Acts 15 The Jerusalem Council

In having healthy "discussions" with Christians about the role of the Festivals (Leviticus 23) for believers in Yeshua, I am often directed to the "Jerusalem Council" in the 15th book of Acts, where I am told that it was decided that the Mosaic law was not expected from the Gentiles in walking out their faith. In fact, Acts 15 is often given as proof that the Torah, as the Old Testament Law is sometimes referred to, is not for the Gentiles. The judgement in verse 19 gives a brief overview of what was required by the Gentiles.

I have included a somewhat lengthy detailed paper by one of my favourite teachers named Tim Hegg. Don't let it scare you off. Get out your scriptures and follow along. It is called Acts 15 and The Jerusalem Council: Did they conclude that the Torah was not for Gentiles?

Also, I like to make note that most Act 15 readers stop at verses 19 & 20 when they present this incorrect interpretation of the Jerusalem Council. If you keep reading verse 21 it says "For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.". From that verse, one could conclude, that not only were the incoming Gentiles expected to be in the synagogue every Sabbath (not the Roman Catholic Sunday), they were going to hear the teachings of Moses (the Law/Instructions).

When I trained new waitress/waiters at Earls, way back when (cough,cough), we didn't allow them to head out to the tables to take orders on the first day. We trained them to "just do a few things" as the new employee got a feel for how Earl's operated. They were to have "shadowed" a trained waiter, until they understood the rules of being a waiter. There were lots of expectations for each new waiter, but certainly they were not expected to "know" all the rules on the first day. The "rules" of waitressing are not ones to bring legalism, but order and peace, safety and organization. Training usually took 1-2 weeks, or longer if the "new" waiter had no experience at all.

Doesn't this sound like a form of discipleship?

Please don't use Act 15 to support the "Torah ain't for us Gentiles" argument, unless you want to discuss it together, with the scriptures in hand.