A few days ago I wrote about church discernment and referred to this phrase which comes from Acts 15:28 but what does the phrase actually mean? Does it mean that some people had unique authority to pass on the Holy Spirit’s decision to the church? Well context will be helpful.
Acts 15 is sometimes referred to as “The Jerusalem Council” and this has led it to be treated as something akin to the ecumenical councils of the early church such as Nicea, Constantinople and Chalcedon. However, something different seems to be going on. We don’t have a gathering of representatives from lots of churches to thrash out a decision together. Nor though do we seem to have the apostles coming together as a body to prescribe something instead, it is James, prominent as a brother of Jesus maybe, but a church elder rather than one of the Twelve who chairs the meeting and leads the response.
Instead, what we have is a situation where representatives from some churches come to the Jerusalem church and ask for some advice and help. Specifically, it’s Paul and Barnabas. They’ve been involved in planting and encouraging young churches but them some people have rocked up from Judea with a contradictory message and insisted that circumcision is necessary too. Paul and Barnabas get into debate with them and the sense seems to be that the churches ask them to go back to Jerusalem and check.
So, why Jerusalem? Well, we are not actually told. It is possible that this makes sense because Jerusalem was the mother church where it all started from. We shouldn’t downplay the significance of the Apostles being there either and perhaps they were to be looked to in the absence of the yet to come New Testament canon. However, we cannot overlook something else that was significant. Paul and Barnabas had been sent from Antioch, now people are coming from Judea, which might suggest a connection with Jerusalem and furthermore, Galatians links the Judaizers to James, whether or not he agreed with them. So perhaps there is a sense in which they also want to go back to source for that reason and to make sure that the Antioch Church and Paul have not gone rogue, that the founding churches are united.
Notice what happens when Paul and Barnabas get to Jerusalem. Then Peter gives his testimony of what he has seen and experienced the Holy Spirit do. This is significant. As an apostle, he has preached the Gospel, he has initially been reluctant to go to the Gentiles but he has seen the Holy Spirit clearly poured out on Gentile believers. Notice too that he talks about the experience of Jewish believers, they came to faith in Christ after discovering that they could not bear the yoke of the Law.
Peter’s testimony is followed by that of Paul and Barnabas, they recount what God, the Holy Spirit has been doing among the Gentiles and those gathered listen. Then James sums up before going to Scripture. He shows how the ingathering of the Gentiles had been promised long ago. Then he recommends that letters be written and sent out. That’s what brings us to the statement “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us.”
Notice that when he talks about things seeming good to the Holy Spirit, he isn’t describing some kind of esoteric or mystical insight. Rather he is responding to two objective things. First what they have observed the Holy Spirit doing and secondly what the Holy Spirit had promised he would do. And that is the key point. They don’t need to second guess the Holy Spirit, it’s objective. If the Holy Spirit has been willing to work among Gentiles, then that suggests he wasn’t placing another burden on them.
They also have their own experience too. They know that they have not been able to live under the burden of the Law. So, how can they expect others to be put under a burden they have been freed from and that the Holy Spirit isn’t interested in placing on anyone. So, it seems good to them too.
Discernment seems therefore to be about looking at what God has clearly said in Scripture and observing and learning from experience about what God has been doing. Events and experiences interpreted by God’s Word. Discernment is not magical but it is deeply spiritual. It is about learning to listen to the Lord. And so, we can see that it involves listening to Scripture and learning from experience. This means that the Holy Spirit’s involvement does not take away from human responsibility and the hard work of God’s people.
What if this approach were to be seen in our own decision making processes?
