Acts 15 & the Law: An Apologetic Bible Study

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Acts 15:1–29 records the Jerusalem Council (50 AD) which is where Paul, Peter, Barnabas, James, and other elders gathered in Jerusalem to discuss the pressing question: Are Gentile believers required to be circumcised and keep the old covenant law? In this episode we walk through this passage verse by verse and discover a whole lot about the relationship between Christians and the old covenant law.

Acts 15:1–29 has become a source of great contention among Torah-keepers (Hebrew Roots, Torah-observant Christians, Torahism). They often scramble to re-interpret this passage in a way that allows them to maintain their theology which says that Christians are required to keep the old covenant law with its dietary restrictions, feasts, seventh day Sabbath, circumcision, and so on. As part of our study, we look at an interpretation offered by the influential Hebrew Roots organization 119 Ministries and test their teaching against the text of the Bible to see how it stacks up.

Links mentioned in this episode
Acts 15 - Obedience or Legalism (119 Ministries)

Our Galatians Bible Study
Clean & Unclean Foods - Examining Monte Judah's teaching on the kosher food laws:
Part 1: Sabbath in the Old Testament
Part 2: Sabbath in the New Testament

Defending the Biblical Roots of Christianity
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:55 Preamble to the Debate
11:06 Testing 119 Ministries
25:31 The Debate Floor 
36:33 The Four Prohibitions
46:02 The Council's Letter
51:16 Two Final Issues 
52:24 Are the four restrictions still required today?
54:01 Are Jewish believers under the law?