Acts 15:10-11 10Now, therefore, why are you testing God by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11But we believe to be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the manner as they will.”
Peter got right to the point with the others gathered to hear Paul and Barnabas. Based on his experience with Cornelius and the clear evidence presented by the delegation from Antioch, he confronted the Pharisaic arm of the Jerusalem church and accused them of putting God to the test. The others had put their own interpretation above the work of God. They were in danger of doing the same thing as Ananias and Sapphira back in 5:9, who also put God to the test. A person puts God to the test by assuming God’s position or putting one’s own thinking and interpretation above God’s revelation. The evidence was clear that God was doing a new thing with the Gentiles. As James argued soon after, the inclusion of the Gentiles was actually not a new thing but part of God’s plan all along.
The human replacement for God’s plan was to impose the heavy yoke of the law upon the new believers. As Peter noted, not even the Jewish ancestors could keep the law. One can look at Israel’s history in the Old Testament and see the failure of people to keep the terms of the covenant. Paul argued the same position in Romans 2-3, about how Israel failed to keep the law. No one can keep the law perfectly. Many Jews had gotten caught up in the small details and legalistic interpretation of the law. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can keep God’s law, and the focus of this is the law of love, not all the rituals and regulations based on human interpretation.
Verse 11 gives a summary of the gospel. This is the same message Paul and Barnabas preached throughout their mission. The verse is given as a confession of faith: we believe. This message was proclaimed throughout the early church. The gospel is summed up in the phrase, we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. Paul preached the same message, as evidenced throughout his letters. We are saved by God’s gift of Jesus’ death and resurrection, not by anything we can do because we can never do enough to merit salvation. Peter reminded the Jews that there is only one way to salvation. There were not two paths or requirements, but one.