Observations about Disagreements in the Church from the Jerusalem Council
Every church has disagreements. How can I be so all-encompassing with a statement like this? Because every church has people in it. People disagree occasionally. As we see in the narrative below, every church does not have to have disagreeable people in it. But, all churches do have disagreements. This has been true since the first churches recorded in the Bible. Using the disagreements recorded in the early church from Acts 15, let me provide six brief observations.
Two Disagreements in Acts 15
A Disagreement on Theology
In Antioch, well-meaning Jews from the Church of Jerusalem showed up to visit for an extended time in order to help this newly founded church. Paul and Barnabas were back off their first missionary journey and in Antioch as well. Everything was going super fine in the Antioch church during this time. However, in an effort to help, these Jews from Jerusalem began teaching the Gentiles of Antioch that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised if they were going to be truly saved. Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them strongly, as they perceived rightly that this was a perversion of the Gospel. Therefore, the Antioch church sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to discuss the matter.
In Jerusalem, they discussed the matter as church leaders and determined: 1) There is no need for circumcision in order to be saved; and 2) The new Gentile Christians needed to self-limit their new Christian freedom in a few key areas.
Everyone was satisfied with this solution. They discussed it, agreed upon it, wrote a letter to the church at Antioch, sent Judas and Silas from their church to help deliver the letter (along with Paul and Barnabas), and all were pleased. The letter was delivered and read. Just as in Jerusalem, all were pleased. Judas returned to Jerusalem, and Silas determined to stay. All is well.
A Disagreement on Methodology
Paul and Barnabas continued on there worshiping, but soon were both burdened to make another trip to check on their initial churches and plant more of them. As they were discussing leaving for this newest journey, Barnabas determined to bring John Mark along, his cousin who had deserted them in Pamphilia during the first journey. However, Paul insisted that he did not come with them because of what happened on the first trip. Both had a point, both had good motives for wanting to travel, both were desiring God’s best for the churches, and both wanted something different. Luke describes the contention between them as sharp.
To settle this disagreement, they determined to part ways. Barnabas took John Mark and went to Cyprus to minister; Paul took Silas and went the other direction to do the same. Evidence from Paul’s multiple letters demonstrates that the four men maintained godly relationships. Paul highly regarded Barnabas, John Mark, and Silas.
Observations about Disagreements in the Church
1. God gave them discernment to care about what they ought to have cared about, and they handled the rest with grace.
Related to the doctrinal disagreement, they handled it with great care and detail. They worked with each other to determine truth. As a group, they put in the time and effort to get the issue resolved. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James, along with others, all worked together on coming to a proper resolution. Related to the disagreement on methodology, we seek to handle those with grace, listening to each other and determining best steps forward. We pray that God would grant us discernment, proper care, and loads of grace.
2. They handled it by the Word of God.
Technically, they did not handle it with God’s Word – instead they went to the authoritative sources. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James, Silas, Judas, and others in the church were Apostles and Prophets, who were the authorities. In our disagreements, in a similar way, we go to the Word of God as our authority. With great discernment and care we seek to understand truth and apply it well. Our prayer is that in all matters, we are first and foremost people of the Word.
3. They had similar motives just different ways to consider them.
In both disagreements, the Bible does not impugn anyone’s motives. The Jews from Jerusalem were teaching what they thought was right. Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them on biblical principle as well. The same with Barnabas and Paul. They both had a mind of how best to go visit the churches. Both wanted to visit the churches. Both wanted to see God’s work continue and grow. However, they had two different ways of considering how best to do that. Neither of them had axes to grind or poor motives for moving forward in ministry. In prayer we ought to carefully check our motives as well. In addition, we must begin by assuming the best about the other person’s motives with whom we disagree.
4. Luke does not say that any of them sinned.
Interesting, although Luke describes it as sharp contention, he does not describe any sin or specifically say that anyone sinned throughout either the first or second disagreements. Therefore, we do not want to assume that the sharp contention was sin. They had a strong disagreement, which meant they parted ways to handle it. John MacArthur suggests that Paul was right, and Barnabas was wrong – he describes it as the weight of the evidence. Maybe so. I am going with the fact that Luke does not describe any particular sin or outright say there was any. In this sense, our prayer should be that no matter what we think or what we want, we would be committed to not sinning regardless of our personal preferences.
5. They were all sensitive to the unity of the church.
Throughout this story, each person was sensitive to the unity of the church, seemingly. We do not know about those saved Jews who used to be Pharisees; however, once the theological disagreement was settled, we do not see them balking at it. In fact, seemingly every person in the chapter made a specific effort to maintain the unity of the church. It was with this goal in mind, they all moved toward godly resolutions to their disagreements – both theological and methodological. Our prayer should be that regardless of what we want or believe, we maintain sensitivity, and seek to maintain the unity of the church. The glory of God demands we seek to do such.
6. When disagreements do happen and choices are made, that each person would hope and pray for God’s best for the person with whom they disagree.
The Jews were corrected. Paul and Barnabas did split up. In both instances, not everyone got it their way. Usually, one person will get more of what he or she wanted than another. At times, you will be on the side who gets more of what they wanted; at times, you will be on the side who gets less of what they wanted. However, in both instances, you should graciously and humbly respond. One great way to respond in this way is to hope and pray for God’s best for the person with whom you disagreed. Pray that God would bless the other person, reward their choices, and continue to grow the other person in Christlikeness. When, like Paul and Barnabas, one person moves in a different way, accept those things and move forward for the glory of God. Pray for the other person and against any kind of pride or bitterness in your own heart. Ask God to help you see your own heart clearly, be sensitive to places of possible bitterness, and move forward in grace.
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