8th Jun 26 | 14:45
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Abstain from things polluted by idols
📖 Acts 15:1-21
Acts 15 - Series 1/Episode 69 - Tue, 31st Mar 2026 - Abstain from things polluted by idols - Acts 15:01-21 - THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL - Psalms 24:03-04
Acts 15:19-21 Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, (20) but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. (21) For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
The Jerusalem Council decided that they would write to the believing Gentiles to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood
We will consider each of these items individually and examine how they relate to salvation by faith in Jesus alone, not by the keeping of the law.
...abstain from things polluted by idols...
God alone is God, and there is no other. The Gentiles turning to Jesus by faith should be grounded in this truth. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
This is what the Lord Jesus also said. Mark 12:29-31 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. (30) AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' This is the first commandment. (31) And the second, like it, is this: 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
The command is clear. Exodus 20:3-5 "You shall have no other gods before Me. (4) "You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; (5) you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
The Gentiles turning to Christ must separate themselves to God alone.
They also must separate themselves from the people, among whom they live, in the matter of their worship of gods and goddesses. Exodus 34:14-16 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), (15) lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, (16) and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.
Israel polluted themselves with the idolatry of the people of the land. Numbers 25:2-3 They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. (3) So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel.
Paul explains this matter in terms of practical application. I Corinthians 8:4-9 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. (5) For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), (6) yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. (7) However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. (8) But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. (9) But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.
Paul is, simultaneously, categorical regarding being polluted by idols. I Corinthians 10:16-21 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (17) For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. (18) Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? (19) What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? (20) Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. (21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons.
Not to be polluted by idols is also to be cleansed from the idols of the heart. Psalms 24:3-4 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? (4) He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.
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