Texts in Conversation
Acts 15 teaches that avoiding idol food and blood are required community rules agreed upon by all. Romans 14 seems to soften this by saying no food is unclean on its own, and that limits on eating should be based on care for others. This creates tension between fixed rules and personal judgment.
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Acts 15:29
New Testament
25 we have unanimously decided to choose men to send to you along with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas who will tell you these things themselves in person. 28 For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: 29 that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.
Date: 75-85 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Romans 14:20
New Testament
17 For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For the one who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people. 19 So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building up one another. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
Date: 55-58 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... At the Jerusalem council it was James's careful argument from Scripture, citing a prophecy in which it was clear that Gentiles who join the messianic people of God do so precisely as Gentiles (Acts 15:14-19), that finally settled the matter. Based on James's argument, the so-called apostolic decree, issued by the council, denied that Gentile believers must obey the Torah, with the exception of four specific prohibitions (Acts 15:29) drawn from those the Torah itself requires not only of Israelites but also of Gentiles resident in Israel (Leviticus 17-18). In effect, observing these prohibitions would make clear that Gentile believers had indeed been morally purified by faith and the Spirit, such that there need be no barrier to fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus ..."
Bauckham, Richard
"James and the Jerusalem Community" in Skarsaune, Oskar, and Reidar Hvalvik (eds.) Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries
(pp. 55-95) Hendrickson Publishers, 2007
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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