Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. (vv.19-20).
Chapter 15 deals with the question of whether the Gentiles had to become Jews in order to become Christians. Of course the answer to that is no. The Pharisees wanted the Gentiles circumcised and obeying the whole law of Moses. "And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved"(v. 1). Chapter 15 serves to counter this dangerous heresy.
Verse 20 says Gentiles are to do four things: "abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood." Does this prove that the Gentiles ONLY had these four obligations?
The very next verse contains the answer: "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day." The reason they only had to write those three prohibitions is because the Gentiles were receiving teaching each Sabbath - they didn't need a full-on course. Sabbaths were the natural time for Gentiles to gather with Jewish believers to be taught by them. Indeed, meeting on Sunday would seem strange to the Jews, to whom the Sabbath was an integral part of their identity.
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