But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus
just as they are.”
The context of the passage is the Jerusalem synod, which was called to resolve the questions raised by the
Judaizers, who were teaching
“unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1; NASB).
Further, the Judaizers sought to impose upon the Gentile Christians the requirement “to observe the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5).
Paul and Barnabas reacted
strongly against the Judaizers
(Gal 2:5—Paul and Barnabas “did not yield to them for an hour”).
Paul even confronted the Apostle Peter (Gal 2:11–21) over his denial of the gospel—this was an actual “gospel issue.” Implicit in Peter’s refusal to eat with the Gentiles was the message that we are justified through the works of the law. To resolve the controversy the church sent Paul and Barnabas as delegates to synod (Acts 15:2–3).
At Jerusalem, after debate, Peter stood to speak.
After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.
And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are” (Acts 15:7-11; NASB).
Peter’s understanding of his ministry is exactly what Paul wrote
in Galatians 2:7–8.
We see the good outcome of Paul’s rebuke in Antioch.
At Jerusalem, Peter was crystal clear about the gospel.
In Christ
there is
no
Jew or Gentile
(Gal 3:28–29).
What matters is whether we belong to Christ by grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), then we are Abraham’s seed, “heirs according to the promise”
(Gal 3:29).
Of course, the promise to which Paul refers in Galatians is the promise:
“I will be a God to you and to your children” (Gen 17:7).
The Judaizers sought to put a
rabbinical “yoke” on the necks of the
Gentile Christians thereby
ignoring
the
Centrality and Finality
of CHRIST
in the
history of redemption
(Acts 15:10).
Jesus did not merely come to make salvation possible for those who do their part (e.g., bear the yoke of the law) but to accomplish our salvation and to give it to his elect freely through faith alone (sola fide).
The Judaizers were “testing” God and ignoring the
reality already accomplished.
Sola gratia, sola fide, they already had what the law required:
righteousness and clean heart (Ps 51:10).
Further, the Judaizers were demanding what they themselves we unable to perform.
Paul had reminded Peter that he himself “lived like a Gentile” and
yet he was implicitly requiring of the Gentiles that they
become Jews to become Christians.
Now Peter confesses the truth to the whole synod.
The resolution is salvation by grace alone, through faith alone. For Peter, grace is the cause of salvation and faith is the instrument of salvation. There is a clear contrast between his doctrine and Paul’s doctrine and the Judaizing doctrine of salvation through works.
But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus just as they are.”
There are two families of English translations when it comes to the clause, “that we are saved.” Beginning with Tyndale’s translation in 1525 and continuing through the AV, the ASV, the RSV, and the ESV, some translate the aorist passive infinitive as “will be saved” implying future salvation. This is possible for two reasons: 1) Acts 15:1 says “cannot be saved,” which might imply future salvation 2) the aorist of the infinitive “to be saved,” which, pace your Greek teacher, does not necessarily signal past tense. It is ambiguous. Nevertheless, there is another family of translations beginning with the Latin Vulgate, which predates Tyndale’s translation by about a millennium, and represented by the NASB and others, what takes the aorist as a past or present tense: we are saved,” which arguably communicates the ambiguity inherent in the Greek text. There is nothing in Acts 15:1 nor in 15:11 that requires a future tense.
A second thing to note here is the instrumental construction of the preposition
“through the grace of the Lord Jesus” (ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ).
The contrast here between law-keeping (represented by circumcision)
and grace, i.e.,
the free favor of God toward sinners in Christ, must not be missed. In his commentary on this passage, Calvin saw
the distinction between
grace and works
or
law and gospel.
By the grace of Jesus Christ.
Peter compareth these two together as contrary
the one to the other; to have hope in the grace of Christ,
and to be under the yoke of the law; which comparison doth
greatly set out the justification of Christ,
inasmuch as we gather thereby, that those are justified by faith who, being free and quit from the yoke of the law,
seek for salvation in the grace of Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, I said before that the yoke of the law is made of two cords. The former is, “He which doth these things shall live in them;” the other is, “Cursed is every one which doth not continue in all the commandments.” Let us return unto the contrary member. If we cannot otherwise attain unto salvation by the grace of Christ, unless the yoke of the law be taken away, it followeth that salvation is not placed in keeping the law, neither are those which believe in Christ subject to the curse of the law; for if he could be saved through grace, who is as yet enwrapped in the yoke of the law, then should Peter’s reasoning be but foolish, which is drawn from contraries: thus,
We hope for salvation by the grace of Christ; therefore
we are not under the yoke of the law.
We should note too that Calvin answered an objection that is quite relevant to the contemporary discussions. As in Calvin’s day, there were those who argued that “we are justified by the grace of Christ, because he regenerateth [sanctifies] us by his Spirit, and giveth us strength to fulfil the law. Those who imagine this, though they seem to ease the yoke of the law a little, yet they keep souls bound with the cords thereof.”
The problem with this approach,
it changes Gospel into law.
The promise of the law is not that God will save those who cooperate with grace (Rome and at least some of the Judaizers) but that “who who does these things shall live by them.” The moment works are “admitted” (for justification or salvation), “they may make us righteous in part only, the yoke of the law shall not be broken, and so Peter’s contrariety [antithesis] shall fall to the ground, or else be dissolved.”
In other words, grace and works are
two contrary principles.
We either stand
by grace or works
but not by
grace and works.
Both promise salvation but they promise salvation on
different terms.
The Judaizers proposed to put the Gentiles under the law
(represented by circumcision) for salvation (justification, sanctification, and glorification) on the premise that the law is not so strict that we cannot keep it. They lowered the standard. For all their boasting about the law of Moses, they did not grasp its righteousness: “cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything which is written in the book of the law”
(Deut 27:26; Gal 3:10).
As the Reformed read Leviticus 18:5, it is a covenant of works: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am Yahweh.”
Our Lord Jesus summarized the demand of the law for salvation: do this and live (Luke 10:28).
With the law there is no “try.” There is only do.
With grace and the gospel there is good news:
Christ has done for you. God has looked on you
with favor merited for you
by Christ.
Faith is the sole instrument that
rests on Christ,
trusts in him, leans on him,
and receives him for righteousness
(justification) and for the
whole of salvation.
So, for the Jewish Christians and for the Gentile Christians, salvation is through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have it now. In future, at the judgment, we shall be vindicated but we are already justified sola gratia, sola fide and
Christ has saved us, is saving us, and shall save us through the grace of our Lord Jesus as he always has.