Do We Have to Abstain from Blood & Strangled Animals? (Acts 15 Commentary)
In Acts 15:20, Christian leaders give some weird rules to the non-Jewish Christians:
“we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols, from acts of sexual immorality, from what has been strangled, and from blood.”
But why those four oddly specific things? And does that still apply to us today?
When the church leaders in Acts 15 issued those four specific rules (often called the Apostolic Decree), they weren't picking them at random. They were trying to solve a very practical problem: How can Jews and Gentiles eat at the same table without the Jews feeling like they are committing a sin?
Here is why those four items were chosen:
1. The "Resident Alien" Precedent (Leviticus 17–18)
Most scholars believe the Council looked at the Old Testament laws for "sojourners"—non-Jews living inside the land of Israel. In Leviticus 17 and 18, God gives four specific rules that applied not just to Jews, but to anyone living among them:
No sacrificing to idols (Lev 17:8-9).
No consuming blood (Lev 17:10-12).
No eating animals that weren't bled properly (Lev 17:13-14).
No sexual immorality/incest (Lev 18).
By asking Gentiles to follow these same four rules, the Council was essentially saying: "You don't have to become a full citizen (get circumcised), but to live in peace with us, you must follow the basic rules for 'neighbors' found in our scriptures."
2. Table Fellowship and "Kosher" Lite
The first three rules (idols, blood, and strangled meat) are all about food.
Idol Meat: Most meat in the Roman world was sold after being sacrificed in a pagan temple. For a Jew, eating this was like participating in demon worship.
Blood and Strangling: Jewish law requires animals to be slaughtered in a way that drains the blood. If an animal was strangled, the blood stayed in the meat. To a Jew, eating blood was a "capital offense" against God's law of life.
If the Gentiles didn't avoid these things, a Jewish Christian could never go to a Gentile's house for dinner without violating their conscience. These rules made "Potluck Dinners" possible in the early church.
3. Separation from Pagan Culture
The fourth rule, sexual immorality (porneia), was included because the Greco-Roman world had very different standards than the Jews. Things like temple prostitution or casual promiscuity were common in pagan worship. This rule served as a "moral boundary" to ensure that while Gentiles didn't have to become Jews, they did have to leave behind the loose morality of their old religions.
Summary: Why these four?
The goal wasn't to give a complete list of all sins (they didn't mention murder or stealing, for example). Instead, they chose the four things that made it most difficult for Jews and Gentiles to coexist. It was a "peace treaty" designed to protect the unity of the church.
