Correspondence: Acts 15:20, 28, 29; Elias/John the Baptist?

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Acts 15:20,28‑29  •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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Question: Please give a few thoughts on Acts 15; especially explain verses 20, 28 and 29, why these things are called “necessary things”? C. W. B.
Answer: We see the wisdom of God in telling Paul to go to Jerusalem to settle the question, which he had already fully settled in his own mind, as we see in Galatians. At Jerusalem, he conferred with those of reputation, so that they were of one mind. The Judaizing teachers had their say. Then Peter gave distinct witness, how the Gentiles were saved and sealed without law, and it was a yoke too heavy to be borne by their fathers or themselves. The Jew and Gentile are alike saved by grace.
James confirmed this, and quoted Amos 9:11, 1211In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this. (Amos 9:11‑12), to show God’s intention to save Gentiles, then he gives the sentence, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God; but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. Idols were a denial of the living God, the Creator of all things. Fornication was a breach of the institution of marriage, given in the garden of Eden (Compare Matt. 19:4-64And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:4‑6)). “Things strangled, and from blood,” refers to Genesis 9:3, 43Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (Genesis 9:3‑4). where God added flesh to man’s food (Compare Gen. 1:2929And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (Genesis 1:29)), but reserved the blood for Himself—a mark of acknowledgment of the Creator. All these things are God’s provision and instructions to man, but the Gentiles had fallen lower than when created, and now Christianity lifts them up to recognize God as the Creator, and to respect His claims.
The apostles and elders wrote letters to that effect, and sent well-known men with Barnabas and Saul to carry the news, called “the decrees” in Acts 16:44And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. (Acts 16:4). to all the assemblies. When the multitude of believers at Antioch heard the letters and the news, they rejoiced for the consolation. And Paul, guided by the Spirit of God, wrote the Epistle to the Galatian assemblies, to free them from the legality they had sunk into. It is good to read it, till you understand it.
Answer: It was rightly understood by the scribes of that day, that before the Messiah came, the prophetical testimony from God spoken of in Malachi 4:5, 65Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 6And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:5‑6). must be fulfilled, but they did not count that when the Son of Man came, His rejection was first, and then His glory after, and that all this church period was between them.
The disciples also had to learn this. They had just seen Jesus transfigured on the Mount. They were eye-witnesses of His Majesty (2 Peter 1:16-1816For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. (2 Peter 1:16‑18).) But they were to “Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen from (among) the dead.” This they did not understand. (Mark 9:1010And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. (Mark 9:10).) They did not yet receive this into their hearts, so they asked Him the question, “Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?” Jesus answered, “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” (This will fulfill Mal. 4:5,65Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 6And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:5‑6)). “But I say unto you. that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.” The forerunner was rejected, and the Messiah also was to suffer.