Subverting Your Soul
Good Morning,
Acts 15:24 “Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:”
The church in Antioch had some religious visitors from Jerusalem. These teachers were trying to convince those new converts that they needed to keep the law in order to be saved. Paul and a group of men from the church traveled from Antioch to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles.
Acts 15:11 “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”
The discussion was very simple; they determined that they were saved by faith through the grace of God. Keeping the law has nothing to do with salvation. The apostles wanted it to be very clear that Jews and Gentiles only get saved one way - by grace and without any works of the law.
Even today, plenty of these religious “Pharisees” still try to convince people that if they do not keep the law one cannot be truly saved.
For years, Catholics and many Protestants have taught that performing religious deeds is necessary for salvation. Sadly, many religious people are still including the works with salvation. If circumcision had nothing to do with salvation in the days of apostles, then none of the commandments have anything to do with salvation today. We are only saved by the grace of God.
Acts 15:5 “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
These people were Christians, but they were saved out of the life of a Pharisee - an original life of strict obedience to the law. They were completely convinced that the law was a necessary part of salvation. We will not debate whether these men were saved or not; God said they believed, and we will leave it at that. For us, it is important to realize that when people come from a strict religious life, they face the difficulty of simply walking away and trusting God by faith.
The Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, and others intimately tie their infant baptism to “the work of grace.“ Just as circumcision had nothing to do with the work of grace in the life of the New Testament believer, so the free gift of grace is all that is necessary to redeem a soul from sin - no matter which century.
I have heard people give all kinds of reasons for tying works to salvation. The question of how someone could be saved and not have a changed life has been asked repeatedly, but no one is willing to say how much of a change life. I have heard people also say that in order to be saved, one must turn from his sin; but then the question must be asked, “How much of their sin did they have to turn from?” How much sin can someone commit and still be saved? The answer is really not difficult to answer. John 3:16, Romans 10:13, 9-10, Act 16:3, and many others tell us that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ and the work that He accomplished on Calvary. That is it! There is no personal work required.
Paul made it very clear, salvation is by grace alone - no works of the law are a part of salvation.
Galatians 2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
We started in Acts 15:24: “…subverting your souls…” When someone adds works to salvation, he is “subverting your soul.” To paraphrase in our common language, it means, “Quit messing with the gift of eternal life! Jesus paid it all!”
Pastor