“But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” Acts 15:11 (Read chapter 15)
Many, even today, would have us believe that we cannot saved unless we keep the laws given to the children of Israel through Moses. They say trusting in Jesus’ perfect righteousness and His innocent sufferings and death in our stead is not enough. You must be circumcised; you must observe the Sabbath and other Old Testament holy days; and you must follow the Old Testament dietary laws, they say.
This, of course, is nothing new. Those exact demands were made upon the church of God at Antioch when Paul and Barnabas were there. Certain men came down from Judea and taught the believers, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved” (v. 1). As a result of the dissension which followed, Paul and Barnabas traveled to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles about the matter. And, there too, were certain believers of the sect of the Pharisees which said it was necessary for Gentile believers to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses (v. 5).
The temptation to add to the Gospel is one we all face. We tend to think we must do something, or add our works to those of Christ, if we are to be saved. We fail to remember that we are indeed complete in Christ Jesus. He fulfilled all righteousness for us, and He paid in full for the sins of the whole world when He suffered and died upon the cross. His resurrection is proof that God accepted His sacrifice for sin and justifies and accepts us for Jesus’ sake (cf. Rom. 4:25; Col. 2:6ff.).
What did the apostles in Jerusalem say? Peter said, “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”
In fact, the apostles and the church in Jerusalem, at the direction of the Holy Spirit (v. 28), determined to lay no other burden upon the churches than to abstain from meat offered to idols, from blood and things strangled, and from fornication - and that was because of the offense it would cause to the Jews and those who had been taught the law of Moses.
Do we add to the Gospel? Must we do more than trust in Christ Jesus to be saved? As the Bible says, “A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Rom. 3:28). “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5).
We are complete in Jesus. We were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands when we were baptized into Christ and became partakers of His death and resurrection - receiving through faith forgiveness for all our sins and new life with Him (cf. Col. 2:10ff.).
Therefore, we let no man judge us “in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Col. 2:16-17).
Thank you Christ Jesus for granting to us full and complete salvation. Amen.
[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture from the King James Version of the Bible.]
For the Record, Pages 4 on 10/13/2010