TOPIC: A reader’s question arising from Acts 15:20 & 16:4,5
We might well ask whether there is a relationship between 1) the ‘legal QUARTET’ of FOUR Levitical purity requirements prescribed to the church in Acts 15:19,20; 2) the TEN WORDS of the Tablets of the Sinai Marriage Covenant; and 3) the weekly 7th day Sabbaths and the SEVEN related Holy Sabbatical Convocations in their THREE respective FEAST SEASONS (Gen 2:2,3; Ex 20:8-11; 23:10-17; Deut 16; Is 56:6; Matt 5:19; 12:8).
With this in mind, a reader asks:
Does Acts 16:4,5’s cross-reference to the FOUR RULINGS in Acts 15:20 as “decrees” (which Strong’s Concordance also defines as dogma, laws or ordinances) also INDIRECTLY refer to the Ten Commandments and the perpetual, blessed TIME-RELATED precepts – which include the WEEKLY Shabbat and ANNUAL Sabbaths – the “Holy Convocations” given to us forever, as practised in antiquity, and GROUNDED in observance of the Fourth Commandment, confirmed by the LORD and Paul in Word and deed? (Matt 5:19; Rom 3:31)
ANSWER:
Whether we know it or like it or not, there’s no question that BEHAVIOURAL CONSTRAINTS (some evidence of a circumcised heart/repentant lifestyle, at the very least) apply to acceptance of individuals for participation in the LORD’s set-apart Appointments (Holy Convocations/Sacred Assemblies/High Sabbaths) (Ex 12:48,49; Ps 24:3-6; 42:2,4; Rom 2:13,25-27).
It can be very dangerous taking the ‘holy ground’ of the uniquely sacred Sabbaths, lightly.
The sages warn us that the Divine Appointments are for those who have PURE hearts, not for those who SIMULATE (affect) having circumcised hearts (Deut 10:16-21; Jer 4:4; 9:24-26).
Undoubtedly, Acts 15:20, which pinpoints crucial ‘hygiene factors’ for a righteous walk, addresses this basic concern.
‘Basic’ in the sense that keeping the Ordained Appointments with our Holy Maker, to be “nourished on pure doctrine” in His Presence, and by feasting at HIS table (Ps 23), is the BASIS of covenant-keeping for the sanctification of TIME, within which everything else CREATED, exists.
Idolators, fornicators, the “effeminate” (who violate natural law) and others who fall under certain descriptions of unrighteousness, are unworthy of the most intimate spiritual fellowship.
Generally, God is patient with our spiritual growth (Is 48:9; 57:11b), covering our faltering steps with His Blood (lest we be destroyed) as we learn obedience under grace, but He draws a solid red line FROM DAY ONE, with “these NECESSARY things” in Acts 15:20.
Converts must have produced proof of repentance by having turned from ABOMINATIONS, or the Feasts themselves are polluted and the congregations, defiled.
It’s tempting to believe that salvation by grace entails accountability to no more than FOUR stipulations for righteous living.
However, SANCTIFICATION of spirit, soul and body (1 Thess 5:23) would be a feat, if there were so FEW precepts to lead us away from the REPROBATE nature of the first Adam, to the PURITY of the Last Adam which only heart circumcision and submission to the inward working of the Spirit (the grace which enables obedience to God’s holy requests of us), can accomplish.
We would not be stretching the truth by alleging that in the mind of Messiah are the following riders:
Acts 15:24
“…to whom we gave no such commandment (for your RECONCILIATION and INNOCENCE to be reinstated)”
‘ “But now ye have been made clean through the Word,” “if you love Me” you will follow-on to know Me by learning and doing My commandments’
Jn 14:15,21-24; 15:3-15; 1 Jn 2:3-6
Neither Y’shua-Jesus nor Paul ever knew or kept what we call Sun day as anything but “Yom Rishon,” the head or “first day of the week” (“day the first”), the resumption of the work-week after Shabbat, which dates from the beginning of time according to the pattern of the week of Creation.
The Saviour and His chief Apostle to the Gentiles would have been regarded as having uncircumcised ears and hearts (Jer 4:4; 6:10), had they confessed and acted differently, thereby following a different gospel.
