使徒行傳15:1-21

 

15:1 有幾個人從猶太下來，教訓弟兄們說：「你們若不按摩西的規條受割禮，不能得救。」
15:2 保羅、巴拿巴與他們大大地紛爭辯論；眾門徒就定規，叫保羅、巴拿巴和本會中幾個人，為所辯論的，上耶路撒冷去見使徒和長老。
15:3 於是教會送他們起行。他們經過腓尼基、撒馬利亞，隨處傳說外邦人歸主的事，叫眾弟兄都甚歡喜。
15:4 到了耶路撒冷，教會和使徒並長老都接待他們，他們就述說上帝同他們所行的一切事。
15:5 惟有幾個信徒，是法利賽教門的人，起來說：「必須給外邦人行割禮，吩咐他們遵守摩西的律法。」
15:6 使徒和長老聚會商議這事；
15:7 辯論已經多了，彼得就起來，說：「諸位弟兄，你們知道上帝早已在你們中間揀選了我，叫外邦人從我口中得聽福音之道，而且相信。
15:8 知道人心的上帝也為他們作了見證，賜聖靈給他們，正如給我們一樣；
15:9 又藉著信潔淨了他們的心，並不分他們我們。
15:10 現在為甚麼試探上帝，要把我們祖宗和我們所不能負的軛放在門徒的頸項上呢？
15:11 我們得救乃是因主耶穌的恩，和他們一樣，這是我們所信的。」
15:12 眾人都默默無聲，聽巴拿巴和保羅述說上帝藉他們在外邦人中所行的神蹟奇事。
15:13 他們住了聲，雅各就說：「諸位弟兄，請聽我的話。
15:14 方才西門述說上帝當初怎樣眷顧外邦人，從他們中間選取百姓歸於自己的名下；
15:15 眾先知的話也與這意思相合。
15:16 正如經上所寫的：此後，我要回來，重新修造大衛倒塌的帳幕，把那破壞的重新修造建立起來，
15:17 叫餘剩的人，就是凡稱為我名下的外邦人，都尋求主。
15:18 這話是從創世以來顯明這事的主說的。
15:19 「所以據我的意見，不可難為那歸服上帝的外邦人；
15:20 只要寫信，吩咐他們禁戒偶像的污穢和姦淫，並勒死的牲畜和血。
15:21 因為從古以來，摩西的書在各城有人傳講，每逢安息日，在會堂裡誦讀。」

 

Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. ³ The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. ⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

⁵ Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶ The apostles and elders met to consider this question. ⁷ After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹ He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

¹² The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. ¹³ When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon^[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

¹⁶ “‘After this I will return
    and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
    and I will restore it,
¹⁷ that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
    even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’^[b]—
¹⁸     things known from long ago.^[c]

¹⁹ “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. ²¹ For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

 

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    這一次的會議對於後來向外邦人宣教是有很大的幫助，因為這次的會中彼得表明：「諸位弟兄，你們知道上帝早已在你們中間揀選了我，叫外邦人從我口中得聽福音之道，而且相信。知道人心的上帝也為他們作了見證，賜聖靈給他們，正如給我們一樣；又藉著信潔淨了他們的心，並不分他們我們。現在為甚麼試探上帝，要把我們祖宗和我們所不能負的軛放在門徒的頸項上呢？我們得救乃是因主耶穌的恩，和他們一樣，這是我們所信的。」

 

    彼得這話不是要猶太人遷就外邦人的文化，接納他們不用受摩西律法，而是強調「得救乃是因為主耶穌的恩」！表示主耶穌的義已經成全了摩西的律法，透過主耶穌外邦人(非猶太人)也得了律法的義，成為上帝家中的人了！

 

    今天我們接納人可以進入教會，也是透過信靠主耶穌，得著主耶穌的義！所以，我們不是不在意罪的事情，但是我們相信透過福音可以改變人。雖然如此，教會內還是要談律法，使教會可以維持秩序，使人有行為的準則，讓行為上受到上帝心意的指引。

 

    教會要講福音，也需要講律法，但是不是義律法來稱義。因為律法不能救人，只有福音能救人與改變人！