The yoke that neither we nor our ancestors could bear, Peter and Acts Fifteen.

Act 15:10  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?

What was the yoke that neither Peter or his ancestors could bear? This is an interesting question with a most important answer. Let's begin by stating what it is not. It was not temple service and sacrifice. They were able to bear that. It was not the dietary laws. They were able to bear that. It was not the study of Torah. They could bear that. The yoke that they could not bear was the yoke of gaining righteousness from obedience to the law. No matter how hard they tried, and Paul stated that as a Pharisee, when it came to righteousness that came from the law he was blameless, he/they could not cleanse their conscience from dead works. The yoke Peter spoke of in Acts chapter fifteen was trying to gain acceptability to God from obedience.

The yoke can best be understood by two passages from Deut 28. They are Deut 28:1 & 15. Deut 28:1-14 gives all the promises for doing ALL the law, and Deut 28-15-68 explains in great detail all the curses for not doing ALL the Law.. I find it interesting that their are fourteen verses of blessings and fifty-three verses of curses. Therein lies the yoke. So many modern day pastors, especially of the Pentecostal ilk, are happy to speak of the blessings, but do not really explain the curses, but alas people can read, and there in lies the yoke. The twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy explains in detail the yoke Peter was speaking of. Furthermore, many of the Pentecostal Pastors that emphasize Deut 28 do use verses 15-68 to try to whip their congregations into shape placing the yoke that Peter described in Acts fifteen and according to Peter put God to the test.

Many of the Messianic Jews movement look at Deuteronomy twenty-eight, and say that all doesn't really mean all but rather means to try with all your might to do all of the Law. Let's look at the passages from the JPS (Jewish Publication Society) Old Testament. Deu 28:1 JPS  "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth." AND Deu 28:15 JPS  "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee." Notice that it reads to observe to do all his commandments, but the Hebrew word translated observe is shawmar which means to be careful to do ALL. To do all is plainly the meaning and cannot be any other way.

The remainder of protestant pastors would say that the yoke was not the decalog (ten commandments) but the temple and dietary laws. They would say that one must obey the ten for sure and would argue that the Spirit enables one to obey the Ten Commandments, and additionally all that they call the moral law. Again they are putting on the necks of their followers the yoke Peter warned all who read it not to. The reason he gave was that none of the first century Jews and Jewish Church, nor any of their ancestors could bear that yoke.

It is a yoke by virtue of the legal constitutional relationship of the covenant to the Jewish People. This is precisely why Jesus changed the legal constitutional focus of the scripture to a redemptive one. It was not to make people lawless. Quite frankly, people are already lawless, and a law unto themselves, yes, even the most religious. Observation can easily show that the more religious, and the more committed to religion a person is, the more judgmental, self righteous, and unloving they are. The truth is that the yoke cannot produce loving righteous individuals. That can only be accomplished by the uncompromised peace that accompanies the gospel of grace. Sadly, religion and religious orthodoxy has perpetuated the yoke for two thousand plus years. Isn't it time to really explore the gospel and set aside the yoke once for all time?