Acts 15

“We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (11). When some Jewish Christians began insisting that the new Gentile believers needed to be circumcised to be saved, the elders of the early Church met to discuss the matter. Peter and Paul and others recounted what God was doing among the Gentiles, which James affirmed fulfilled Scripture (16), and they all agreed that salvation was through Jesus, not the Law.

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you ...” (28). The unity of God’s people comes not from culture or tradition, but from our common salvation through Jesus and his Spirit among us.