Simple Tuel
Veritas Super Omnia
Matthew Tuel - 01/04/2026
For a few years now, I have been taking notes during the Sunday morning sermon and then taking the time to reflect them at home. This year I want to start expounding on those notes and then publishing them for others to hopefully glean something useful.
I'll decided to call it the 'Sunday Selah.' Sunday is to be a day of worship and rest. Worship is not just the musical portion of Sunday service (as I see people typically view it), but the sermon as well. Reflecting on the sermon is an opportunity to meditate on the message given as well as to internalize the teaching given and write the words of God onto the tablets of our hearts. (Psalm 119:15, Proverbs 7:3)
In today's sermon on Acts 15 we saw Paul and Barnabas combating the false teaching of the Judaizers.
Acts 15:1-2
1 Now some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 When Paul and Barnabas had a major argument and debate with them, the church appointed Paul and Barnabas and some others from among them to go up to meet with the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this point of disagreement.
Biblical Studies Press. (2019). The NET Bible (Second Edition, Ac 15:1–2). Thomas Nelson.
During the meeting of the Jerusalem council, they came up with the following conclusion:
Acts 15:6-11
6 Both the apostles and the elders met together to deliberate about this matter. 7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God chose me to preach to the Gentiles so they would hear the message of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, has testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between them and us, cleansing their hearts by faith. 10 So now why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? 11 On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they are.”
Biblical Studies Press. (2019). The NET Bible (Second Edition, Ac 15:6–11). Thomas Nelson.
The point here, is that salvation is by grace alone, "Sola Gratia", not by obedience to the law. This does not mean that following God's law is completely unnecessary, but it does not contribute to the work of Christ on the cross.
The necessary rules were sent out by letter with Paul and Silas:
Acts 15:22-29
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to send men chosen from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leaders among the brothers, to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. 23 They sent this letter with them: From the apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile brothers and sisters in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, greetings! 24 Since we have heard that some have gone out from among us with no orders from us and have confused you, upsetting your minds by what they said, 25 we have unanimously decided to choose men to send to you along with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas who will tell you these things themselves in person. 28 For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: 29 that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.
Biblical Studies Press. (2019). The NET Bible (Second Edition, Ac 15:22–29). Thomas Nelson.
These rules were not for the purpose of salvation but for the purpose of unity, which we are called to. We should do what pleases the Father, and the Father is pleased when His children are in unison with Him and each other.
Inevitably, we will have disagreements with our fellow believers. How should we respond? Pastor Nick gave two very simple rules for handling disagreements:
Don't sacrifice the truth.
Pursue unity.
Coming back to the Judaizers, I see this today with the term "Judeo-Christian." Growing up, this was (and to a large degree still is) how most Americans refer to our faith and our heritage. They'll say that we are a country founded on "Judeo-Christian" values. We are a shared people, with some sort of shared goal. There's a "brotherhood and sisterhood between Judaism and Christianity."
However, I've had time to grow and reflect on this sentiment, and have since grown out of this thinking. Now, there are a myriad of reasons why one would reject the term "Judeo-Christian" and what it entails. For me it comes down to one simple reason: Judaism is an explicit rejection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
1st John 2:21-26
21 I have not written to you that you do not know the truth, but that you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 Now this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
Biblical Studies Press. (2019). The NET Bible (Second Edition, 1 Jn 2:21–26). Thomas Nelson.
John 5:22-23
22 Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
Biblical Studies Press. (2019). The NET Bible (Second Edition, Jn 5:22–23). Thomas Nelson.
The New Testament is abundantly clear that rejection of Christ means rejection of God. You don't get to pick and choose from the Trinity a la carte. Its all or nothing, take it or leave it.
My exhortation here is twofold. First, that there is no unity to be found between Judaism and Christianity. Christianity was not born out of Judaism. Judaism was born out of a rejection of Christianity. Jesus was the plan all along, not some plan B that God cooked up when the experiment with the Jews went awry in the Old Testament.
Second, that "Judeo-Christian" is not just an oxymoron, it is a blasphemy of the highest order. You cannot join together the embrace of Christ and the rejection of Him.
Embrace the Son, and you will embrace the Father. Reject the Son, and you reject the Father. Simple as.