Due to Y’shua being “LORD, even of Shabbat,” the “everlasting covenantal sign” of “all power/authority in heaven and earth” vested in Him over the redeemed (Ex 31:13,16; Matt 28:18), Shabbat is symbolically the THRESHOLD of Y’shua as the “Door” (Jn 10:9,10), which we pass over through the Doorway (i.e. “in Christ”) to “go in (enter Shabbat for total rest) and out (into the secular world) to FIND pasture” after the weekly close of Shabbat, by walking after the Spirit IN but not OF the world from sunset Saturday to mid afternoon Friday.
In other words, labouring VIRTUOUSLY during the six days APPOINTED for work, to establish testimony, and thereby, reputation for the covenant and our covenant-keeping God (Deut 7:9-15; 8:18).
So to characterize Shabbat as anything other than a core axiom of the faith, would be SEDITIOUS DISINFORMATION.
Logically, Shabbat (the inception of “the Way” in Gen 2:2,3) is the first of “the first ways of…David” and is therefore undeniably, at the front of the “first works (of righteousness)” which will be used to evaluate our loyalty to Y’shua as our “Firstlove,” since our salvation is “the sure mercies of David” (2 Chr 17:3-6; Is 55:1-5; Acts 10:35; 13:32-39; Rev 2:4,5).
Just a glance at Is 58:13,14 (14 especially) should convince us that attainment of the promise of ABUNDANT life in Jn 10:10 is heavily dependent on NOT DISOWNING the Biblical, seventh day Sabbath.
Rev 2:4,5 describes Ephesus’ serious spiritual condition, due to estranging themselves from Paul’s MESSIANIC teaching (Rom 3:31).
Amongst all the procedural principles ignored or renounced by the church, misuse of Sun day as an imposter for Shabbat, is the most serious disruption of the Biblical blueprint for the unhindered flow of grace.
Given the number of references to Shabbat in Acts (none of which refer to the first day of the week), it’s inconceivable that Paul, Timothy and Titus would not have affirmed the church in Shabbat-keeping.
No-one can read Ex 20 and Deut 5 and claim Sun day is the seventh day of Scripture (just consider the weekday order, as historically defined in any reputable dictionary), without displaying evidence of a profoundly unscrupulous streak.
Those who follow Rome’s rejection of the Ten Commandments by their denial of Shabbat (according to Scripture, denying even one is repudiation of all), by choosing Sun day over Shabbat as an ‘ecclesiastical innovation,’ show YHVH that they are NOT taking His command seriously, to submit to His Spirit to write His laws on their hearts, to serve them with their minds (Prov 7:1-3; Rpm 7:22,25; Heb 8:8-12; 10:16).
This failure is ultimate proof that they are neither being led by the Spirit (Rom 8:4,14) nor obeying His Son (Heb 5:9), through Whom the Spirit of Holiness originally blessed and set apart the Genesis Frid sunset to Sat sunset Shabbat, as the EVERLASTING covenantal sign between redeemed man and the Creator-Redeemer God of the Hebrews, as well as to Principalities and Powers (Ex 31:13,16; Eph 3:1-10), that they are adopted, by grace, in the eternal House of Jacob which our Master Y’shua will rule forever (Is 14:1; 45:4; 54:3; 55:5; Lk 1:33; Acts 5:32; Rom 7:22,25 – 8:14; 11:17-29).
The grace we partake of with Paul for the “defence and confirmation” of the Gospel and therefore, for the defence and confirmation of the sanctified and blessed Holy Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment (Ex 20:8-11; Is 56:6; 58:13,14; 66:22-24), the first and holiest commandment prepared for and given to man (Gen 2:2,3; Mk 2:27,28; Heb 4:1-6,9-11), is FUNDAMENTAL to our high vocation of holiness, which is to be “valiant for the truth” (Jer 9:3), to testify to and walk in “all truth,” to keep and defend “the one faith,” by the truth being our witness – “to have a good testimony from ALL [who’ve ever walked righteously, as the narrow path demands] AND indeed, from THE TRUTH ITSELF,” that we are “manifestly a letter from the Messiah” (neither adding nor subtracting anything from “the Way”) and therefore a seal of Paul’s apostleship (certifying by our example that he both lived and taught all the truth) (Acts 20:25-32; Phil 1:6,7; 1 Cor 9:1-3; 2 Cor 3:2,3; Eph 4:1-4; 2 Tim 4:3-8; 3 Jn 1:3,4,12; Jude vs 3; Rev 14:6,7,12; 22:14,15,18,19).
