A Reading of Acts and the Epistles reveals that some Jewish believers were creating havoc in the ecclesias by their insistence upon a close observance of the Law of Moses. By dubious methods they infiltrated their teachings into the Christian community. Paul writes of them: “These men are zealously trying to dazzle you; but their purpose is not honourable. What they want to do is to isolate you, so that they may win you over to their side” (Gal. 4:17, Amplified New Testament). Thus they questioned Paul’s apostolic authority, and even appear to have sent a faked epistle to cut through the trust that believers had in Paul ( see 2 Thess. 2:2). It was therefore necessary for the apostle to write: “The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token( (sign) in every epistle” (2 Thess. 3:17).
A special conference was arranged to consider the teaching of this Jewish group in the ecclesia, the meeting being held in Jerusalem attended by apostles and elders (Acts 15). Physical cleanliness, along with the eating of ‘clean’ foods, was considered essential by the Judaisers (see Mk. 7:3,4), their concept being law-righteousness’. However, as both Jesus and Peter show (Mk. 7:15; Acts 15:9), what is required is faith, since that is what will purify and cleanse a man or woman of God. Thus Peter said that God “put no difference between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles), purifying their hearts by faith”. This principle of ‘faith-righteousness’, so precious to our Heavenly Father, is of course an Old Testament principle.
Thus in the speech of James at that conference he brings out from the Old Testament aspects of God’s purpose with both Jew and Gentile. This would be particularly appropriate for a group of Jewish believers in the midst of fellow Gentile believers, who possibly questioned why any such Gentiles had been called to the gospel. God in His mercy has left on record the speech of James, who links together (through the Spirit) Old Testament promises for their and our benefit. Dipping into part of the speech of James shows how the apostle draws in Old Testament quotations and inferences.
Acts 15:13–16
“James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; 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. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world”.
As James propounds here the purpose of God, it seems that he has in mind a prophecy of Jeremiah. Israel had been called out of Egypt to be a people for God, as Jeremiah writes: “that they might be unto Me for a people, and for a name . . . but they would not hear” (Jer. 13:11). A look at the context of Jeremiah 13 reveals that what Yahweh was seeking was purification of their heart by faith (see vv. 10 and 27: “wilt thou not be made clean?”). The Jews having rejected the cleansing message of Jesus (Jno. 15:3), this offer had been sent to the Gentiles, who could now be incorporated into the “Name of the Lord”. Being a people of “the Name” involves a manifestation of the qualities and virtues of that Name (see Exodus 34:6 and context), a responsibility the ‘natural’ Jews in the past seem to have overlooked, to their downfall, to which we should take heed (see 2 Peter 1:2-8, and note the emphasis Peter puts on the manifestation of Divine attributes).
James describes the calling of God as a “visit” (Acts 15:14). This word is repeatedly used in Jeremiah ( see, as samples, 5:9,29; 6:6,15; 9:9; 10:15, and 11:22, margin, where the word is used in the sense of a visitation in judgement and condemnation). God had visited Egypt through His Angel, as an act of mercy upon Israel and retribution upon Egypt. This was a pattern and demonstration of the two sides of God’s ‘visit’ upon and with His people, which is really a demonstration of His nature and character: mercy and judgement. So we come to look at the life and ministry of Jesus to the Jews, the word ‘visit’ in connection with the Lord’s coming to his people could not be more appropriate than for them (see Psalm 8). Hence the words of Zacharias, who declared that “the dayspring from on high hath visited us” (Lk. 1:78).
The Jews rejected this ‘visit’ of God through His Son, and thus He burnt down the vineyard of Israel (Ps. 80; Mt. 21:33-46). Meanwhile, He has also ‘visited’ the Gentiles to take out a people for His name, a people who would manifest the fruit of the Spirit, so lacking amongst Jewry. Are we heeding the lesson, particularly as God has visited us through His only begotten Son (see Heb. 1:1-3)? Are we being ‘purified by faith’, or do we depend as the Jews did on external works? For the Lord “looketh on the heart”.
After referring to the call of the Gentiles, James says: “I (God) will return.” Here the apostle presents the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as a manifestation of the Father a theme which dominates his speech, as the following table shows:
- v 14 – “a people for His name”: call of the Gentiles;
- v 16 -“I will return”: Second Coming of Jesus;
- v 16,17 – restoration of Israel as an advertisement to God’s name;
- v 17 – “all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called”: the call of the Gentiles during the Kingdom.
