mony or Old Testament observance. However, certain men from Judea came among them who had not yet seen the full liberty of the Gospel. They said that circumcision was necessary in addition to grace. This brought confusion. It was an attempt to add something to the finished work of Christ. Certain teach ers are still engaged in such nefarious addition. Dealing With the Difficulty vv. 2-6 The church at Antioch saw the serious ness of the situation and decided to seek the counsel of the mother church in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas and some others from the church were sent to the latter place to talk over the matter with the apostles and the elders. As they went they lost no opportunity to witness for Christ (3). Upon arrival at Jerusa lem they enjoyed a wonderful service of spiritual refreshing and they from An tioch recounted what God had been doing through them (4). But the matter at issue was brought clearly to light when certain converted Pharisees who had brought some of their Phariseeism into the church arose and stated the neces sity of circumcision in addition to grace for salvation. The leaders of the church then took up the consideration of the problem. Verses 7 to 21 give the ad dresses of Peter, Paul, Barnabas and James on this matter.
Feb. 19, 195« THE FIGHT FOR CHRISTIAN FREEDOM Acts 15:1-6; 22-29; Gal. 2:16 Pointers on the Lesson The truth set forth in this lesson is one of the hardest for Christians to grasp. The fact that men are saved ab solutely by grace phis nothing seems too good to be true. Somehow man feels that there is something that he ought to do to help God out in the matter of his sal vation. He has been slow to realize that there is absolutely nothing that he can add to the redeeming work of Christ as the ground of his salvation. And so we see him adding baptism, the commun ion, church membership, and a host of other things as a means of getting to Heaven. But, though these things are im portant, none of them have anything to do with a person getting saved. It is not surprising that in the rapid growth of the early church there should have been some sharp differences on these matters, particularly between the Jewish Chris tians and newly-won Gentile Christians. The Beginning of Difficulty v. 1 Paul and Barnabas had preached sal vation at Antioch by grace only without adding the necessity of any Jewish cere
Solution of the Difficulty vv. 22-29
The first council of the church ended in happy agreement, adhering to the de cision of James (w . 19-21) to the ef fect that Gentiles who turn to God are not to be made to abide by the old Jew ish ceremonies. However, they were to be exhorted to abstain from doing those things following their salvation which would give offense. Thus a message was sent to the church at Antioch emphasiz ing the uselessness of circumcision in the matter of salvation (24). But certain instructions in expediency were sent to them in order that their testimony might be clear. The “ necessary things” of verse 28 refer not to salvation but to Christian conduct. Some things surely are neces sary for a consistent Christian life. Galatians 2:16 may be used as a sum mary of the main teaching of this lesson. Helps for the Children A Christian Answer Acts 15:6-27 Memory Verse: “The same Lord is Lord of all” (Bom. 10:12 A.R.V.).
Some of the Christians in Jerusalem thought that people of other churches who did not do everything just as they did were not true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church leaders met to talk about the problems of the Gentile BIOLA EVENING SCHOOL
SPR ING SEMESTER February 2 —June 1, 1950
Credit: All regular Evening School classes are given full credit to ward the Bible Institute diplo ma. Some special courses are offered for practical Christian workers with credit for the Evening School Certificate. In certain of the courses one may receive full credit toward the B .'A . degree of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. The Evangelical T e a c h e r Training Certificate is offered in connection with some of the courses. Angeles, Hue. LOS ANGELES 13, CALIFORNIA
Christian W o rk e r : If you are a Pastor, Church Officer, Church School Teacher, Song Director, Young People’s Leader, Club Counsellor, Work er in Child Evangelism, you may be helped by the Evening School of BIOLA. Exp en se s : There are no tuition fees. Registration fees are as follows: One evening $2.00 per semes ter; two evenings, $4.00 per semester; three evenings, $5.00
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION
per semester. TELEPHONE OR W R IT E EVENING SCHOOL, Bible Institute of Los 558 SO. HOPE STREET
J A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 0
Page Twenty-one
Made with FlippingBook HTML5