Atos 15
David Guzik · Citado em PreceptAustin
Atos 15
Guzik explains why God's commandments are no longer difficult to bear... His commandments are not burdensome when we see how wise and good the commandments of God are. They are gifts from Him to show us the best and most fulfilling life possible. God’s commands are like the “manufacture’s handbook” for life; He tells us what to do because He knows how we work best. God’s commands are not given to bind or to pain us, or because God is like an irritated old man.. His commandments are not burdensome because when we are born again, we are given new hearts—hearts which by instinct wish to please God. As part of the New Covenant, the law of God has been written on the heart of every believer (Jeremiah 31:33+). His commandments are not burdensome when we compare them to the religious rules men make up. John is not trying to say obedience is an easy thing. If that were so, then it would be easy for us to not sin, and John has already acknowledged that we all do sin (1 John 1:8+). John is thinking of the contrast Jesus made between the religious requirements of the religious leaders of His day, and the simplicity of loving God and following Him. Jesus said all the rules and regulations of the Scribes and Pharisees were as heavy burdens (Matthew 23:4). In contrast, Jesus said of Himself, My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:30+). Instead of the burdensome requirement to keep hundreds of little rules and regulations, Jesus simply says to us, “Love Me and love my people, and you will walk in obedience.” (ED: AND OF COURSE HE MAKES THIS IMMINENTLY POSSIBLE BY GIVING US HIS SPIRIT WHICH MAKES SUCH SUPERNATURAL LOVE A VERY REAL POSSIBILITY. WHILE THE SPIRIT WILL NOT FORCE US, HE WILL ENABLE US TO EXERCISE OUR VOLITIONAL CHOICE TO OBEY GOD AND TO LOVE GOD AND OTHERS. WE ARE MOTIVATED TO OBEY NOW OUT OF LOVE NOT LEGALISM!) His commandments are not burdensome when we really love God. When we love God, we will want to obey Him and please Him. When you love someone, it seems little trouble to go to a lot of difficulty to help or please that person. You enjoy doing it, though if you had to do it for an enemy, you would be complaining all the time. Just as the seven years of Jacob’s service for Laban seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her (Genesis 29:18), so obeying God’s commands does not seem a burden when we really love Him. An old proverb says, “Love feels no loads.” (Enduring Word Commentary) Hiebert adds that "Love-prompted obedience is not a crushing burden that exhausts the believer’s strength and destroys his sense of freedom in Christ. He finds that the new life in Christ makes obedience possible and has implanted in him a desire to do the will of God (ED: AND GIVEN HIS SPIRIT WHO ENERGIZES THIS OBEDIENCE - cf Php 2:13NLT+); for he realizes that God has given His laws for the believer’s own protection and highest welfare. He finds in them guidance concerning “what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Ro 12:2+). For him “the statutes again become songs, and the commandments prove to be the stepping-stones to freedom.” As Dodd points out, John “does not mean that God’s demands upon us are less exacting than we supposed, but that they are accompanied by the assurance of power to fulfil them.” God’s commandments become burdensome whenever a Christian desires to do something inconsistent with His directives; when a believer attempts to carry out his own will, God’s commandments seem cruel and restrictive and fellowship with God is broken. Then he finds that he must come back to a loving obedience." (1 John Commentary - W Edmond Hiebert) AN EASY YOKE - A Sunday school teacher read Matthew 11:30 to the children in her class, and then asked: “Jesus said, ‘My yoke is easy.’ Who can tell me what a yoke is?” A boy raised his hand and replied, “A yoke is something they put on the necks of animals so they can help each other.” Then the teacher asked, “What is the yoke Jesus puts on us?” A quiet little girl raised her hand and said, “It is God putting His arm around us.” When Jesus came, He offered an “easy” and “lighter” yoke compared to the yoke of the religious leaders (Matthew 11:30). They had placed “heavy burdens” of laws on the people (Matthew 23:4; Acts 15:10), which no one could possibly keep. God knew we would never be able to measure up to His standards (Romans 3:23), so He sent Jesus to this earth. Jesus obeyed His Father’s commands perfectly and bore the punishment of death for our sins. As we humble ourselves and recognize our need for forgiveness, Jesus comes alongside us. He places His yoke on us, freeing us from guilt and giving us His power to live a life that’s pleasing to God. Are you in need of Jesus’ help? He says, “Come to Me . . . . Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me” (Matthew 11:28-29). He longs to put His arm around youBy Anne Cetas Heavy is the load of guilt That sinners have to bear; Light and easy is the yoke That Jesus wants to share. —D. De Haan Acts 15:11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are." KJV Acts 15:11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. NIV Acts 15:11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." that Ro 3:24; 5:20,21; 6:23; 1 Cor 16:23; 2 Corinthians 8:9; 13:14; Galatians 1:6; 2:16; Ephesians 1:6,7; 2:7-9; Titus 2:11; 3:4-7; Revelation 5:9 Acts 15 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries JEWS AND GENTILES SAVED THROUGH GRACE Paul would later write that we are "justified (dikaioo - DECLARED RIGHTEOUS OR FOREVER IN RIGHT STANDING BEFORE GOD) as a gift by His grace through the redemption (apolutrosis) which is in Christ Jesus" (Ro 3:24+)
