Acts 15:7-11
7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
We can endlessly dispute doctrine as the apostles and elders started to do here, but when these stopped to consider what God had done according to His word and promises, then the matter can become clear. God promised through Abraham to bring children of promise to Himself, that is through His Seed, Jesus Christ. So the results were assessed against the backdrop of scripture, and the clarity of the Law versus grace became apparent. Salvation was out of all people to all be sealed by His same Spirit. The pattern to apply scripture comes out of understanding it in context.
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