A continual theme of Jeremiah is the return of Israel to their God (see Jer. 3:1,7,10,12,14; 4:1; 8:5, etc.) and, consequent upon that, a full return to the land promised to the fathers (see Jer. 30 and 31). But James shows in his speech that it is upon the Second Coming of Jesus that the nation rebuilds the “tabernacle of David”. Thus God through Jesus makes the initial step, and it appears from the prophets that in a time of great crisis the Master reappears to Israel in the land (see Zech. 12; also Rom. 11:26), saving them from destruction and opening up a way of salvation for the ‘natural’ Jew.
Jeremiah 12
The phrase “I will return”, used in James’s speech, also occurs in Jeremiah 12, where the context is extremely illuminating and is worth examining for the way it ties in with Acts 15.
The Lord promises the neighboring nations around Israel that if they “learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, saying, as the Lord lives, even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then shall they be built up in the midst of My people” (v. 16, Amplified Old Testament). The “return” of the Lord (v. 15) is promised in this context to the nations after He has “plucked– Israel out of them (v. 14). And is not this precisely the burden of James’s speech? There in the Old Testament was the promise of blessing for both Jew and Gentile, a blessing which did not depend on the law-righteousness’ advocated by the Judaisers. Instead, it depended on learning the “ways” of the people of God, these “ways” being a manifestation of the “name of the Lord” to which they would “swear” (Jer. 12:16).
Other Old Testament quotations
Other Old Testament quotations are also used by James in his speech at the Jerusalem conference. He is quoting Amos 9:11,12 when he says (v. 16), “and (I) will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up”. Notice first the emphasis on God’s work in all this: “I will build”: “I will set it up”. By contrast, the emphasis of the Judaisers was on what they did (typically expressed in the Pharisee’s prayer, “I am not . . . I fast .. . I give tithes”— a man of whom the Lord said that he “prayed . . . with himself’).
Secondly, the quotation shows that, in the Kingdom, God will be glorified through the conversion of Israel. Two passages from Isaiah show this quite clearly: “Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. . . that they (those in Zion) might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified” (Isa. 60:21; 61:3). These passages also confirm the earlier point, that God is the centre and purpose to which Jew and Gentile are both called: it is God-manifestation that is required, not human salvation as advocated by the Judaisers. It is when Israel put their faith and trust in God and follow their Saviour and Messiah that their Divinely-designed impact upon the world will be fulfilled.
In his speech James brings this point out by the quotation from Amos 9. In Acts 15:16 he speaks of the restoration of Israel, and in verse 17 he speaks of its sequel: “that the residue of men might seek after the Lord”. Israel are to be planted back in the land as the Lord’s ‘advertising agency’ a preaching and healing centre for the nations. “In this place (the temple) will I give peace”, said the Spirit through Haggai (2:9).
The nations will wish to serve God because of the righteous example of Israel. Israel will capture the imagination of the nations for their service of God. The blessings gained by those nations responding to the Israel of God are beautifully brought out in the use, both by Amos and James, of the word “tabernacle” in connection with the re-establishment of Israel. According to Strong the Hebrew word signifies ‘covering’ or ‘protection’ ( see its use in Job 38:40 and Isa. 4:6). In the Kingdom nations will find a haven of rest, peace and protection. As Ezekiel prophesied: “In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing (a symbol of the nations see Ezek. 39:4); in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell” (Ezek. 17:23).
James follows up his quotation from Amos with what appears to be a quotation from Isaiah 45:21: “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (compare Isa. 45:21: “who hath declared this from ancient time?”). Isaiah 45 is a beautiful chapter dealing with righteousness and justification through the Messiah, a man appointed by God (see vv. 2225, which are applied to Jesus Christ in Phil.2:10). Thus in the context of Isaiah 45 as part of the plan of God there was a reconciliation of His people not based on a law of works but through the righteousness of faith: “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory” (v. 25). (In passing, it is worth noting that the theme of God-manifestation and the Divine name are clearly evident in Isaiah 45 also.)
Thus, wherever we look in James’s quotations from the Old Testament, justification by faith is clearly implied and in some cases seems to stand out in the reference. Thus the concept of “purifying their hearts by faith” was not new teaching. Peter could read his ‘Bible’ and find therein grounds for such an idea, to form a basis for meaningful Christian living. We ought to do likewise.
The subtitle of this article is “A Doctrinal Symphony”. James, after speaking of the call of the Gentiles (Acts 15:14) says (v. 15): “And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written . . . “. The word “agree” is the Greek sumphóneó, and signifies “to be harmonious . . . to accord” ( Strong), like a symphony. And in that part of James’s speech which we have considered there is a beautiful spiritual and doctrinal harmony, a symphony with no discordant notes. The experience of Peter (vv. 7-1 1 ), Amos and Isaiah (vv. 16-18), and no doubt many others, all speak the same vibrant message. Old and New Testament prophets join their voices together in presenting the message of life. May this message strike a responsive chord in us, while it is still called “today”.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One