84
Acts 15:13-22  THE RECOMMENDATION BY JAMES

Introduction:

	The church at Antioch in Syria had a dispute which they were unable to 
settle.  They sent men to the church at Jerusalem asking their help in settling 
the dispute.  The Jerusalem church also got into a dispute of the issue.  The 
Apostle Peter related his experience which answered the question to the 
satisfaction of James, who is thought to have been the pastor of the Jerusalem 
church.  
	In this text James makes his recommendation to the Jerusalem church, which 
will, in turn, make their recommendation to the church at Antioch.

I.  James speaking about the experience of Simon Peter

	V. 13, “And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men 
[and] brethren, hearken unto me.”  Luke does not tell us which James is speaking 
here.  There was an Apostle James, the brother of the Apostle John and the son 
of Zebedee, a fisherman.  But this Apostle James was killed back in Acts chapter 
4 by Herod Agrippa.  So he is not the James spoken of in this text.  
	There was another Apostle James who was the son of Alphaeus.  He is 
sometimes called “James the Less.”  It is not commonly believed that he is the 
James in this text.  
	Jesus had a brother by the name of James who did not become a Christian 
until after the resurrection of Jesus.  He later wrote “The Book of James.”  It 
is also commonly believed that he became the pastor of the Jerusalem church and 
that he is the James who is spoken of here in this text.  
	Throughout the lengthy debate over whether or not Gentiles could be saved 
without first being circumcised and coming under the Law of Moses, James had 
offered no opinion up to this point.  This indicates that he had not reached a 
conclusion on the matter up to this point.  
	But after hearing the Apostle Peter remind them about his experience in 
preaching the gospel to the household of Cornelius he concluded that Simon Peter 
is right and that God does not require Gentiles to get circumcised and come 
under the law of Moses in order to get saved.  It was God who had decided that 
the gospel should be preached to the family of Cornelius. It was God who had 
offered the household of Cornelius the opportunity to be saved.  It was also God 
who had given evidence that the Gentiles of the household of Cornelius had been 
saved without first being circumcised and without coming under the law of Moses.  
They had even been saved without first being baptized.  God gave evidence that 
they were saved by giving them certain miraculous spiritual gifts by the Holy 
Spirit of God.
	
II.  The final deciding factor

	But James thought that there was one other factor which must be considered 
before a final decision could be reached.  If the conclusion which Simon Peter 
had reached and if the conclusion which Paul and Barnabas had reached was 
correct then it must agree with the teachings of God’s inspired Holy word.  It 
any religious belief does not agree with the word of God then it must be wrong.  
Only if it does agree with the word of God is it right.  
 	V. 14, “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, 
to take out of them a people for his name.”  Simon had concluded that Gentiles 
could be saved without first being circumcised and coming under the law.  James 
said that what Simon Peter had concluded was in agreement with what Old 
Testament Scriptures teach.  He cited a Scripture from the Book of Amos.  
	V. 15-17, “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.”   In the 
passage which James cited, the Lord Jesus spoke about returning to the world in 
end-time events and to restore the household of king David.  This was another 
way of saying that the throne of king David would be restored.  In those 
millennial times the Lord would rule not only over Israel, but He would rule 
also over all the nations of the Gentiles.  Furthermore, the Lord said, that in 
those times there would be Gentiles who would be called by His name.  That is, 
they will be His people equally as much as the Jews are His people.  That is, 
many Gentiles will be saved in the millennial times who are still Gentiles.  
They will not be required to become proselyte Jews.  They will not be required 
to be circumcised and come under the law in order to be saved.  The point that 
James is making is that if Gentiles can be saved during the millennial time 
without being circumcised and becoming proselyte Jews, then Gentiles could be 
saved in their own day without being circumcised and becoming proselyte Jews.  
So what the Apostle Paul and Barnabas and Simon Peter and other brethren among 
them had been saying was in harmony with the teaching of the word of the Lord 
through the prophets.  
	V. 18, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”  
In other words, James is saying, “We may just be learning what the will of God 
is in this matter, but God has known all along.  A long time ago God had the 
prophet to write words which would agree with what we are just now learning.  
God knew all along that Gentiles could be saved without being required to be 
circumcised first.  But we are just now learning what the Scriptures taught all 
along.  

