Acts 15 "Testing God"

Acts 15 – Brandon Hatmaker “Testing God”
Thursday, May 1, 2008

“Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." Acts 15:10-11

Specifically Peter was talking about whether or not the Gentile believers should be circumcised, which was not only Jewish custom but was Jewish law. But in his answer, Peter was dealing with anything that was about the law and certainly anything that was more about the religion of old than it was relationship with Christ. It would make sense that it was the believers who once belonged to the party of the Pharisees, who raised this question. But it was certainly keeping with the Old Covenant, not the New.

Peter says that they were “testing” God by raising this question. Some translations use the word “tempt”. The word used here for “test” is the Greek word peirazo. Which comes from the word peira which means a test in it’s purest form, peirazo means more objectively to scrutinize or to examine.

What were they scrutinizing? Peter said they were testing God’s provision. While they did have faith, I think this group of believers was having a tough time grasping the completeness of Christ. Maybe they struggled in understanding fully his Grace. Maybe they were held by their tradition a little too much. Maybe they still wondered if could the Grace alone really be enough? Whether their minds or their hearts were really asking this question, their words and their actions certainly were. We do that today as well.

Peter quickly gave perspective and reminder that none of them could bear the yoke of the law. Paul later taught that the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression (Rom. 4:14-15). Why then would they force this upon a new generation of believers?

I think we should all take note of how we do faith. In laymen’s terms, we should evaluate our “religion” or how we “do” church. So many things are shaped by tradition more than scripture. So many traditions and beliefs are guarded as holy but are rules taught by men, rather than God.

Jesus most certainly addressed our bent to do this in Mark 7 when he said, “…you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

I pray that we do not place the yoke of the law (as discussed by Peter) around others, especially those young in their faith or those seeking the grace that Christ offers. I pray that we do not place the yoke of the law around ourselves. There is a huge difference between this and the pursuit of holiness. I pray that we trust the grace of Christ enough to know that it is “for freedom’s sake that we are set free”. We can never do enough. It’s a terrible cycle to get into thinking or even hoping we can (or at least, pay God back a little). Even worse, it lessons the cross of it’s significance. Jesus said, “It is finished”. It really is.

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” – John 1:17

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1

“Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." – Galatians 3:11