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>> Now how many chapters is Acts?
Twenty-eight.
So the beginning of chapter 15 is the pivot.
It is truly in every way the pivot of the book of Acts.
After the conference at Jerusalem,
in chapter 15 there's only one focus, Paul.
So the first 14 chapters are about the resurrected Christ,
all of the apostles, Peter, John, and Paul, but there,
he's just a part of the story.
But it's a mosaic that has Paul as part
of this broader picture of the apostles.
But after the conference at Jerusalem,
the focus is more directly and exclusively on Paul.
The book of Acts is insisting on the apostolic authority of Paul.
As we'll see in future lectures,
the early church places authority in the apostles,
in the apostolic tradition, in the apostolic words and;
so it is fundamental for the -
for Luke that Paul is an apostle,
he is one who is appointed by Christ.
The conference at Jerusalem is contentious.
A Jewish wing argues that only circumcised believers can be
saved, that even gentiles must follow the law.
Where did we read about the conference at Jerusalem
in the letters of Paul?
In what letter?
>> Luke
>> No. In what letter of Paul do we read about this?
>> Galatians.
>> Galatians.
Galatians, the most historical of Paul's letters,
and you should read Galatians
and Acts chapter 15 side by side.
Galatians is written in the heat of the moment.
In just a few years afterwards; right?
And people are still angry at each other and, in fact,
Paul and Galatians has some very harsh words for Peter.
Luke is written a generation later.
Right? Whose vision wins on this great question?
Paul. And Luke looks back a generation later and sees
that Paul's vision has won, and it's a peaceful and irenic,
it's a ordained victory.
Acts emphasizes the cohesion the consensus of the apostles.
Galatians says that there was a compromise,
that Paul could spread the gospel to the gentiles
and that they could be delivered into salvation
through their trust, if Paul collects money,
if he makes a collection for the poor
in Jerusalem to ease the tensions.
In Acts, too, there is a compromise, but the compromise,
in fact, is more legal more doctrinal.
The compromise is that gentile converts must abstain
from the pollution of idols, that is, they must not eat meat
that has been sacrificed to the pagan gods.
They must abstain from fornication, porneia.
And we'll see in future lectures why this is so important.
The gentiles, the Greeks,
and Romans have very different standards of *** morality,
and it's a question, if the gentiles don't have
to follow the laws of Moses, do they have
to follow the *** rules of Moses?
Or can they go on obeying the customs of Greeks and Romans?
The answer is that they must abstain from fornication,
unlawful *** intercourse.
So that's one compromise.
And they must not eat animals, which have been strangled.
So it's actually in some way it's quite a mysterious
compromise, but Paul wins.
The gentiles can be saved outside by enlarge,
outside the Torah, outside the laws of Moses.
After the conference, the story shifts to Paul.
In the last half of Acts is a story focused on Paul.