We can safely assume that the Acts 15:19-24 table fellowship Regulations/ “Judgments” (“mishpatim in Hebrew which the KJV describes as “decrees”) AND the “Ketubah” (Marriage Covenant) of Ten indivisible Words (Ex 34:27,28,32) and the Seven Holy Convocations (which are extensions of the weekly Shabbat), are JOINTLY foundational doctrine originally kept by all converts (Jude vs 3), as historical records prove conclusively.
The Spirit has QUEUED our heavenly Father’s instructions, for us to encounter and learn to apply them “line by line, precept by precept, here a little there a little,” to mature in obedience to live a sanctified life, wholly in the light, in the full stature of the spotless Lamb of God (Is 28:9-13; Eph 4:12-14,23,24; 1 Thess 5:23; 1 Jn 1-3).
Acts 15:20 is at the FOOT of the ladder of sanctification by being at the HEAD of that queue (priority-wise), along with the Ten Words which include Shabbat, the principal and holiest time-related precept.
Acts 15:20 is not a ‘new,’ liberating mini-Torah as many believers suppose, but a specimen summary of behaviours that are an ABOMINATION to the LORD. Verse 20 barely scratches the surface of what full consecration to the will of YHVH entails (Matt 6:10; 12:50; 28:20; Col 4:12b).
For anyone seriously enquiring after truth, in less than a couple of minutes, a comparison of Acts 15:20 with 1 Cor 5:7-12; 6:9-20 & Eph 5:2-18 will reveal that the contents of Acts 15:20 can’t possibly be the final word on obedience.
If we insist on holding that view, we’ll subvert our souls by deceiving ourselves (“oppose ourselves” as in 2 Tim 2:19-26), and will find it impossible to meet the test of doing “NOTHING AGAINST the truth” (2 Cor 13:5,8).
To put it bluntly, it’s the false gospel of “THE WILL OF THE GENTILES” (dictates of the flesh; rulings of the nations; commandments and doctrines of men; human tradition) (Col 2:8,20,22) which insists that grace now OVERRIDES duties and obligations of sonship, instead of providing the holy power to FACILITATE our full obedience.
Acts 15:20 becomes a fetish (an object of irrational reverence) and a rather dumb rule of thumb to apostates (wilfully ignorant defectors to a different gospel) who haven’t the common sense, let alone the wisdom, to consult the rest of the Bible to grasp how challenging its call is to absolute purity through the obedience of sacrificial living as proof of love (1 Jn 5:2&3), beginning with the principles taught in the Sermon on the Mount.
There are no shortcuts to purification of a bride, and purification, essential to our perfection (Col 1:28,29), is impossible without delighting in the Father’s Instruction (Matt 5:48; 12:50).
That means that recusants (those who obstinately refuse to be conformed to sound doctrine, to be conformed to the image of the Messiah), will hope in vain for a good expected end (Prov 24:13,14).
It’s obvious no Jewish Apostle or protege of Jesus’ Apostles would have press-ganged newly believing Gentiles into a PAGAN mold.
There was no semblance of a Sun day ‘sabbath’ ’till the official apostasy in 321AD and 325AD, which arrogantly overruled the weekly Biblical Sabbath and the Passover Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matt 12:8; Lk 22:1,16-18; 1 Cor 5:7,8).
Early believers, under more or less direct instruction by the Apostles, would all have known that “the seventh day” is the one and only Shabbat; and the three Pilgrim Feasts, the infrastructure for our complete sanctification (Ex 23:10-17; Deut 16; 1 Thess 5:23), for all generations who would join themselves to Israel by faith, to cleave to THEIR God, the one and only God (Ex 23:17; Deut 4:39,40; Is 14:1; 56:6-8; Zech 12:1; Jn 10:16).
It boggles the mind how anyone could keep a straight face trumpeting Acts 15:20, while denouncing ANY of the Ten Words, which were given “in commandmenT” (as “the commandment to keep the commandmentS” – Ex 34:32; Deut 30:10,11; 2 Jn vs 5&6) as the overall benchmark for holy living.
