Acts 15:3-5 3Therefore, those sent on their way by the church passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, telling in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all the brothers. 4And when they came to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. 5But some who believed from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”
Momentum grew as Paul, Barnabas, and other delegates from Antioch made their way to Jerusalem, about 250 miles and several weeks of walking. They stopped along the way at various places and retold their missionary stories, which brought great joy to all the believers who heard them. The church had grown in the areas of Phoenicia and Samaria. At least ten to fifteen years had passed since the gospel reached those areas. God was blessing the outreach efforts and witness of the scattered believers who fled persecution in Jerusalem. The faithfulness of these early Christians is evident behind verse 3. The believers in these areas could have responded with legalism, but instead, they welcomed the news of Gentiles being added to the people of God. Some of these churches may also have been predominantly Gentile themselves, so that would have caused them to rejoice even more.
The delegates were also welcomed by the church in Jerusalem. Luke uses the word church (ekklēsias) to represent all the believers in Jerusalem. The apostles likely refers to the eleven disciples chosen by Jesus and Matthias, chosen by lot by the disciples before Pentecost. How many of these still remained in Jerusalem after all those years is unclear. Tradition has most leaving to remote areas to share the gospel. Peter was the primary spokesperson for this group. The elders could refer to believers who were older and highly respected as leaders. James, the half-brother of Jesus, was the spokesperson for this group. Paul and Barnabas told about their experiences, not bragging about themselves but giving God the glory. That is a key attribute for any missionary returning home to tell stories. The stories are not what we do but what God has done through our humility and reliance on him.
Verse 5 introduces the problem and reveals the plaguing problem that followed Paul and Barnabas in their ministry. The requirement for believers in Jesus Messiah to be circumcised and obey the Mosaic law did not necessarily need to come from the Pharisees, although they would have especially emphasized this because of their legalistic tendencies. Not all the opponents of Paul and Barnabas necessarily had to be Pharisees. However, the Pharisees were representatives of this position. It is significant that Pharisees came to believe in Jesus. They still kept their identity as Pharisees. The issue revolved around the ritual practices of Judaism and not the moral practices. The early Christians continued to follow the moral code of the Old Testament, such as represented in the Ten Commandments.
The basic question facing the church was what was required of Gentiles to be accepted in the church. The implications were even more significant. Theologically, what did the Gentiles have to do to be saved? Socially, how would they be incorporated into the people of God? The church had reached a critical crossroad. They could retreat back to Judaism, which would cut off the Gentiles who refused to go through physical circumcision and stop the mission. They could impose various requirements, which would also make it difficult for people to become believers. The leaders in the Jerusalem needed God’s wisdom and guidance in order to follow Jesus’ commands to go out into the world and make disciples.