First of all, let me put into context what was happening in the church at this time. The Holy Spirit was being poured out on Gentiles just like it had been poured out on Jews, but there were some Jews who were having a hard time accepting the validity of the Gentile experience. It had gotten so bad that a group of men from Judea had travelled to Antioch where Paul and Barnabas were ministering and started spreading the word that unless you kept the ancient Jewish custom of circumcision taught by Moses, you couldn't be saved. In other words, if you don't stick with our Jewish traditions, your experience doesn't count for true salvation! WOW!
So, there was a meeting in Jerusalem to discuss this problem. It didn't take long for some of the Jewish Pharisees to insist that every Gentile Christian needed to keep all the Mosaic Law, just like the Jews. They saw no reason to exempt Gentiles IF the gentiles hoped to enjoy the same salvation as the Jews.
So Peter speaks first in defense about his involvement with the Gentiles and how he'd seen with his own eyes, Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit. He reminded everyone that the Gentiles had received their salvation based on faith and not any work of the Law. Then Paul and Barnabas talked about what they'd seen God do among the Gentiles through miraculous signs and wonders. The last guy to speak was James, Jesus' half-brother, who was an important figure in the Jerusalem church. James' resolution was so wise. He first concluded that Gentile converts should NOT be troubled by having any sort of Jewish ceremonies imposed upon them. However, he urged them that a policy of appropriate conduct be followed by the Gentile Christians.
Now I've said all of that to get to this point: The reason for this policy was that Jews who were faithful to Moses were widely scattered throughout the Gentile world, and Gentile Christians shouldn't unnecessarily offend them. So James, using wisdom, gave the Gentile Christians a few things to refrain from, even though they weren't Jews.
The Lord took me to two scripture texts to show me the wisdom behind James' resolution: (Ephesians 2:11-18/ NLT) says, “Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God's people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. 15 By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 17 He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.”
(Galatians 6:15/ NLT) says, “It doesn't make any difference now whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people.”
In other words, Jews + Gentiles + Jesus = NEW CREATION! By becoming a NEW CREATION you're a part of a new culture. Now you take on the characteristics of the Christian culture. Within this Christian culture, there are some basic characteristics that identify you as a believer: The Oneness of God - The Doctrine of Salvation - Holiness! These issues identify you as a Believer whether you're Jew or Gentile; male or female; young or old; white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Jamaican, or Puerto Rican, etc. We should NEVER make it harder than God intended it to be for a lost world to come into Covenant relationship. But we also must NEVER let go of the basics that identify us "Spirit Filled/Spirit Lead followers of Christ!"
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