Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

THE SABBATH IN ACTS
Without circumcision there was no obligation to the rest of
the law. This is why circumcision was the issue that was so
hotly debated. Sabbath observance was not expected of the
uncircumcised, non-Jewish community around them.
The rules regarding Sabbath involved not carrying a
burden, not building a fire, not traveling, and of course, not
working in any way on that day. This was to apply to the
Jews and also to the stranger within their gates or their
households. It was not applicable to the strangers who
"sojourned among them.” Only those within their gates were
required to keep Sabbath. There were also the food laws and
the laws of uncleanness that were part of this system and
marked the Jews as separate from the rest of the world
around them. It is clearly these requirements that Peter was
referring to as a burden too heavy to bear.
In Acts 15 the church leaders came to a solution. They
decided not to place on the new converts any of the specific
regulations that were part of the covenantal system of
Judaism. They did not require the entrance sign, so the rest
of the laws would not apply either—just as today we do not
require someone who is not baptized to follow all the
guidelines of a particular church. The regulations that they
did require had their origins in the Noahic covenant (see
Gen. 6-10, which included worship of the true God, avoiding
things strangled, blood, and sexual immorality). These were
considered by Jews everywhere to be required of all people
since the covenant with Noah applied to all humans.
Leviticus 17-18 expands on these and defines what is meant
by these regulations. In each case in Leviticus 17-18, it is
made clear that they are binding on the "stranger that
sojourns among you.” (Notice the clear distinction between
this group and the "stranger that is within your gates.")
Notice also Acts 15:20 where these regulations are
considered binding on the new converts. The reason being
that there were Jewish people in every city who read the Law
of Moses each Sabbath, and they would expect someone who
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