Certain people came down from
Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised,
according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” Acts 15:1
Just
like most things spiritual, we try to make things more complicated by adding
religious rules. Back in the time of
Acts, some believed you had to become a Jew first then a Christian. They felt the Gentiles, the non-Jews, had to
become Jews through circumcision, then they could become Christians. Why? They
believed since Jesus came to the Jews and he too was a Jew then someone had to
become a Jew through circumcision.
But
the apostles realized that Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit at times,
skipping the Jewish step and going right to Christian believer.
“Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles
a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We
believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as
they are.” Acts 15:10-11
In
the end, the reason people always add this kind of stuff is always burden and
works. We always want to feel there’s
something we need to do to get saved but it all comes down to grace.