Acts 15:13

Acts 15:13 says, And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:  We see first that James offered a solution to the problem of Gentiles not being circumcised.  Verse fourteen adds, Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.  He reminded them that God first visited the Gentiles, to take out from them a people for His name. The Jews had at one time been Gentiles, until God called them aside to be His people.  We all at one time were but a sinner until we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, and then we became a sinner saved by grace.  As Christians, we are no better than any other sinner except by the grace of God.  Verse fifteen continues, And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,  James said the prophets agreed with this.  God has always known that Jesus would have to come and die for the sins of mankind, being the only One qualified to do so.  Verse sixteen states, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:  In reference to the temple being destroyed and rebuilt, this was a reference to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and not to the actual temple, as we all know.  Verse seventeen adds, That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.  Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, the residue of men, including Gentiles, might seek after the Lord.  The nation of Israel was not some group created superior to other people. As already stated, they were Gentiles themselves until God set them apart, and circumcision was a way they were identified as His people.  Now, the cross and the Holy Spirit identified people as His followers.  Verse eighteen continues, Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.  Also as already stated, God knew from the beginning that the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ would be necessary for the redemption of all people. Verse nineteen says, Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:  So, James proposed to not trouble the Gentiles that had turned to God with the requirement to be circumcised as long as they had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty adds, But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.  After he had said not to trouble them, James added requirements for them to follow based on Jewish law. They were to abstain from pollutions to idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood.  Why these particular things were chosen it doesn't say, but they were adding back in elements of the Law with faith in Jesus Christ.  What would have been more accurate to write would have been to follow the Holy Spirit as He guided their lives.  We cannot add requirements to the gospel.  Verse twenty-one continues, For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.  He said that from the time of Moses nthe Law had been read in the synagogues.  This would seem to rely on tradition more than salvation.