The Sect of the Pharisees

Open Door Baptist Church

Acts # 39 – Acts 15:1-11

1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. 2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. 3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

( Acts 15:1-11 ) KJV

Two steps forward and one step back. There is more discussion of this event, referred to as the Council at Jerusalem, in Galatians chapter 2.

1. Inertia
2. Inquiry
3. Impetus

1. Inertia

1. a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.
2. a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force.

Pharisees got saved. That’s great, but evidently they saw the coming of Jesus Christ as not only the fulfillment of prophecy, but as the sign that they should continue just as they had been doing.

2. Inquiry

What should be done about this? How is it to be handled?

WWJD?

We have a clue in v. 10 when Peter refers to something that Jesus said.

Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

( Acts 15:10 ) KJV

This points us to Matthew 23.

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

( Matthew 23:4 ) KJV

1. (13). for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
2. (14). for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
3. (15). for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
4. (16). which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
5. (23). for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
6. (25). for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
7. (27). for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
8. (29). because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

3. Impetus

1. the force or energy with which a body moves.
2. the force that makes something happen or happen more quickly.

There is a new impetus towards the law of grace, but the inertia of the Law of Moses has to be overcome.

This is what Paul had to deal with in the letter to the Galatians.

6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

( Galatians 1:6-7 ) KJV

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,

( Galatians 2:16a ) KJV

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

( Ephesians 2:8-9 ) KJV