Take a look at Deuteronomy 4:13&14 for confirmation:
Those 4 Acts 15:20 “Judgments” (wise determinations on how to live Godly lives in community, especially in the intimacy of table fellowship), FOLLOW-ON (vs 14) from observance of the pillar-like, immutable Ten Words (vs 13), now to be transferred by the Spirit of Truth from stone Tablets and written on the fleshy tablets of our hearts, to be found in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle of our flesh, now the Temple of the Spirit, or our standing as disciples of truth and righteousness is questionable (2 Cor 3:3; Heb 10:16).
Anyone who imagines that these four ‘collateral’ (concurrent/concomitant but subordinate) Levitical PURITY requirements (which would have been in “the SIDE of the Ark” alongside the Tablets – Deut 31:24-26; Acts 15:20), TRANSCEND and SUPERCEDE the Ten Pronouncements which we call commandments, which are the cornerstone of righteous civilization, in the LORD, has taken leave of his or her senses.
Colloquial English words have been substituted for peculiar Hebrew terms in many passages in most translations, but the purpose and effect is the same. The Instruction (Torah) of our God (Rom 2:13; 3:31; 8:4,6,7; James 1:22-25; 2:12) is our heritage of Instruction too (Deut 33:4; Rom 3:20; 7:7,12-16,22,25; 1 Tim 1:8-11), to learn to reverentially fear God and delight in His ways (Deut 5:29; Ps 1; 19:7-13; 40:7,8; 119; Rom 7:22), to help us understand what our Father regards as the immoveable BOUNDARIES of acceptable behaviour, for US to be “offerings acceptable in word and deed” (Deut 33:4; Rom 3:31; 12:1,2; 15:16-18).
Whether Paul travelled with Timothy (Acts 16:1-5), or Timothy and others travelled without Paul, it’s easy to prove that many Scriptures such as Rom 3:31; 12:1-21 &13:1-14 & 14:1-23; 1 Cor 4:17; 7:19; 8:4; 11:1,2; 2 Cor 2:9; Phil 2:12,13; Col 3; 4:12 describe far more than a set of instructions fewer than the fingers of one hand.
So yes, “decrees” in Acts 16:4,5, while specifically identifying Acts 15:20 as their primary context, also encompass all other “sayings” which have Divine legal weight as the Father’s Instruction, under classifications such as commandments (Matt 12:50; Jn 8:51,52; 14:15; 1 Cor 7:19; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 5:2&3; 2 Jn vs 5&6), ordinances (1 Cor 11:1,2) and “traditions” (2 Thess 2:15 – specifically Shabbat, Passover, Shavuo’t/Pentecost and the Fall Feasts).
1 Cor 7:19; 11:1,2 also cross-reference TRADITIONS (which are YHVH’s Personal “Testimonies” in Ps 119:111; 2 Thess 2:15) which are either commandments or ordinances – decreed as institutions of the faith, in perpetuity (e.g. Ex 12:14,17,23).
Shabbat is both a commanded everlasting covenant in its own right (Ex 31:13,16; Is 56:6; Matt 12:8) and an intensely holy tradition, and both Shabbat & Passover which are thematically related (Deut 5:15), are encompassed by the term “ordinance” in Is 24:5 (Rome having changed both, to subversively and illegitimately swap Sun day and Easter for Shabbat and Passover).
Shabbat is our STATUTORY PROTECTION, as the great covenantal sign of our separation from the world and sanctification “in Jacob,” in Christ as ruler forever of the House of Jacob on David’s Throne (Gen 28:14; Is 9:6,7; Mk 11:10; Lk 1:32,33; Rev 21:12).
As the sages say, God keeps those who ‘Shema’ (Hear & heed) the two-fold command to “remember” AND to “observe” (keep, guard, treasure) Shabbat’s unique sanctity, to keep it INTACT (Is 58:13,14).
The Feast High Sabbaths are NO LESS HOLY than the weekly Shabbat because their ‘gravitas’ hinges on the sanctity of Shabbat as the UNDERLYING testimony of the IDENTITY of the God of the Hebrews as Creator-Redeemer (Ex 20:8-11; Deut 5:12-15); and their STATURE is significantly MAGNIFIED by the knowledge of the glory of the accomplishments of YHVH describes to us for advanced instruction in the covenant, in the additional testimonies that each Feast and its unique Sabbaths (two for Passover; one for Shavuo’t/Pentecost; four for the Fall Feast season) represents.
