Acts 15 [The Message]

In the early church, the issue of whether or not to require the Gentiles to observe the Mosaic Law caused great contention, so much so that Paul traveled to Jerusalem to hash it out with the Church leadership council.

It all boiled down to this; does a believer become more God-like by observing external rituals such as circumcision, or does their faith work from the inside out directed by the life of Christ inside? We know that this occasion provided a big breakthrough in the doctrine of the Early Church. It was agreed that the external ritual of circumcision, or any requirement of the law, was not to be strictly imposed upon the Gentiles. Faith in Christ and water baptism were the essential criteria for salvation. [Mk. 16:16]

To this point, Paul would later say, “A jew is not one outwardly (external evidence), but one inwardly (internal Holy Spirit control.)