Ques. Please give a few thoughts on Acts 15; especially explain verses 20, 28 and 29, why these things are called “necessary things"?
C. W. B.
Ans. We see the wisdom of God in telling Paul to go to Jerusalem to settle the question, which he had already fully settled in his own mind, as we see in Galatians. At Jerusalem, he conferred with those of reputation, so that they were of one mind. The Judaizing teachers had their say. Then Peter gave distinct witness, how the Gentiles were saved and sealed without law, and it was a yoke too heavy to be borne by their fathers or themselves. The Jew and Gentile are alike saved by grace.
James confirmed this, and quoted Amos 9:11, 12, to show God's intention to save Gentiles, then he gives the sentence, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God; but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood." Idols were a denial of the living God, the Creator of all things. Fornication was a breach of the institution of marriage, given in the garden of Eden. (Compare Matt. 19:4-6.) "Things strangled, and from blood," refers to Gen. 9:3, 4. where God added flesh to man's food (Compare Gen. 1:29), but reserved the blood for Himself-a mark of acknowledgment of the Creator. All these things are God's provision and instructions to man, but the Gentiles had fallen lower than when created, and now Christianity lifts them up to recognize God as the Creator, and to respect His claims.
The apostles and elders wrote letters to that effect, and sent well-known men with Barnabas and Saul to carry the news, called "the decrees" in Acts 16:4. to all the assemblies. When the multitude of believers at Antioch heard the letters and the news, they rejoiced for the consolation. And Paul, guided by the Spirit of God, wrote the Epistle to the Galatian assemblies, to free them from the legality they had sunk into. It is good to read it, till you understand it.
Ques. Does Elias refer to John the Baptist in Matt. 17:10-13? M. J. J.
Ans. It was rightly understood by the scribes of that day, that before the Messiah came, the prophetical testimony from God spoken of in Mal. 4:5, 6. must be fulfilled, but they did not count that when the Son of Man came, His rejection was first, and then His glory after, and that all this Church period was between them.
The disciples also had to learn this. They had just seen Jesus transfigured on the Mount. They were eye-witnesses of His Majesty (2 Peter 1:16-18.) But they were to "Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen from (among) the dead. This they did not understand. (Mark 9:10.) They did not yet receive this into their hearts, so they asked Him the question, "Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?" Jesus answered, "Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things." (This will fulfill Mal. 4:5,6.) "But I say unto you. that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them." The forerunner was rejected, and the Messiah also was to suffer.
John came in the spirit and power of Elias (Luke 1:17). Isa. 40:3 was true of him, and to those who received him; Elias was come already. (See Matt. 11:14.) John the Baptist did the work of Elias to those who received Jesus as the true Messiah.