The Council of Jerusalem, authority, and food Part I

So, admittedly, I'm not as familiar with Acts as I should be. But, let's shut down a bad argument. No, James did not come up with the final decision at the Council of Jerusalem. Now, because I want this to be a two parter, we're not going to cover this all today, but, I just want to deal with two things. 1) Peter making the final decision, and, 2) what the debate was even over to begin with. But, believe it or not, the reason that it makes sense for Peter to make the final decision (although, James did give an addendum), is because of something that happened to Peter earlier in Acts. Let's give the background. “But some men came down from Judea, and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved”. (Acts 15:1). And, because it's a lot to write, I'll let y'all read the rest on your own, but, I won't to stress this, “And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus, just as they will”. (Acts 15:7-11). You'll note something, Peter is the one that cuts straight to the heart of the debate. Now, why is this important? Because, even though James did offer an addendum, the central argument was from Peter. So, for completion's sake, let's go ahead and add what James said, I'm not going to write the whole thing (if you want to read it, it's Acts 15:13-19). But, I do want to mention this, “After they had finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God as first visited the Gentiles, to take them from the people of his name”. (Acts 15:13-4). I don't want to type the rest, but, go read it on your own. But, I should point out that “Simeon” is Peter. Simeon (some translations say “Symeon”) is just another name for Simon. This is worth noting (remember, Peter is like a nickname, a descriptor, of you will). The late Fr. Peter Clarke taught us to think of it like the name “Rocky”. Simon “Rocky” son of Jonah. So, here, I should point out that Peter's authority is explicitly affirmed BY James. More than that, it actually makes sense that Peter would be the the one to make the final decision. After all, Peter's experience with food is relevant, here. And we will talk about THAT, next time.

*All verses from ESV Catholic Edition with Deuterocanonical Books, Copyright 2017 by Crossway.