Council of Jerusalem - Historical Background

Historical Background

The Council of Jerusalem is generally dated to around the year 50 AD, roughly twenty years after the death of Jesus of Nazareth, which is dated between 26-36, (see Chronology of Jesus). It has not been established to have been the first council of the new community's leaders, but it is the first one of which records exists (in Galatians 2, in Acts 15, and in the writings of the Church Fathers). Both the account in Acts and the one in Galatians suggest that the reason the meeting was called was to debate whether or not male Gentiles who were converting to become followers of Jesus were required to become circumcised, presumably in accord with Genesis 17:14, a law from God which according to Genesis 17:13-19 God said would be eternal, and therefore always applicable, see also the Jewish background to the 1st century circumcision controversy and Biblical law in Christianity. However, Circumcision was considered repulsive during the period of Hellenization of the Eastern Mediterranean.

At the time, most followers of Jesus (which historians refer to as Jewish Christians) were Jewish by birth and even converts would have considered the early Christians as a part of Judaism. According to Alister McGrath, the Jewish Christians affirmed every aspect of then contemporary (Second Temple) Judaism with the addition of the belief that Jesus was the Messiah. Unless males were circumcised, they could not be God's People. Genesis 17:14 said "No uncircumcised man will be one of my people." The meeting was called to decide whether circumcision for gentile converts was requisite for community membership since, according to the NRSV translation of Acts 15:1-2, certain individuals were teaching that "nless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

Circumcision as a mandate was associated with Abraham (see also Abrahamic covenant), but it is cited as 'the custom of Moses' because Moses is considered the traditional giver of the Law as a whole. The circumcision mandate was made more official and binding in the Mosaic Law Covenant. In John 7:22 the words of Jesus are reported to be that Moses gave the people circumcision. In addition, there were many other laws in the Hebrew Scriptures about which the council deliberated. Its eventual recusal of gentile converts from practicing these may have led to the idea of Supersessionism.