In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council recommended the following things for the gentile believers:
- That they were not required to be circumcised
- Nor required to keep the ceremonial law
- That they abstain from meats offered to idols
- And from blood
- And from things strangled
- And from fornication
So the question is, are these the only laws they were required to obey? What about “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” etc.? Were the gentiles still required to obey these as well? Yes, of course! Paul continued to teach the gentiles that they were to keep the law of God throughout his lifetime.
This was in accordance with the conclusion of the Jerusalem council – “For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.” In other words, the gentiles were still required to obey the laws God had given through Moses, but they didn’t need to be reminded of these things because they would hear the law of Moses being read every Sabbath when they went to the Synagogue. So there was no need to remind them of that, but these gentile converts did have a number of customs that were diametrically opposed to the laws of God, which they may have a hard time giving up, and these must be especially dealt with by the Jerusalem Council. (See AA 191 for the following quotes)
- “Many of the Gentile converts were living among ignorant and superstitious people who made frequent sacrifices and offerings to idols. The priests of this heathen worship carried on an extensive merchandise with the offerings brought to them, and the Jews feared that the Gentile converts would bring Christianity into disrepute by purchasing that which had been offered to idols, thereby sanctioning, in some measure, idolatrous customs.”
- “The Gentiles were accustomed to eat the flesh of animals that has been strangled.”
- “The Gentiles…practiced catching the blood that flowed from the sacrificial victim and using it in the preparation of food.”
- “The Gentiles, and especially the Greeks, were extremely licentious.”
Therefore it was necessary to give very specific directions to the gentile believers not to do these things which in the past they had been so accustomed to doing. This is why the Jerusalem Council gave such explicit directions about these particular laws from the books of Moses. These directions do not exclude the rest of the laws which God had given. However, the other laws did not need to be repeated by the Jerusalem Council because the gentiles would hear the books of Moses being read every Sabbath in the Synagogues.
The following quote from “Acts of the Apostles” gives a good summary of all that we have said.
“The Gentile converts…were to give up the customs that were inconsistent with the principles of Christianity. The apostles and elders therefore agreed to instruct the Gentiles by letter to abstain from meats offered to idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood. They were to be urged to keep the commandments and to lead holy lives. They were also to be assured that the men who had declared circumcision to be binding were not authorized to do so by the apostles.” {AA 195}
What about the feast days?
The feast days were one of the laws that the gentiles would hear read from the books of Moses every Sabbath. So the Jerusalem Council did not need to repeat God’s command to keep them, just like they did not need to repeat the Sabbath command, or any of the other Ten Commandments. The people would hear these repeated every week at the Synagogue.
What laws did the Jerusalem Council quote?
I want to just make a side note here. Some people think that we no longer need to keep any of what they call “the laws of Moses.” They believe we only need to obey the Ten Commandments. It is absolutely true that we must keep the Ten Commandments, but it is interesting to note that the laws which the Jerusalem Council specifically commanded the gentiles to obey are not found in the Ten Commandments. They are found in the other laws in the books of Moses. These laws are called the statutes and judgments.
The fact the the Council is quoting these laws shows us the importance of these statutes and judgments written in the books of Moses. The statutes and judgments were given to guard and explain the far-reaching principles of the Ten Commandments (PP 310). The New Testament writers understood this, and that is why you will find them referring to these laws from the books of Moses so often (1 Cor 6:8-10; Gal 5:19-21; James 3; Rev 21:8). Therefore we must keep all of God’s laws – the Ten Commandments, and the statutes and judgments – just like the New Testament Church did.
And remember that Ellen White includes the feasts as part of the statutes and judgments (PP 310-311), which she says we are still under obligation to obey (RH May 6, 1875). So we should not think they are part of the ceremonial law if Ellen White and the Bible both place them with the statutes and judgments.
“The minds of the people, blinded and debased by slavery and heathenism, were not prepared to appreciate fully the far-reaching principles of God’s ten precepts. That the obligations of the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced, additional precepts were given, illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments. These laws were called judgments [or, in some places, “statutes and judgments”], both because they were framed in infinite wisdom and equity and because the magistrates were to give judgment according to them. Unlike the Ten Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses, who was to communicate them to the people….[many of the judgments written in Exodus 21-23 are quoted and explained by Ellen White]…Again the people were reminded of the sacred obligation of the Sabbath. Yearly feasts were appointed, at which all the men of the nation were to assemble before the Lord, bringing to Him their offerings of gratitude and the first fruits of His bounties. The object of all these regulations was stated: they proceeded from no exercise of mere arbitrary sovereignty; all were given for the good of Israel. The Lord said, “Ye shall be holy men unto Me”–worthy to be acknowledged by a holy God.
“These laws were to be recorded by Moses, and carefully treasured as the foundation of the national law, and, with the ten precepts which they were given to illustrate, the condition of the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel.” {PP 311}
“They were not shadowy types to pass away with the death of Christ. They were to be binding upon man in every age as long as time should last. These commands were enforced by the power of the moral law, and they clearly and definitely explained that law.” {RH May 6, 1875}