Despite everything that God had done with the saving of Cornelius' house, the Gentile church in Antioch, and the great revival in Paul and Barnabas' missionary journey to Asia, there were still some Jewish leaders of the Early Church who still believed that believers had to be physically circumcised to be saved. The years of the teaching of the law and tradition still had a grip on many Jewish believers! God had commanded Abraham and all of his house to be circumcised. The Law of Moses had taught that a person could not be right with God unless they were circumcised. The question was this: "Was physical circumcision required for salvation after Calvary?" Jesus had never taught that it was.

Certain Jewish preachers from Judea came down to the Gentile church and began teaching that all of the Gentile believers had to be physically circumcised to be saved. When Paul and Barnabas heard this, they immediately stood up against such teaching:

Paul and Barnabas agreed to go to Jerusalem and present their side to the apostles and elders about Moses' circumcision. Along the journey, Paul and Barnabas stopped by churches in many towns telling of how God had poured our His Spirit upon many Gentiles! God clearly did not require physical circumcision for salvation and they knew it!

This great meeting to settle the issue of whether or not physical circumcision was necessary for salvation is called by scholars as the "Jerusalem Council." It represented the first church-wide leadership meeting to settle a doctrinal dispute. The Jerusalem Council is a model for how we should settle major doctrinal disputes in an organization and, as we will see, was the model for the birth of the Apostolic Church of America in the 1900s.

There were basically two sides: Pharisees who had received the Holy Ghost and wanted to keep physical circumcision as mandatory, and Paul and Barnabas who had realized in preaching to the Gentiles that God did not require it. The Apostles and elders of the church came together to hear the two sides debate the matter. We can only imagine the fierceness of the debate between the now Holy Ghost filled Pharisees and Paul who was formerly the smartest of the Pharisees.

Finally Peter stood up. What a change had come in Peter's life! The Samaritan revival, vision of clean and unclean animals, and Cornelius' conversion, had dramatically changed Peter's prejudice.

There is actually more to the story than is recorded here in Acts. Peter had actually wavered between standing with the Gentiles and the Jewish people. Immediately after the Jerusalem Council in A.D. 49, Paul wrote his first letter, the Book of Galations to the church in Galatia. The Church in Galatia was being effected by a group of teachers called the "Judaizers." They taught that Gentiles must be physically circumcised and live by Moses' law in order to be saved despite the work of Calvary. The entire Book of Galations was written to confront these false teachers and defend Paul's right to minister and teach the Gentiles, the Gentile's rights to enter into the kingdom of God, the fulfillment of the law through the work of Jesus Christ, and the stand that physical circumcision is not required to be saved.

In Galations we find that Peter had come to visit the church in Antioch and had eaten and fellowshipped with the Gentiles until some Jewish friends of James had come from Jerusalem to also visit (Galations 2:11-14). When the strict Jewish believers arrived, Peter stopped eating and fellowshipping with the Gentiles because he feared what they might say if they saw him eating with uncircumcised believers. To make matters worse, Barnabas followed Peter's example and began to act the same way.

When Paul saw that Peter was being hypocritical, he confronted Peter about the circumcision issue. Obviously Peter listened to Paul and received the correction. The scripture says that:

In other words, God uses leadership to shape us and correct us. If we are to be leaders in God's kingdom, then we must also allow ourselves to be molded and "sharpened" by other ministers and leaders. A dull sword is good for nothing, and for us to be our best, we must be willing to submit to each other's leadership abilities and strengths. Paul could not reach the Jewish people like Peter could, but Peter could not reach the Gentiles like Paul did. Each leader had their unique calling and anointing. The fact that Peter submitted himself in the area of Gentiles to Paul is an example to all of us that we need each other. You have an area of anointing and calling that your brother does not and vice versa. We need each other to be complete!

Peter's involvement caused the leaders to listen more attentively to Paul and Barnabas's viewpoint. After listening to all that God had done on Paul's first missionary journey, James, the brother of Jesus, stood up and began to speak. Remember the James that was John's brother had already been killed. During the time after John's brother's death, James, the brother of Jesus had risen to a leadership position within the church. James was not a believer during Jesus' earthly ministry but was converted after his resurrected brother appeared to him after Calvary (I Corinthians 15:7). James wrote the Book of James. Because the Book of James was addressed to Jewish Christians only and does not mention the Jerusalem council or circumcision debate, it was probably written before A.D. 48. That means that the Book of James was the first New Testament book to actually be written and the Book of Galations by Paul after the Jerusalem council was the second. When you read and study these books, keep in mind the time of the Early Church in which they were written because knowing that makes it easier to understand them.

James began to talk about when Jesus was dedicated in the temple as a baby. An old prophet named Simeon had been told by God that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. When Simeon had seen Jesus, he had taken up the child in his arms and prophesied about the future work of Christ. Of course, James was not present at the actual prophecy but no doubt the story had been told by Mary and Joseph many times. As James sat listening to the debate he remembered something that Simeon had said:

Simeon had prophesied that Jesus Christ would be a light to the Gentiles as well! This was a very strong argument coming from the brother of Jesus himself!

James also quoted Amos 9:11-12 where God said that one day that the Gentiles would seek after the Lord. It is obvious from James' words that he was taught the scriptures by Mary and Joseph, his parents.

