By Faith Alone

Acts 15:1–11

“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.” 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. 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. 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. 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.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 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. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 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? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, and Solus Christus were part of tge rallying cry of the Reformation, that is “for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves (Eph 2:8)”, and it is only through our LORD Jesus alone (v. 11). The Mosaic Law was one of works in gaining salvation, Israel having been unable to bear this burden (v. 10), the Apostles rejected this for our redemption “is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph 2:9).” God freely gave us His Son; “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6-7).” It was a gift for all humanity, a present we didn’t work for, a blessing we did not deserve. Through Christ, we are declared holy and separate from the world, that was the symbolism of the circumcision, that set aside for God, not physically but our hearts. Through Christ and the Holy Spirit, “the LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live (Deut 30:6).” The Apostle Paul later lays this down for the Romans, rather than focusing on outward and physical rites (Rom 2:28), St. Paul emphasises on the state of our hearts. Using circumcision figuratively, he explains that only the Holy Spirit can purify a heart and set us apart to God, circumcision cannot make a person right with God; the Law is not enough. A person’s heart must change, God will do it for us as He promised in Deuteronomy, St. Paul tells us, “No, one is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise does not come from other people, but from God (Rom 2:29).” Let us realise that as the Apostle Peter first stated, “our hearts are purified by faith alone (v. 9),” in Christ alone (v. 11), by His grace alone, according to Scripture, our main authority which contains the testimony of the Eyewitnesses (~II Pet 1:16-17) (Sola Scriptura), for the glory of God alone (Soli Dei Gloriam).