Acts 15:1-5: a reflection

1Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.” 2Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul, Barnabas, and some others of them to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. 3They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers. 4When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported everything that God had done with them. 5But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

A serious controversy erupts in the early church. Some men come teaching that unless the new Gentile believers are circumcised according to the law of Moses, they cannot be saved. It sounds like a small addition, but it strikes at the heart of the gospel: is salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone, or by faith plus keeping the law? Paul and Barnabas contend sharply against this teaching, and the matter is taken to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem to settle. The gospel of grace was at stake.

Notice what was really being disputed: whether anything must be added to Christ for salvation. The teachers were not denying Christ; they were adding to him, insisting on faith plus circumcision, faith plus law-keeping. But to add a requirement to the free grace of Christ is, in effect, to deny that his grace is sufficient. The gospel is that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone; the moment we add a human requirement, we have changed it into something else.

That is a danger the church, and our own hearts, face in every age. The temptation is subtle: to add to the simple gospel of grace some requirement of our own, faith plus a certain practice, faith plus a particular standard, faith plus our performance, as though Christ were not enough. But salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Guard the gospel against additions. When you are tempted to think that Christ plus something is what saves, or to add requirements to God's free grace, remember this controversy. Christ is enough; add nothing to his grace. We are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves.

Lord, in the early church some insisted that faith in Christ was not enough, that something must be added for salvation, and Paul contended sharply to guard the gospel of grace. Guard my own heart against that subtle danger. Keep me from adding to your free grace some requirement of my own, faith plus a practice, faith plus a standard, faith plus my performance, as though Christ were not enough. You have saved me by grace through faith, not by my works, so that I cannot boast. Help me rest wholly in the sufficiency of Christ, adding nothing to his grace, and to hold fast the gospel that Christ alone, received by faith, is enough. Thank you that your grace is sufficient.