). Levi claims that the injunction not to take revenge (Lev. xix. 18) does not apply to Gentiles (Eccl. R. viii. 4).Noachian Laws.”
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The Mosaic Law is very clear: NONE of the Mosaic “moral” Laws applied to Gentiles. Furthermore, the Gentiles were legally discriminated against by the Jewish legal system”
“The barbarian Gentiles who could not be prevailed upon to observe law and order were not to be benefited by the Jewish civil laws, framed to regulate a stable and orderly society, and based on reciprocity….A passage of Habakkuk is quoted as confirming this claim: "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. . . . He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder [ = "let loose," "outlawed"] the nations" (Hab. iii. 3-6); the Talmud adds that He had observed how the Gentile nations steadfastly refused to obey the seven moral Noachian precepts, and hence had decided to outlaw them (B. Ḳ. 38a)."
The Mosaic Law was crystal clear: Gentiles were legally inferior to Jews, could not follow the Mosaic Laws unless they underwent complete conversion, including circumcision, and were only required to follow the “Noachiam precepts” to earn the “afterlife” promised to the Jews.
I will continue this discussion in part 2
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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.”
……
9 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
…..
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
There can be no doubt this section is dealing with an ongoing debate between the Jewish Christians, who wanted the entire Mosaic Law enforced against the Gentiles, versus the missionary Apostles who only wanted the so-called Noahide laws applied. What gives the Ebionite/Judaizing/Seventh Day Adventist non-Christian heretics their ammunition is the highlighted verse. They argue that it indicates that the Gentiles had been keeping the Sabbath all along; therefore they did not need to be instructed to keep it in this decree. A more deceitful and dishonest rendering of the text cannot be imagined. I will now turn to analyzing exactly what the Mosaic Law was in relation to Gentiles, since the verse is clear:
"For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
…..
Unfortunately for the Ebionite/Judaizing/Seventh Day Adventist heretics, the Mosaic Law that is mentioned in this verse created a virtual apartheid society in the relationships between Jews and Gentiles. The following excerpts are taken from the Jewish Encyclopedia, which incidentally has been available since 1903:
GENTILE - JewishEncyclopedia.com
First and foremost, under the specific terms of the Mosaic Law, Gentiles were only required to follow precisely the same Noahide Laws mentioned in Acts 15:
“Levi enumerates six commandments (prohibitions of polytheism and of blasphemy; the institution of courts of justice; prohibitions of shedding of blood, of incest, and of robbery) which are binding upon all men (Gen. R. xvi.; Midr. Teh. to Ps. i. 10; the "Torat Adonai" is said to consist of these universal laws; so that to be the "happy" man of whom the psalm speaks one need not necessarily be a Jew). Levi is, however, very severe in his reflections on the morality of the Gentiles (Cant. R. to vi. 8; see Bacher, l.c. p. 329, note 7). Levi claims that the injunction not to take revenge (Lev. xix. 18) does not apply to Gentiles (Eccl. R. viii. 4).Noachian Laws.”
……
The Mosaic Law is very clear: NONE of the Mosaic “moral” Laws applied to Gentiles. Furthermore, the Gentiles were legally discriminated against by the Jewish legal system”
“The barbarian Gentiles who could not be prevailed upon to observe law and order were not to be benefited by the Jewish civil laws, framed to regulate a stable and orderly society, and based on reciprocity….A passage of Habakkuk is quoted as confirming this claim: "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. . . . He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder [ = "let loose," "outlawed"] the nations" (Hab. iii. 3-6); the Talmud adds that He had observed how the Gentile nations steadfastly refused to obey the seven moral Noachian precepts, and hence had decided to outlaw them (B. Ḳ. 38a)."
The Mosaic Law was crystal clear: Gentiles were legally inferior to Jews, could not follow the Mosaic Laws unless they underwent complete conversion, including circumcision, and were only required to follow the “Noachiam precepts” to earn the “afterlife” promised to the Jews.
I will continue this discussion in part 2
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