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Guzik says "This is more evidence of the honorable hearts of the men who had opposed Paul and Barnabas. They were willing to be convinced. They didn’t endlessly argue the issue and were willing to admit they were wrong." Ger agrees with Guzik - When the moment was finally reached when everyone who cared to weigh in on the controversy had done so and there was nothing more to be said, the chief elder of Jerusalem and president of the Jerusalem Council, the apostle James, articulated his solution. James answered, saying - The Hebrew is more accurately "Jacob" (Ya'akov). James is in charge of the council and so speaks up. It is notable that it was James, not Peter, who presided over the council, which is certainly different than most of our encounters with Peter where he almost always seems to be in charge. It is also interesting that Luke does not once mention that James was the half-brother of Jesus, which implies that all in the assembly were fully aware of this relationship.
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Guzik - The meat offered on pagan altars was usually divided into three portions. One portion was burnt in honor of the god, one portion was given to the worshipper to take home and eat, and the third portion was given to the priest. If the priest didn’t want to eat his portion, he sold it at the temple restaurant or meat market. The meat served and sold at the temple was generally cheaper....The issue raised many questions for the Corinthian Christians: Can we eat meat purchased at the temple meat market? What if we are served meat purchased at the temple meat market when we are guests in someone’s home? Can a Christian eat at the restaurant at the pagan temple? (1 Co. 8:4) Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. Comment - Paul's point is that believers know idols are man-made vain relics and thus eating meat offered to these "nothings" is inconsequential. Meat cannot be made evil by so-called gods that do not even exist. (1 Co. 8:7) However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. Comment - The problem arises in that not all believers have this mature knowledge and have become so used to idolatry that when they ate meat that had been offered to an idol, their weak conscience was defiled. So Paul is asking the believers who know an idol is nothing to remember that not everyone has this mature knowledge. Their "weak conscience" is actually a paradoxical statement, because their problem is that their conscience "overworks," causing them to be easily defiled or feel unclean because they eat idol meat. Their conscience is "weak" in the sense that it is wrongly informed, and it is making a judgment based upon the impression that they really is something to an idol. Here is where the believers with the correct knowledge of how to approach idol meat might try to tell the weaker brethren that they are wrong and not do so with a spirit of love but with an arrogant, prideful spirit. So you can see the problem that would result in the fellowship between the weak and the strong group. (1 Co. 8:10) For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened (LITERALLY "BUILT UP") to eat things sacrificed to idols? NET Note - "It is used ironically here: The weak person is "built up" to commit what he regards as sin." In other words the stronger believer's misuse of his liberty (to eat at the temple restaurant) was (stated with biting irony) "building others up" towards sin. And the next verse (1 Cor 8:11) continues Paul's argument that some of the weaker believers would be stirred up to fall back into old sins and the "doorway" so to speak would be be their returning to the eating of things sacrificed to idols. If you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well - The verb keep yourselves free from is basically another way of saying "if you abstain." Louw-Nida has "'if you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well." These were all things Gentiles could observe without compromising their freedom in Christ. Note carefully that the letter says "you will do well," not that "you will be saved!" As Paul stated later in Romans, these Gentile believers (and all believers) were no longer under (the enslaving power of the) law but under (the transforming, liberating power) of grace. (Ro 6:14). In other words, grace signifies freedom from the requirements of the Law, and yet even as the decrees underscore grace does not mean we can live as if there were no laws. In short believers cannot live licentiously. Swindoll adds that "grace does not declare moral standards wrong or even inferior. As Timothy Keller notes, “Luther so persistently expounded—‘We are saved by faith alone, but not by faith which is alone.’ (ED: E.G., COMPARE Eph 2:8-9 with Eph 2:10) That is, we are saved, not by anything we do, but by grace. Yet if we have truly understood and believed the Gospel, it will change what we do and how we live.” Not the least of those changes will be an increasing hatred of idols and a deepening love for others." (Acts - Swindoll's Living Insights). J