James proposed a solution. That circumcision not be made mandatory but that the Gentile believers to avoid three things: 1. worship of idols and participation in idolatrous feasts. 2. Fornication and sexual sin. 3. Eating animals that were killed by strangulation and foods made directly from blood. This would include such things as "blood gravies and sausages."

The leadership of the church were pleased with James' solution and decided to write the proposal in letter form and be read in the church of Antioch by Paul and Barnabas. So that all would receive the letter as coming from the Jerusalem leaders, two great leaders, Judas and Silas, would accompany them to Antioch. This is important because it caused Silas to leave Jerusalem and begin to minister to the Gentiles. God has a reason and a purpose for everything!

The letter was read and well received at the church in Antioch and Judas and Silas stayed a while preaching and exhorting the church. The first major doctrinal controversy had been met and answered without any division. To most of us today, it is not a very controversial subject whether or not physical circumcision is required for salvation, but then in a church still primarily Jewish, it was a major concern.

Before moving on in our study, let's ask ourselves "why did God require physical circumcision throughout all of time and then not require it after Calvary?" The answer to the first part is that God wanted man's flesh to bear the mark of separation. He wanted man's body to show that they were in a covenant with God Almighty and thus different from all other people.

The answer to the second part of the question becomes clearer when we read Paul's later teaching on the subject to the Gentile church of Colossae:

Paul told the Gentile church that they were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision that was not done by human hands. What was this spiritual baptism? Verse 12 says that they were spiritually circumcised by Christ when they were "buried with him in baptism!" When we are baptized in water in the name of Jesus, we have been spiritually circumcised! In a physical circumcision, dead flesh is cut away and discarded from the body and blood is present. When we are baptized in Jesus' name our past sinful man is cut away and removed from us! We are then washed in the Blood of Jesus! In Biblical times, the male child was not named until it's circumcision. When we are baptized in water we are to take on His name, the name of Jesus Christ, and we put it on and are considered a child of God! We have been adopted into the family of God! So the answer to the question "does God still require circumcision for salvation?" is "yes, but it is a spiritual circumcision by being baptized in water in the name of Jesus." A person does not have to be physically circumcised to be saved because it has been replaced by water baptism. Now, men and women can enjoy the blessings of being an heir of God's inheritance!

After preaching at Antioch, Judas decided to travel back to Jerusalem, but Silas stayed with Paul and Barnabas to help with the work there.

After a few months, Paul and Barnabas decided that it would be good to travel back to the churches that they had established on their first missionary journey and see how they were doing. As they began to plan the trip, Barnabas mentioned taking John Mark with them again. Remember John Mark was the young man who had decided to return home when they had reached the Asia mainland. Paul did not trust John Mark and did not want to take him along.

We are not quite sure why Paul was so adamant about not taking John Mark. We really do not know all of the details of the story. It is possible that Paul, who was certainly strong willed, did not respond well to John Mark's youthful whining about hardships. Once again we see a patient Barnabas taking someone and mentoring them and without Barnabas' love and attention, there would have been no Gospel of Mark written! The name "Barnabas" actually means "son of encouragement!" The church today needs more men like Barnabas who will mentor and unselfishly build up others.

Paul would eventually make things right with John Mark and later mention that he was "profitable" for the ministry (II Timothy 4:11). In Acts chapter 15, however, God was still working on some "rough edges" in Paul's life.

Barnabas and John Mark sailed to the large island of Cyprus and began to travel through the towns preaching the Gospel. The scriptures do not record any more details about Barnabas's ministry or life. In later letters, Paul and Peter mention John Mark but do not mention Barnabas who was his uncle. This probably means that Barnabas died between 50 - 66 A.D. However, he died, Barnabas's ministry lived on in Paul and John Mark. The "son of encouragement" produced some spiritual children that still encourage us today!

As has already been mentioned, the book of James was written before the Jerusalem Council and was to address specific problems of the Jewish Early Church. Here is an overview of the problems and topics addressed in the book of James:

1. The church was experiencing severe persecution and was challenged by James to trust completely in God, continue praising God, not to blame God, and not use the persecution to justify sin. (James chapter 1)

2. James addressed the problem of "respect of persons" and prejudice in the church (James 2).

3. James addressed the problem of an uncontrolled tongue (James 3).

4. James addressed specific issues such as a lack of unity, worldliness, gossip, and planning without consulting the will of God (James 4).

5. James addressed the sinfulness of trusting in riches, the need for patience in reaping a harvest, and gave practical instruction in the everyday operation of the church (James 5).

The book of Galations was written immediately after the Jerusalem council and was to combat those Jewish "Judaizers" that still taught that a Gentile had to become a physical Jew in order to be saved. Here is an overview of the book of Galations:

1. Paul's God-given authority to preach the Gospel, write scripture, and be an Apostle to the Gentiles (Galations chapter 1).

2. A report on the events of the Jerusalem Council (Galations 2).

3. Paul explains that true purpose of the Law of Moses was to get us to Grace and that it was only a "teacher" showing us the way to Calvary (Galations 3).

4. Paul defines what it means to be a "son of God" and how we become "sons of God" (Galations 4).

5. Paul explains how that Christ gives freedom from the Law of Moses through walking in the Spirit (Galations 5).

6. Paul warns the Judiazers in Galatia not to fall into the trap by thinking that they are better than anyone else or more spiritual and commands them to love and help each other (Galations 6).