New Covenant Believing
Acts 15:6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
The church was young and the main hub of it was still at Jerusalem. But it had at least began to spread due to the persecution that arose in Jerusalem. So the church at Antioch had experienced being troubled by well meaning but very wrong men from Judea who insisted Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law. Paul contended with these men fiercely opposing their view fo the gospel. So the Antioch church sent Paul and Barnabas to the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem for a verdict concerning this dispute.
After hearing Paul and Barnabas testify about how the Lord had been using them and doing miracles, signs and wonders through their ministry they worked to reach a final verdict that still remains in force to this day. In reaching that verdict and writing a letter to the Gentile churches Peter offered the line of thought I shared at the beginning of this encouragement to be considered.
“Why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?”
They settled that salvation is purely by grace through faith in Jesus. It is the same for everyone Jew or Gentile. This New Covenant work of Jesus that brings us such a great salvation is made real through faith in Him and nothing else. The Promise of the Holy Spirit is received in the same manner through faith. It is all built of the favor of God coming to us simply by believing in Jesus. It not any more complicated than that.
This is the wonderful beauty of the New Covenant. It does not come with unreasonable demands that the flesh is too weak to keep. It doesn’t come as a proof of how unrighteous man is. It comes with proof of how generous and righteous the Son fo God is and how freely He offers the opportunity of being made righteous through Him.
You now have a righteousness you could never earn no matter how good you might try to be. It is God’s own righteousness and it has granted you favor with God unlike anything ever experienced by mankind at anytime. You get to revel in a relationship with God as His beloved child now! I sincerely hope you are taking full advantage of such a great opportunity to daily have access to your Father who loves you and is faithful to you. Jesus did it all! He left nothing undone that needed to be done for this New Covenant to work perfectly all the time. You are brought in and kept by the same means. Isn’t Father, Son and Spirit wonderful?! Oh praise His name!
