DAY 3

TOPIC
The Church After the period of Suffering :Its unity
and division
TEACHING-LEARNING OUTCOMES
 Doctrine: Have a deeper understanding of the unity amidst
diversity of gifts and ministries in the Church,
 Moral: Share their acts of defending our faith through
creative presentation,
 Worship: Attend the Eucharistic celebration and reflect on
their experience.
Sacred Scripture Acts 15:7-12- The
Apostles and the Elders
“And the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.
And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them,
“Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among
you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. “And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them,
giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no
distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
“Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the
neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been
able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the
Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are. And all the multitude kept
silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating
what signs and wonders God had done through them among the
Gentiles” (Acts 15:6-12).
The discussion started as a good debate. Both sides were
allowed to speak. The leaders including the apostles and
elders were there. After a while, Peter began to share. Peter
had a particular part in all of this. It was, as he said, through
his mouth that the Gentiles would first hear the gospel. Let
us observe three major points in 7-9.
1) God first revealed the Gospel to the
Gentiles (7)
 Peter began sharing what happened when he was led to visit
Cornelius in Joppa as recorded in Acts 10. God started the whole
problem. Peter was reluctant but the Spirit in the vision
compelled him to respond to Cornelius. This was God’s choice,
not his. He considered those foods in the dream unclean but God,
who made food, stated they were now clean.
 Peter’s point is clear. God initiated this work of bringing the
Gospel to the Gentiles, not him. Peter revolted at the whole idea!
Philip was another example. The Spirit escorted him to the
Ethiopian eunuch and to Samaria (not fully Gentiles but the same
‘God did it’ beginning). This whole thrust reminds us of Jesus
words back in Acts 1:8. The Holy Spirit would lead them into
Samaria and all the world sharing the Gospel.
 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of
the earth” (Acts 1:8).
 If God initiated the work, then we should observe what He is
doing among the Gentiles. How do we know God is doing it?
By the special signs and response of the people. The miracles
and speaking in different languages confirmed God’s hand in
it.
2) God confirmed their belief by sign of
Holy Spirit
 Peter emphasizes that they heard the word of the gospel,
believed in Jesus and received the Holy Spirit by God who
best knows the heart. Peter explains this is the same thing
God did among them (the Jews in Acts 2). God confirmed
that they were genuine believers by the giving of the Holy
Spirit. There really is no difference between ‘us’ the Jews and
‘them’ the Gentiles.
 The way God did things is significant. Peter step by step
identifies this process which they fully knew. As a zealous
Jew, he no doubt went through this logical observation many
a time, verifying it in his own soul. This following third point
becomes the powerful conclusion.
Peter’s Conclusion
 Peter continues explaining that the Jews have not been able
to keep the Law. Why give the Gentiles the extra burden? The
Jews are saved under the same grace of Christ Jesus (in
contrast to works). All are saved through the same grace.
Special note
 They have not clearly stated how the Old Testament relates to
a believer except by suggesting that they no longer need to
abide by the Old Testament to gain a relationship with God.
They now have a new covenant (not mentioned here) by
which one is saved in Christ Jesus. Through the following
advice, we will need to discern, if possible, on whether the
teaching in the Old Testament is valid and in what capacity or
whether it was merely given to accommodate the Jews with
their old customs.
Paul and Barnabas followed up on this by making known their
own report on what God was doing both in Antioch and in
the different places that the gospel was preached. Remember
Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to monitor the work there
in Antioch. The signs and wonders among the Gentiles
replicates what was done among the Jews in Acts 2. They are
saved the same by grace and faith in Christ and experience
the same confirming signs.1
Conclusion
 Peter, Paul and Barnabas were largely using testimony of how
God was working great things among the Gentiles. They did
not quote from the Old Testament (though Paul no doubt was
tempted to do so!). They were observers! God was doing it.
All believers are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
 There are no essential differences between the Jew and
Gentiles. They are saved through the same means and retain
their faith the same way. The Gentiles do not need to keep
the Old Testament law to be saved or even to be ‘good’
Christians.
 The confirming signs in the new works are not signs of a true
believer. They are confirming that the situation is a genuine
work of God to non-believers as well as to the existing
church which still had many hangups to get used to.
Church Teaching
Council of Jerusalem, a conference of the
Christian Apostles in Jerusalem about 50 CE that decreed
that Gentile Christians did not have to observe the Mosaic
Law of the Jews. It was occasioned by the insistence of
certain Judaic Christians from Jerusalem that Gentile
Christians from Antioch in Syria obey the Mosaic custom
of circumcision. A delegation, led by the Apostle Paul and his
companion St. Barnabas, was appointed to confer with the
elders of the church in Jerusalem.
The ensuing apostolic conference (noted in Acts 15:2–35), led
by St. Peter the Apostle and St. James, “the Lord’s brother,”
decided the issue in favour of Paul and the Gentile Christians.
From this time onward, Gentile Christians were not bound
by the Levitical ceremonial regulations of the Jews, except
for the provisions of the so-called apostolic decree:
abstention “from what has been sacrificed to idols and from
blood and from what is strangled and from fornication” (Acts
15:29).
The Council of Jerusalem thus
demonstrated the willingness of
apostolic leaders to make compromises
on certain secondary issues in order to
maintain peace and unity in the church.
Constantine and the ChristianChurch
Heresies and council
RESOURCES:
 Bible, CFC, CCC,Vat.II,
 Cuyos, Fanny A.,et. Al., Journey With Jesus: God Builds and Unites
His People (II)
 Sr. Maquiling, Christie P. , AR – OurWay to God (7), Phoenix
Publishing
 Sr. Faypon, Mary Rosella U., SPC- Maturing in Jesus Christ (IV), Rex
Bookstore
 Galicia, Jane S. – Echoes of God’s Love (8) Rex Bookstore
 Koch, Carl FSC- A Holy Nation- Phoenix Publishing