The Sin of Soul Subversion

We now come to the sin of subversion. The edict from the Jerusalem council, seeking to reassure the Gentile Christians, said that certain men who claimed to be representing the thought of the church leaders were actually just troubling people and subverting (anaskeuadzo) souls (Acts 15:24). The way they were doing this was through insisting that Gentiles become Jews, submitting themselves to the discipline of circumcision and all that it entailed. This was rejected by the first great Church council — to add works to the gospel is to tunnel under it, subverting it and human souls at the same time.