Galatians 2:6-10 (NIV)
As for those who seemed to be important–whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance–those men added nothing to my message. On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
The end result of the Jerusalem Council was that the apostles themselves, those who had received the gospel from the mouth of Jesus, did not correct Paul in any point of the gospel that he had received and was teaching. They added no requirement for circumcision, or for following the ceremonial laws of Judaism, all of which had been fulfilled by Jesus’ sacrificial death.
In addition, the recognized officially that Paul had been commissioned by Jesus to take the gospel to the gentiles, just as they were focusing on helping the Jews to receive it. They recognized, based on Paul’s success in the harvest field and on the miracles that he had been empowered to do, that he had been commissioned and empowered by the same God, the same Lord and Savior, the same Holy Spirit that had commissioned and empowered them. And they gave him the right hand of fellowship, receiving him as a brother in Christ.
The only thing that they asked of Paul was that he continue to remember the poor. The Jerusalem Church was quite large and had attracted a large number of poor people, widows and orphans, as well as those who had been lame or blind for long years. Even though these people had found healing and wholeness through faith in Jesus, it was a while before they could develop marketable skills and were thus dependent on the Church for support for a time. All that made the Jerusalem Church dependent on the generosity of fellow believers, both in Jerusalem and in the far reaches of the empire, to support those needs.
Father, it’s interesting to me that the early Church never saw the need to establish separate denominations, dividing itself over language, or whether a person came to Jesus as a Jew or a gentile. Instead, the leadership, all of whom were Jewish in background, interestingly, understood that everyone was coming into one Church, one kingdom, regardless of where they were coming from, and that that unity of focus and mission was what we are called to, and what Jesus Himself had prayed for (John 17:20-23). Lord, the world cannot be transformed by a fractured, segmented, and divided Church. Jesus knew that, the apostles knew that, but we have forgotten. Make us truly one, Lord, just as Jesus prayed, so that we can together partner in the work of growing Your kingdom, so that our world can indeed be transformed through faith in You. Amen.