Five-minute study · Day 260 · Acts 15
Acts 15:20
A word worth stopping on: abstain ἀπέχομαι apechomai
'But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.' The word 'abstain' is apechomai. It means to hold oneself away from, to keep distance. James stood up at the Jerusalem Council and proposed four prohibitions for Gentile believers. The four items are specific: idol contamination, sexual immorality, meat from strangled animals, and blood. The list puzzled readers for centuries. Why these four? The answer is in Leviticus 17-18. These are the exact requirements that the Torah imposed on the ger, the resident alien living among Israel. James applied the same ancient framework to Gentile believers living among Jewish communities.
Word study: abstain
- Greek
- ἀπέχομαι
- Pronounced
- apechomai
- Strong's
- G0567
- Definition
- To hold oneself away from, to abstain, to refrain from. A middle voice form of apecho (to hold away, to be distant). The middle voice emphasizes personal agency: the subject actively keeps distance from the object.
Apechomai appears 6 times in the New Testament (Acts 15:20, 29; 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 5:22; 1 Timothy 4:3; 1 Peter 2:11). BDAG defines it as 'to keep away from, abstain from.' The middle voice (apechomai as opposed to the active apecho) is significant: the person is not being kept away by an external force. They are actively holding themselves at a distance. The word describes a deliberate, self-governed separation.
Bauckham's study 'James and the Jerusalem Church' provides the key interpretation of the Apostolic Decree. The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15, approximately AD 49) addressed the question of whether Gentile believers needed to be circumcised and observe the full Torah. The council's decision: no. Gentiles are saved by grace, through faith, without circumcision. James then proposed four prohibitions. The prohibitions are not conditions of salvation. They are conditions of table fellowship: the practical requirements that allow Jewish and Gentile believers to eat together, worship together, and function as one community.
The four items correspond to the laws in Leviticus 17-18 that apply to the ger (resident alien, a non-Israelite living permanently within Israel's territory). Leviticus 17:8-9: the ger must not sacrifice to other gods (idol contamination). Leviticus 17:10-12: the ger must not eat blood. Leviticus 17:13-14: the ger must properly drain the blood of animals he kills (the prohibition against 'things strangled,' which retain their blood). Leviticus 18:6-23: the ger must observe the sexual prohibitions (fornication). The match is precise. James was not inventing new rules. He was applying a category that already existed in the Torah: the requirements for non-Israelites living among God's people.
The ger (plural: gerim) occupied a recognized legal category in Israel. Gerim were not full members of the covenant community. They were not circumcised. They did not observe the full Torah. They were foreigners who had chosen to live within Israel's territory and were therefore subject to a limited set of requirements that maintained the holiness of the community and enabled peaceful coexistence. Bauckham argues that James saw Gentile believers in exactly this conceptual category: they were the gerim of the messianic community. They had joined Israel's God without joining Israel's covenant. The four prohibitions defined the minimum boundary for communal life together.
Historical context · The Jerusalem Council approximately AD 49; the ger legislation in Leviticus codified during the wilderness period; the Noahide laws formalized in rabbinic tradition by the 2nd century AD
The Jerusalem Council and the Question of Gentile Inclusion
The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 was the first major institutional crisis of the early church. The issue was concrete: in Antioch, Gentile believers were living as followers of Jesus without being circumcised or observing Torah. Some believers from Judea traveled to Antioch and taught: 'Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved' (Acts 15:1). Paul and Barnabas disputed with them. The church in Antioch sent Paul, Barnabas, and others to Jerusalem to settle the question with the apostles and elders.
The debate in Jerusalem (Acts 15:6-21) featured three key speeches. Peter recalled his experience with Cornelius (Acts 10): God gave the Holy Spirit to uncircumcised Gentiles, making no distinction between them and Jewish believers (15:8-9). Paul and Barnabas reported the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles during their missionary journeys (15:12). James then spoke, citing Amos 9:11-12 from the Septuagint ('that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called') and proposed the four prohibitions (15:19-21).
Bauckham situates James's proposal within the broader framework of Jewish approaches to Gentile ethics. The later rabbinic tradition (formalized in the Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a-b) codified seven 'Noahide laws' applicable to all humanity: prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, sexual immorality, theft, eating flesh torn from a living animal, and the requirement to establish courts of justice. The concept of universal ethical obligations predating and independent of the Sinai covenant was well established in Jewish thought. James's four prohibitions overlap with the Noahide categories (idolatry, sexual immorality, flesh with blood) while being more specifically derived from the Leviticus 17-18 ger legislation.
The practical effect of the decree was to make table fellowship possible. In a mixed community of Jewish and Gentile believers, the Jewish members would have been unable to eat with Gentiles who consumed meat sacrificed to idols, ate blood or improperly slaughtered meat, or engaged in sexual practices prohibited by the Torah. The four prohibitions removed the barriers to shared meals. Paul's later discussion in 1 Corinthians 8-10 about 'meat offered to idols' shows that the practical application of the decree remained a live issue in Gentile churches for years after the council. The decree did not end the conversation. It provided the framework within which the conversation continued.
For reflection
Apechomai. To hold yourself at a distance. The middle voice means you are doing the holding. No one is forcing your hand. James proposed four specific boundaries for Gentile believers, drawn from an ancient category: the requirements for resident aliens living among God's people. The boundaries were practical. They made it possible for Jewish and Gentile believers to share a table, to eat together, to be one community. The restrictions were minimal. They addressed the specific points where communal life would break down without them. Think about the communities you belong to. What are the minimum boundaries that make shared life possible? Where have you held yourself at a distance from something that would fracture the table? Where have you failed to?
Apechomai: to hold oneself away from. Middle voice, emphasizing personal agency. James's four prohibitions match the Leviticus 17-18 requirements for the ger (resident alien): the minimum Torah observance for non-Israelites living among God's people.
Sources: Bauckham, 'James and Jerusalem Church'; BDAG