The previous two weeks we have looked at Acts 15, the social issues surrounding Jews and non-Jews in the first century, and the original version of the edict—a prohibition of meat sacrificed to idols, forbidden sexual unions, and murder. We turn our attention today, in our final installment, to an often-overlooked aspect of the Apostolic decree, the inclusion of Gentiles, and the redemption of Israel.
Redemption within ancient Judaism was both political-national and spiritual. National liberty enabled Israel to worship God as he desired and commanded in the Torah. The question arose within ancient Judaism how redemption would come. Some embraced a militant activism in which they turned to the sword to overthrow Roman rule over the land of Israel. God alone was Israel’s king, and those who embraced this ideology felt it their duty to use militarism in the service of Judaism. Others believed God divided time into periods, and he foreordained the end of the age. He even foreordained the present wicked age in which they found themselves. These groups embraced an apocalyptic passivism in which they waited for God’s determined end, and often isolated during the present evil age. A third stream of thought identified Israel’s disobedience as the cause for Roman rule. They called people to repent and live piously believing God would respond to their piety and repentance by bringing redemption. These embraced a redemptive activism in which repentance brought redemption. It is out of this third stream of thought we find the idea of the kingdom of God (Heaven). Jesus and his movement primarily belonged to this third stream of redemptive thought, in which acts of piety and repentance brought redemption.
Redemption within ancient Judaism was both political-national and spiritual.
At the heart of the proclamation of Jesus’ movement was the conviction that God was fulfilling his redemptive promises to Israel’s fathers through Jesus; the end of the age has dawned, the redemption of Israel and the appearance of the kingdom of God has come. Certain ancient Jewish traditions expected, as part of Israel’s redemption, the Gentiles would turn from their idols, attach themselves to the God of Israel, yet remain Gentiles (see Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4). The author of the book of Tobit (probably written in the 3rd century BC) imagined the redemption of Israel as the ingathering of its exiles, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the Gentiles turning from their idols to the God of Israel:
“But God will again have mercy on them, and God will bring them back into the land of Israel; and they will rebuild the temple of God, but not like the first one until the period when the times of fulfillment shall come. After this they all will return from their exile and will rebuild Jerusalem in splendor; and in it the temple of God will be rebuilt, just as the prophets of Israel have said concerning it. Then the nations in the whole world will all turn and worship God in truth. They will all abandon their idols, which deceitfully have led them into their error; and in righteousness they will praise the eternal God. All the Israelites who are saved in those days and are truly mindful of God will be gathered together; they will go to Jerusalem and live in safety forever in the land of Abraham, and it will be given over to them. Those who sincerely love God will rejoice, but those who commit sin and injustice will vanish from all the earth” (Tobit 14:5-7; emphasis added).
Jewish tradition connected the universal appearance of God’s kingdom and reign to the uprooting of idolatry:
“When will the name of these people [the Amalekites] perish? In the hour when idolatry is uprooted together with the idolaters and the Omnipresent will be unique [i.e., worshipped exclusively] in the world and his Kingdom (מלכותו) will be [established] forever and ever. In that hour, ‘The Lord will go out and wage war’ (Zech. 14:3), ‘and the Lord will be king [over all the earth, and on that day the Lord will be one, and His name one] (Zech. 14:9)’” (Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael on Ex. 17:14).
The conviction of Jesus’ followers that God’s redemption of Israel had begun coincides with their stipulation of Gentile avoidance meat sacrificed to idols. For the followers of Jesus in Acts 15, rejection of idolatry for non-Jews was obvious. Gentiles could not worship idols or participate in idolatry and have any part in Jesus’ community or hope of redemption. At the same time, the Gentiles turning from their idols to the God of Israel and rejecting the moral impurity Judaism associated with idolatry, which included eating the meat offered to the idols, forbidden sexual unions, and murder, would hasten God’s final redemption and the appearance of his reign. The Apostolic decree did not merely offer a means where Jew and non-Jew could share fellowship within Jesus’ movement; it provided actionable behavior for the non-Jews, which could hasten the end.
