By Allen J. Huth, President of the Ezra Project |
In Acts 15, leaders of the early church face arguments, disagreements, and dissension; however, they resolve their differences.
How do we handle such uncomfortable situations from a biblical perspective? Acts 15 gives us some good ideas, some tips, and a good example. The major question facing the early church was, do newly converted Gentiles need to adhere to the long-standing Jewish laws and customs? A big question. How did they resolve this very contentious issue?
From Acts 15, I come up with six steps to deal with arguments, disagreements, and dissension:
1. Gather together. Face each other when you have issues, “The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter” (v. 6).
2. Air it out. Debate the issue, “And after there had been much debate” (v. 7). They had a long discussion. They got their issues on the table.
3. Listen to each other. They listened to all sides of the arguments, “But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses’” (v. 5). That certainly was one side of the argument. Peter, one of the leaders, stood up and presents another side:
Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will (vv. 7-11).
By the way, verse 11 is the key to the argument, “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” Also, listen to evidence. Paul and Barnabas related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
4. Look to the Word. After Paul and Barnabas finished speaking, James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, the brother of Jesus, speaks up. James quotes the Word of God in his argument, quoting Amos.
5. Come to one accord. They agreed on a course of action, “it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord” (v. 25). And, “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas” (v. 22). When we have a debate, an argument, a dissension, we need to come to an agreement. The apostles and the elders were able to do so.
6. Communicate the answer to those who need to know. They sent it both in writing and orally. In other words, when a decision gets made, communicate it to those who need to know.
Just think if all arguments, disagreements, dissensions were handled with these six steps how much easier it would be to come to a consensus, to come to agreements. That is partly why I love the Word of God. I love it for many reasons, but one is that it gives us answers to life’s problems. It gives us biblical ways to handle some of the situations we face. If you have an argument, a disagreement, a dissension right now, remember these six steps and you can try a biblical roadmap in handling your situation.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank You these early leaders of the church were able to come to a consensus over a very delicate issue. We thank You they were passionate, they debated the issue, and they came to one accord. They agreed and they communicated their decision to those who needed to know. We thank You for biblical examples of how we can live our lives. The Word of God can help us in the difficult decisions we face. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen.