It seems as if it did not take very long before false teachers sprung up in the church. Paul and Barnabas meet people claimingto be Christians but teaching that you must be circumcised. Circumcision was a Jewish ritual put in place by God in his Covenant with Abraham, it was to show that the Israelites were different and set apart.
These people were saying that faith is not enough, that works were necessary.
But Peter, when all their was a big council on the matter had this to say in verse 11 "But we will be saved through grace just as they will."
The truth is only grace can save us not any works that we can do.
In the end the council determines that they should refrain from imposing the ceremonial law on the Gentile converts and only require them to follow a few specific rules, and even those are not an issue of salvation but of fellowship.
In the global church today there are people who had to salvation. Saying you have to do something ceremonial, they might say you have to be baptized or walk an aisle at the end of a sermon. The truth is you must repent of your sins and believe on Jesus, and then by grace you will be saved.
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