Letter from Jerusalem

Acts 15:23 “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers[c] who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you[d] with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”


This letter, sent from the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem, to the Gentile churches, gave practical advice about how Gentile believers should behave with regard to the influence of idolatry in their culture. While Gentile believers were not required to keep the Law of Moses, they were to respect God’s teaching for righteous conduct.


Apostle Paul teaches about this in his letter to the Roman believers, Rom 14, teaching that we should be concerned about how others believe regarding dietary rules, and be careful that we do not offend others for the sake of food and drink. Our concern for each other should be more important than what is lawful for us.


So from the beginning the peace and unity of the believer community (those who believe and follow Yeshua, Son of God, and Messiah) has been threatened by arguments about what is lawful.


Jesus prayed for unity among those who believe in Him. John 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Jesus’ prayer for unity focused on faith and love. From the beginning, the unity of believers has been disrupted by teachers focusing on what they know from a human perspective. Pride in human reasoning which led to division and apostasy violated the unity pleas of Jesus.

We need a return to Jerusalem, a fresh look at the teaching and unity that Jesus called for in His prayer. We need a letter from Jerusalem calling us back to the unity that is in Yeshua, the Messiah.

The Apostles are no longer physically living in Jerusalem, but we still have their teaching recorded in scripture. And God has sent His Holy Spirit to encourage His children, all who have been born again through the gospel of Jesus Christ, Yeshua Messiah.

This information age provides more access for knowing and communicating with each other. Can we use it to encourage each other to go back to Jerusalem, to look afresh at the unity that is in Jesus?