²⁸And they spent a long time with the disciples. ¹Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ²And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them . . .

The book of Acts is the history of transition, the move away from living under the Law of Moses to living under grace. The problem was not so much with the Jewish congregations—they could carry on with their culture and traditions just as they had—but with a new understanding of how Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses. There was transformation, of course, because of the new sense of forgiveness and the freedom that resulted from being out from under the burden of the Law as a means to righteousness. Circumcision was just part of what they had always done and would continue to practice. But what about the Gentile congregations, specifically the believers in the fast-growing church in Antioch, north of Jerusalem? Paul had a clear understanding about the role of circumcision, and later wrote about it unambiguously:

Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God. (1 Cor. 7:18–19)

But after his first successful mission tour and the planting of more congregations outside of Israel, some in the Jerusalem church, where Christianity first took root, became nervous. Actually, this issue continued to be problematic throughout the book of Acts, and we can see it came to a head in Acts 21–23, when Paul made his final visit to Jerusalem. There had come to be many disciples there who were also zealous for the Law of Moses (Acts 21:18–21). And they were concerned that Gentiles should be required to be circumcised.

So now, when Paul and Barnabas return from their mission tour, some from Jerusalem take it upon themselves to head up to Antioch (the text says “down” because Jews consider every area in Israel as going “down” from Jerusalem). The goal is to impress on the Gentile believers that they are to be circumcised, for their salvation depends on that (or so the Judaizers believed). If Galatians 2:12 refers to this time period, then these men ostensibly came from James, a leader at the Jerusalem church. Even Peter was caught up in this issue by implication. Paul had strong words about this (read Galatians 2). This was the hill he was willing to die on!

Lord, thank You for those willing to stand for the gospel of free grace!