The weekly and Feast Sabbaths JOINTLY proclaim the reasons why the God of Israel is the one and only true, wise, living God (Deut 4:39; Is 44:24) Who alone warrants mankind’s repentance, total trust, loyalty, reverence and the highest praises (Acts 20:21; Zech 14:9).
The only reason given by the sages for the weekly Sabbath having greater weight is, they say, due to there being 52 of them, which is an artful deduction!
That rationale can be effortlessly flipped by inferring from the uniqueness of each once-off High Sabbath, that each of them is greater than any one weekly Sabbath.
But these are moot points.
The truth is that one cannot make an argument that would justify considering the seven special annual Sabbaths any LESS holy and less BINDING upon us, than the weekly Shabbat.
This is truly treasure hidden for us in Christ Col 2:2,3
It’s given to “comfort” and “knit us together in love” in Him as the Hebrew “one new man,” Jacob-Yeshurun, corporately keeping the original, perpetual Appointments, as His true witnesses (Deut 33:5,26; Is 44:1-8; 56:6; Lk 1:33; Matt 12:8).
The sages teach that it can be derived from Scripture (e.g. Gen 26:5) that all three fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob kept Shabbat (Melchizedek ministered bread and wine and blessed Abraham, God’s friend, when he returned from war to REST).
Noah’s priestly firstborn son Shem, extremely long-lived, was alive and quite likely ministered Torah to Abram, the next elect ‘saviour’ of the world (hence Gen 26:5), who like Noah (the “preacher of righeousness” through whom civilization was rebooted as it will be again after the Final Judgment, through Y’shua as the Seed of Abraham – Gal 3:16) and later, Moses, was a type of Messiah our Deliverer and living proof of the holiness of Torah instruction in righteousness (2 Tim 3:14-17).
After all, who can argue that Abram did not take Gen 17:1 seriously, to BE Abraham, father (of the PERFECTED faith) of many nations? (James 1:22-25; 2:12,4-26)
That’s evidently how Abraham Isaac and Jacob prepared themselves, through many trials, to be in the bride (Matt 8:11,12), or there’d be no “Abraham’s bosom” to which to go after death.
To be exact, one really should add this:
James 2:21-23, which refers to Gen 15:4-6 & 22:1-18, refers specifically to “obeyed My VOICE” in Gen 26:5, but note, the rest of the categories of faith for faithfulness in Gen 26:5 (namely, “charge, commandments, statutes and laws”) apply equally to James 1:22-25 & 2:12
CONCLUSION:
Acts 16:4,5 “established the churches in the faith” because while appearing to be a limited reference to Acts 15:20, we should infer from the full counsel that it actually describes the comprehensive ongoing Apostolic training in righteousness in “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:25-32) that was taking place from region to region, since the PREPARATORY, “necessary” RULINGS for new converts in Acts 15:20 (to help set the standard for holiness) are mere spiritual milk.
Its four requirements, important as they are, are amongst the ELEMENTARY precepts included in Is 28:9-13’s reference to “the Way,” spiritual MILK from which we are to be weaned, to progress to maturity in the doctrine that distinguishes the faith into which we’ve adopted, from all other systems of belief (Lk 20:21; Eph 4:12-14,23,24).
Heb 5:11-14; 6:1-12 urge us to advance beyond elementary principles by heeding Is 28:9-13, to learn our entire covenant (Heb 13:20,21), to be sure to be fully pleasing to our King, and besides, have the joy of experiencing the “glorious liberty” and “rest and refreshing” which walking lawfully after the Spirit, to be “dead with Y’shua” to sin (Rom 7:25-8:23; 2 Tim 2:5,11), promises to the faithful who keep themselves “undefiled in the Way,” to remain in Y’shua’s love, abiding in the Vine, honoured to have HIM call us His “friends” (Ps 119:1,45; Jn 14:15,21-24; 15:3-15; 1 Cor 3:17; 2 Cor 7:1,2; 2 Tim 2:20,21; 1 Jn 3:3)