III.  The recommendation of James to the church at Jerusalem

	So now that James has finally made up his own mind what the truth is on 
this issue and now that he is sure that what he has concluded is the truth of 
God according to the Scripture, he is ready to make a recommendation to the 
Jerusalem church.  \ 
V. 19, “Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the 
Gentiles are turned to God.”  In other words, James said, “I recommend that we 
inform the Gentiles who have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that it 
is not necessary for them to be circumcised and come under the law of Moses in 
order to be saved.  I recommend that we inform them that we accept them as 
Christian brethren.”  
	James did, however, recommend that they urge the Gentile brethren to make 
a complete break from their old way of life before they got saved.  He 
recommended three things.  V. 20, “But that we write unto them, that they 
abstain from pollutions of idols...”  James recommended that they stop attending 
worship services of idol gods.  As Gentiles they had been taught to worship many 
gods.  It might seem reasonable for them to take the idea that since the God of 
the Hebrews is truly a God, we will just add Him to the list of the many other 
gods that we worship.”  What James was recommending was that when Gentiles 
become Christians that they altogether stop worshipping other gods.  Do not 
attend their worship services.  Have no connection of any kind to the worship of 
idol gods.  Do not even buy meat from the market place which has been dedicated 
to idol gods.  James was saying that they were to make a complete break from 
their old erroneous religious beliefs and their old erroneous religious 
practices
	(V. 20), “...and [from] fornication,,,”  James is saying that when one 
gets saved not only should he make a complete break from his old way of 
religion, but he should make a complete break from his old immoralities.  It was 
common among the idol worshipping Gentiles to engage in sexually immoral 
conduct.  According to historical records it was common even in their temples to 
employ both female and male prostitutes to engage in sexual orgies right in 
their religious services.  James is saying that when one becomes a Christian all 
such immoral conduct should be over and done with.  It should be a thing of the 
past.  The Christian is to live by a new hither standard than the unsaved world 
lives by.  The Christian should be morally clean.  The Christian is to make a 
complete break from his old immoral conduct.  
	(V. 20), “...and [from] things strangled, and [from] blood.”  The drinking 
of animal blood and the eating of bloody animal meat is associated with the 
worship of idol worship and the practice of witchcraft.  Therefore, James 
insisted that Christians ought not to be engaged in such activities.  Presumably 
a Christian could do such things without actually worshipping an idol or 
engaging in witchcraft, but he cannot do so without giving the appearance of 
engaging in idol worship and witchcraft.  The Christian is not only to refrain 
from doing evil things, but he is to shun the very appearance of doing evil 
things.     
	V. 21, “For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, 
being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.”  James  was saying that it 
should not seem a new and strange thing to the Gentiles that God does not want 
His people to engage in idol worship, that He does not want them to engage in 
adultery and fornication and that He does not want them to eat or drink blood.  
These are things which have been taught in the Jewish synagogues every sabbath 
day to the Jewish people in those synagogues.  And since there were Jewish 
synagogues in all of those Gentile cities.  Therefore the Gentiles would be 
aware of the kind of lifestyle that God wanted His people to live.  So James 
recommended to the Jerusalem church that they suggest to the Gentile Christians 
that they live this kind of lifestyle.  
	V. 22, “Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to 
send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; 
[namely], Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren.”   
The recommendations which James presented to the whole Jerusalem church.  They 
pleased all the apostles.  They pleased all of the elders.  They pleased all of 
the members.  What is amazing is that they pleased even those members of the 
church who had earlier dogmatically declared that Gentiles must be circumcised 
in order to be saved.  It is admirable when men who are wrong on a matter can 
see that they were wrong and will publicly acknowledge that they had been wrong.  
The whole church membership expressed approval of the recommendation from James 
and brethren from the Jerusalem church were selected to go back to Antioch with 
them to verify what the Jerusalem church said on the issue.  

