God's Sabbath

D ISPUTE R ESOLUTION

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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 15:7–11. The argument which Peter advanced proved to be completely effective, for the Scripture affirms that “the whole assembly be came silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.” Acts 15:12. What was the vital point in Peter’s argument which so quick ly settled the difficulty? He reasoned as follows: there is no need to dispute over solutions to our problem when God has already solved it. The Almighty has decided the matter for us, by giving the Holy Spirit with equal power to the uncircumcised Gentiles as to the circumcised Jews. Peter simply laid before them the principle that the delegates were not the decision makers or problem solvers in Christ’s body, the church. Therefore, it was not their business to be disputing over what they thought the answer should be. Their duty was to open their ears to the voice of the true Head of that church, to the answer He had already supplied. Those men and women in the early church were believers with strong faith and deep convictions. They loved the cause of God and wanted nothing so much as to see it prosper. But when they came together, their procedures were just as wrong as their forefathers’ had been at Kadesh, and they were just as blind to the fact. Valuable time was wasted in useless disputa tion, seeking a solution for problems God had already solved. How long this lasted is not recorded. The dispute could have continued for hours without their being any nearer to a solution than they were at the beginning, but when they desisted from this human procedure and listened to God’s voice, the answer was immediate. We can therefore divide the meeting of the great council in Jerusalem into two parts. The Holy Spirit’s Revelation