Finishing the Fussin'

So, after all the fussin’ that went on in Acts 15, how did the first General Assembly finally make its decision? Peter’s comments are recorded first. He recounted his own experience of God’s grace, probably referring to that amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius, recorded in Acts chapter 10.

Next, Paul and Barnabas also spoke of the things they had witnessed God doing during their ministry among the Gentiles, the miracles and wonders they had seen. In other words, however much Peter may have disagreed with Paul at the time the letter to the Galatians was written, by the time the Assembly itself rolled around, the two apostles were in complete agreement. Both of them pointed to the same sort of evidence – the proof of the mighty acts God had done in the lives of the Gentile believers.

From these two reports, we might thus be tempted to think that the Assembly made its decision based simply on reason and experience. But that is not the case. The Assembly did not come to a conclusion until James quoted from the book of Amos, demonstrating how the Old Testament Scriptures agreed with the testimony of the apostles.

And so, at the end of the day, the Assembly based its decision not on who Peter and Paul were, and not simply on what Peter and Paul said had happened. The crucial factor for the Assembly was what the prophet Amos had said.

This, then, is what we Presbyterians must do at the General Assembly this summer in Minneapolis. If we try to base our decisions on who is speaking or on what makes sense to our reason or to our feelings, we will keep on fussin’. But if we are willing to submit our reason and our experience to the Word of God, which we used to call the only infallible rule of faith and practice, we might move just a little closer to that peace which we all desire so much.