Scattered among ancient Jewish sources we find repeated mention of the three actions of the Apostolic decree tied to God’s judgement or non-judgment of people. Its appearance suggests the doing of these behaviors brings judgment while the avoidance brings safety (salvation).
The book of Jubilees, written in the early 2nd century BC, attributed the three sins of idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder as the cause of the Flood. These sins brought universal destruction. Implicit within this statement, lies the assumption that the avoidance of these would have made humanity safe.
“And in the twenty-eighth jubilee Noah began to command his grandsons with ordinances and commandments and all of the judgments which he knew. And he bore witness to his sons so that they might do justice and cover the shame of their flesh and bless the one who created them and honor father and mother, and each one love his neighbor and preserve themselves from fornication and pollution and from all injustice. For on account of these three the Flood came upon the earth. For (it was) because of the fornication which the Watchers, apart from the mandate of their authority, fornicated with the daughters of men and took for themselves wives from all whom they chose and made a beginning of impurity…And everyone sold himself in order that he might do injustice and pour out much blood, and the earth was full of injustice. And afterward, they sinned against beasts, and birds and everything which moves or walks upon the earth. And they poured out much blood upon the earth. And all the thoughts and desires of men were always contemplating vanity and evil. And the LORD blotted out everything from the face of the earth on account of the evil of their deeds. And on account of the blood which they poured out in the midst of the land, he blotted out everything” (Jubilees 7:20-25; emphasis added).
Rabbi Yohanan ben Torta identified idolatry, sexual immorality, and bloodshed as the cause of the destruction of the Temple of Solomon: “On what account was Shiloh destroyed?...As to Jerusalem’s first building [First Temple], on what account was it destroyed? Because of the idolatry, sexual immorality, and bloodshed which was in it” (t. Menahot 13:22). Implicit within his statement, if the people had not participated in these practices, destruction would not have come.
The sages saw God’s judgment upon the nations coming because their practice of idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder, as well as their treatment of Israel:
“God showed the nations of the world how dear the children of Israel were to him, in that he himself went before them so that the nations should treat them with respect. But it is not enough that they do not treat them with respect, they even put them to death in all sorts of cruel and strange ways. In accordance with this it says: ‘I will gather all nations, and will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat’ (Joel 4:2). One might think that this is to be on account of their practices of idolatry, of sexual immorality, and murder, but it says: ‘For my people and my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the nations’ (Joel 4:2). It also says: ‘Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land’ (Joel 4:19). At that time ‘Judah shall be inhabited forever…And I will hold as innocent their blood that I have not held as innocent.’ When will this be? When ‘the Lord dwells in Zion’ (Joel 4:20-21)” (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael on Exodus 13:22).
An anonymous statement attributes the cause of exile to the triad of idolatry, forbidden sexual unions, and murder: “Exile comes upon the world because of idolatry, sexual immorality, bloodshed, and the [neglect of the year of] release” (m. Avot5:9). The combination of these three with neglect of the “year of release” is interesting. Sabbatical years (Leviticus 25:2-7), the year of release (Deuteronomy 15:1-15), and jubilees (Leviticus 25:8-13) often provided a chronological framework for ideas and hopes of redemption within ancient Judaism. The ascription of exile as a result of these three prohibitions with neglect of the year of release carries the assumption that avoiding those actions and observing the year of release will bring redemption and return from exile.
The Apostolic decree did not merely offer a means where Jew and non-Jew could share fellowship within Jesus’ movement; it provided actionable behavior for the non-Jews, which could hasten the end.
The turning of the nations to the God of Israel was not a passive event for Jesus’ followers. It was part of their mission, which would bring the redemption of Israel. Paul viewed the obedience of non-Jews to the moral ethics of Judaism, without converting to Judaism, as a sign to Israel, which would lead to its repentance and bring about the end of the age, the redemption of Israel (Romans 9-11). The decree of Acts 15 served as a common ground of relationship between Jews and non-Jews within Jesus’ community, and it also carried with it redemptive hopes.
This has been a very helpful series of articles. Thank you.