“Law and Grace"
Acts 15:1-35

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they. [Acts 15:11]

From the Jerusalem Council came a vital spiritual decision in the early church: salvation by grace. It was a decision that drew a line between man-made tradition and right doctrine, between law and grace.

Paul and Barnabas had just returned from their first missionary journey. They had planted churches in and around Galatia and reported that the Spirit had fallen upon the Gentiles. The church became multi-cultural. “There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” [Colossians 3:11].

They were the same in sin [separated from God] and became the same in Christ [united with God]. The former came by way of the first Adam in the Garden, the latter by the last Adam upon the Cross. “And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’  The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” [1 Corinthians 15:45]

“For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’” [Romans 3:9-10] But now, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” [Romans 3:22-24]

Grace is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” [Ephesians 2:8-9].

It doesn’t get any clearer than that. Paul spelled it out and without ambiguity, “it is by grace you have been saved.”

Acts 15 is the record of a battle between Paul and Barnabas and “those of the circumcision” [Judaizers]. It was a dispute between law and grace, and that same dispute is alive and well today.

It is important to study the Jerusalem Council; what was presented, disputed, and decided. Grace trumps law, it truly does. A Spirit-filled righteousness far surpasses the legalist righteousness because it is a work from within.