IV.  Lessons to learn from this text

	The most obvious lesson to learn from this text is that salvation is by 
the grace of God through Jesus Christ the Son of God.  Salvation is not earn or 
even partially earned by circumcision, by baptism or by any works of 
righteousness which we might do.  It is not earned by keeping the law of Moses.  
It is not earned by joining the church.  It is not earned by being baptized.  It 
is not earned by living a clean moral life.  It is not earned by us at all.  It 
is received as a free gilft when we place our faith in Jesus Christ.  Romans 
3:23 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Romans 6:23 
says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through 
Jesus Christ our Lord.  Ephesians 2:9 says that salvation is not earned by works 
lest any man should boast.  Romans 10:13 tells us that whosoever shall call upon 
the Lord Jesus Christ trusting in Him shall be saved.  
	Another lesson which is obvious in this text is that God’s word is to be 
believed.  The lost sinner is to believe God’s word which tells him that he is a 
sinner and stands in need of a Savior.  The lost sinner should believe the 
gospel message that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus 
Christ.  Regardless of what one has always been taught and always believed, he 
is to accept the word of God which proclaims salvation to be through faith in 
Jesus Christ.  The saved sinner should believe God’s word regarding the 
doctrinal teaching of God through His word.  All men are to believe God’s word 
and to obey the instructions given in God’s word.  
	Another powerful lesson which is taught in this text is that after one is 
saved he (or she) is to live a changed life.  The saved person is to be willing 
to change his beliefs.  He is to make a complete break from his old erroneous 
beliefs and to believe what God has taught.  It makes no difference who says 
anything to the contrary, what God says is to be accepted as the truth.  
	The saved person is to be willing to change from his or her old 
immoralities.  He is to stop living according to the immoral standards of the 
world and start living according to the high moral standards of God’s Holy word. 
God has so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son that we might be saved.  
Out of love and gratitude toward Him we should seek to live within His Holy 
will.  We ought to live in a way that would not bring reproach to His Holy name.  
We ought to live in a way that would bring praise and glory and honor to His 
name.  We ought to seek to live in a way that would please the Lord.  If the 
Lord be pleased with an activity then we ought to engage in that activity.  If 
God is not pleased by a certain activity, then we ought not to tough that 
activity with a ten foot pole.  We ought to stay away from it.  
 
Conclusion:

	Let me tell you some things that would please the Lord.  It would please 
the Lord to save some lost soul this morning.  And He will if somebody who is 
lost will call upon His holy name and trust Him for salvation of their soul.  
Will you?  Will you be that person who makes the Lord happy this morning by 
trusting in Him to save your soul?
	Let me tell you something else that would please the Lord this morning.  
If some Christian who needs a church home would come an unite with this church, 
that would please the Lord.  In the first place, it would strengthen your own 
life in spiritual matters and that would please the Lord.  Secondly, it would 
strengthen this church and that would please the Lord.  
	But let me tell you another thing that would please the Lord.  If some 
Christian knows that a certain thing that you have been doing is sinful, it 
would please the Lord if you will stop doing that sinful thing.  In all 
likelihood, it will not be easy for you to quit.  But by the help of God it can 
be done.  Will you commit yourself to stop that sinful thing by the help of God.  
If so, that will please the Lord.  
	There is one more thing that I want to point out to you which would please 
the Lord.  If you there is something which you know that you should have been 
doing, but you have not been doing it, it would please the Lord if you would 
commit yourself right now to start doing what you know you ought to be doing.  
Will you do it?  Will you right now commit yourself by the help of God to start 
doing that which you know you ought to be doing?