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Guzik - Paul had the heart of both an obstetrician (bringing people into the body of Christ) and a pediatrician (growing people up in the body of Christ). David Jeremiah adds, “It was not Paul’s heart to win people to Christ and then allow them to struggle on their own. He was a spiritual pediatrician as well as an obstetrician! He wanted to return and make sure the new believers they had left behind were growing in the Lord and being built up in their faith.” After some days - Again Luke does not tells us - is this weeks or several months? However we can be certain that in their teaching and preaching they were making disciples or learners and this takes some time. I love Spurgeon's comment - An active spirit will not long be at rest. Love to Jesus sets a man at work for His cause, and leads him to stir up others, as Paul did Barnabas. (ED: God grant by His Spirit that this daily mindset would be true of you and me for the glory of the Lamb. Amen) Ray Stedman on Paul's exhortation to Barnabas - There is no vision, no angelic call. There is no lightning, no special word of the Spirit in the inner heart. There is simply the responsible concern of Paul and Barnabas for the people whom they had led to Christ. They remembered all those Gentiles who had come to Christ in the cities of Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, and they said to one another, "We have a responsibility to help them grow in grace. They do not yet know the whole counsel of God; there are truths that they must understand, without which they will be lacking in their Christian experience. Let us go and see how they are, and impart these truths to them." That is a perfectly proper leading of the Holy Spirit. God does not want to give orders to you about everything you do. He is not interested in robots. He does not want automatons who must wait for some special feeling before they act. Once you discover the power by which to act -- the life of Jesus within, ready to respond to the choice of your will -- then the initiative lies with you. You can do what lies on your heart to do. Do what you want to do, and the Spirit of God will be with you in it. This is what we see here, and Paul teaches it in Philippians where he says, "Work out your own solutions with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you, both to will [to choose] and to do of his good pleasure..." (Philippians 2:12b-13). So do not wait, move out! Don't wait for some particular invitation to come. If you sense an opportunity to show responsible concern for another, move into it, and God will be with you in it." (The Way God Guides) Larkin writes "Part of St. Patrick's benediction, "May the wind be always at your back," well suits the experience of the Pauline missionary band at the beginning of its second journey. The wind is, of course, the wind of the Spirit, and it blows in some surprising directions." (Ibid) Jack Arnold - The second missionary journey had, as its original motivation, the edification of the saints, not evangelism. Paul had a pastor's heart and wanted his converts in Christ to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. Like a devoted mother, he cared for his spiritual children. “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (3 John 4). For the first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas received a call from the Holy Spirit and were appointed to this task by the local church at Antioch, but for the second missionary journey, God placed a strong burden on Paul's heart, a divine impulse to move out for God based on his concern for the saints. There was no vision, no Spirit directed call, no angelic appearance and no providential circumstances. There was only the deep concern of Paul and then Barnabas for the people whom they had led to Christ. They apparently could not shake this divine urging and they moved out for Christ to confirm the saints. Once we have discerned that we have a divine urging from God, we must not wait. We must move out in faith and God will be with us in the matter and give us further clarification of His will. Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord - Now we see the two names reversed as Paul takes the initiative in this suggestion. And keep in mind that Paul and Barnabas clearly had a close relationship for became Paul’s advocate during a time when other believers felt threatened by their former persecutor (Read Acts 9:26-28). When Saul's life was threatened in Jerusalem, he had to depart for his hometown of Tarsus in Cilicia where he ministered for many years, some think as long as a decade. It was Barnabas who journeyed to Tarsus to locate Saul and bring him back to teach at Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). Let us return (1994)(epistrepho from epí = motion toward + strepho = turn quite around or reverse) means literally to turn about or turn toward and so to return . Most of Luke's uses of epistrepho in Acts are figurative and describe a turning to the Lord (conversion). In fact epistrepho is used in this same chapter by James who declared "it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles." (Acts 15:19+). In a sense then Paul makes a play on words, exhorting Barnabas that they "return" to visit those who had "turned" (to God). Luke's uses of epistrepho in Acts - Acts 3:19; Acts 9:35; Acts 9:40; Acts 11:21; Acts 14:15; Acts 15:19; Acts 15:36; Acts 16:18; Acts 26:18; Acts 26:20; Acts 28:27 DESIRE TO VISIT AND GIVE CARING OVERSIGHT As discussed below, Paul's desire and purpose was not just to make a casual visit, but was to demonstrate concern and spiritual aid for the new believers in Christ. Larkin - The plan of the second missionary journey is follow-up nurture, then further outreach. Paul is not one to "dip and drop" his converts (Talbert 1984:68). He suggests to Barnabas that they visit (denoting caring oversight. (Ibid) Visit (1980)(episkeptomai from epí = upon, intensifying + skopeo = give attention to) literally means to look upon, to examine closely, to inspect, to examine the state of affairs of something, to look after or to oversee. In other words Paul used a verb that meant more than just making a social call. As Hiebert says "In classical Greek, it (episkeptomai) was commonly used of visiting the sick, whether by a doctor or a friend.' In Jewish usage, it commonly denoted to visit with the aim of caring for and supplying the needs of those visited (Job 2:11; Jer. 23:2; Ezek. 34:11; Zech. 11:16; Mt. 25:36, 43). The term implies concern and personal contact with the needy." Episkeptomai depicts one going to see another with the intent of rendering help. For example in Luke's opening chapter this verb is used twice "“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us (ALLUDING TO THE FATHER'S SENDING OF HIS SON) and accomplished redemption for His people...Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us (AGAIN ALLUDING TO THE MESSIAH) (Lk 1:68, 78+) Luke used episkeptomai in this same chapter (verse 14) quoting James declaration that "Simeon has related how God first concerned (episkeptomai) Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name." Indeed, in the Septuagint episkeptomai speaks of a visitation from God, most often a visitation for good (e.g., Ge 21:1-2 fulfilling His promise of a son to Sarah and Abraham, a son who was in the line of Messiah and indeed a type or shadow of His Son to come who would render help to His people. Cf use in Ex 3:16, 4:31 of God's concern for Israel in slavery in Egypt. See use in Lxx of Ps 8:5 = "care for him") All of the NT uses of episkeptomai - Mt 25:36; Mt 25:43; Lk 1:68; Lk 1:78; Lk 7:16; Acts 6:3; Acts 7:23; Acts 15:14; Acts 15:36; Heb 2:6; Jas 1:27. Proclaimed (2605)(kataggello from kata = an intensifier, down + aggelos = messenger from aggello = to declare, report) literally means to announce plainly, clearly, openly, publicly and loudly! It was used of solemn religious messages. The preposition kata means down so this verb pictures getting the message "down" to where the listeners really understood it. Kataggello is used by Paul in Col 1:28+ where he says "We proclaim (present tense) Him ("Christ in you" - Col 1:27), admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ." The goal of the proclamation is that men and women might be maturing in their faith, looking more and more like Christ, yea, even "smelling" more like Him among the saved and lost (see 2 Cor 2:14-16). Note that both euangelizo and kataggello both have at their root the work aggelos which means messenger and is transliterated as angel, a heavenly messenger dispatched by God to take to mankind a message. These missionaries (and you and I) were God's "angels" so to speak bringing a heavenly message of life to a dying race of men! Luke's uses of kataggello in Acts - Acts 3:24; Acts 4:2; Acts 13:5; Acts 13:38; Acts 15:36; Acts 16:17; Acts 16:21; Acts 17:3; Acts 17:13; Acts 17:23; Acts 26:23; In every city - The Greek preposition kata has the force of city by city.
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Guzik summarizes why Paul may have chosen Silas (Silvanus)... Silas was recognized as one of the leading men among the brethren (Acts 15:22). Silas was a prophet (Acts 15:32). Silas was a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37). Silas probably spoke Greek (comparing Acts 15:22 and Acts 15:32). Silas wrote out one of Peter’s letters (1 Peter 5:12) and maybe some of Paul’s (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:1). In a similar comment John