ACC ~ Acts 15 v22 - 29

OVERVIEW:

Many of our contemporary preoccupations with the text are also those of the ancients, though the way of approaching them is different. We give here some lines from Joseph Fitzmyer’s commentary so that the reader can get an idea of the different mindsets. Noteworthy about the letter is the mention of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the decision of the assembly is said also to be that of the Holy Spirit. “The letter offers a solution to the problem in the Antiochene church that rose out of the incident of Paul’s public rebuke of Peter there (Gal 2:11-14). In other words, after the departure of Peter and Paul from Antioch subsequent to that rebuke, a problem developed about Gentile Christians living and eating with Jewish Christians. So the church in Antioch eventually sent emissaries (among them Simeon Niger, 13:1) to Jerusalem and sought advice about it from James and the church there. The Jerusalem church responded in the letter sent. Luke, however, because he found the letter in an Antiochene source, as he had also learned about the Jerusalem ‘Council’ joined the two accounts and presented the two (originally independent) Jerusalem decisions as events of the ‘Council.’ … He has joined them in order to explain how the Christian church eventually achieves its own independent status and mode of living as it emancipates itself from its Jewish matrix.” The Letter to the Churches of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia affords the early Christian writers opportunity to reflect on several historical matters: the Holy Spirit’s role in this event, the content of what the letter proscribes, as well as the matter of its credibility among the recipients. The Spirit is the source of inspiration for the council’s decision (CHRYSOSTOM, CYRIL, BEDE). Origen sees in the contents of the letter proof that revelation does not supplant human reason that has guided civilizations in making laws, but rather that revelation completes and fulfills reason. Chrysostom’s comments on the last of these elements, that of credibility, are very perceptive: a piece of writing in and of itself was no more a guarantee of authenticity in the ancient world than it is today, and so trustworthy messengers were needed to confirm the truth of its words. He also notes how controversy breeds distrust, and so, even though it was enough that their decision had as its source the Holy Spirit, he sees in the apostles’ self-reference, “and to us,” an eagerness to show to the Gentiles their goodwill toward them. Controversy, however, has also often been an occasion of growing deeper in faith, and Acts 15 became a model in the early church of the ecumenical council. This is a clarifying process and has had a large role in what has come to be called the development of doctrine: as time proceeds, the Holy Spirit grants to the Bride of Christ a deeper understanding into the content of the one faith. Development of doctrine was not the predominant way of speaking among the early Christians. We can see this in the words of Chrysostom to a congregation in Antioch whom he is exhorting to be on guard against those who teach that Christ is not divine. He uses a model common in the ancient world that the origins are pure, but later generations fall from this height just as a pure stream, flowing from its source and growing larger, becomes a muddy river. Although Chrysostom’s perspective on the past is not ours, his point has a relevance: it reminds us that we have been given a great responsibility in cooperating with the Holy Spirit to preserve, grow in and pass on this great gift of the faith.

15:24 | Troubled with Words

THE RESPONSIBILITY TO DEFEND THE FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: You have received as your patrimony the desire never to allow the teachings of our faith to degenerate into heresy. What makes this clear? In the time of your ancestors, people came here from Judea who were muddying the clear waters of the doctrine taught by the apostles. They were exhorting your ancestors to practice circumcision and to observe the Mosaic law. Those who then lived in your city did not remain silent, nor did they put up with this innovation. They were like courageous hounds who saw wolves attacking and destroying the entire flock. They sprang after the wolves and did not let up chasing them and driving them away. They saw to it that the apostles from every corner of the world sent them their decision in the form of a letter that would protect them from any attack launched against the faithful by those innovators and all such as might come thereafter. AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS 2.4-5.

15:26 | Risking Their Lives for the Sake of Christ

THESE HAVE A RIGHT TO BE BELIEVED. CHRYSOSTOM: As they are “beloved,” they will not be dismissed. As they “have risked their lives,” they have a right to be believed. “We have sent” them as well, it says, to announce the same things by word of mouth. For it was necessary that there be more than the letter alone, lest they should say that they said one thing instead of another. The praise bestowed on Paul stopped their mouths. For Paul came neither by himself nor with Barnabas alone but was accompanied by others from the church (and not only by those from Jerusalem), so that he should not be suspected. It shows that they have a right to be believed. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 33.

15:28 | It Seemed Good

OF THE SPIRIT, BUT ALSO SPOKEN BY PEOPLE. CHRYSOSTOM: “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” Why did they add “and to us,” when “to the Holy Spirit” was enough? The latter prevents them from thinking it came of people, while the former teaches them that they too welcome [the Gentiles], even though they [as Jewish Christians] are circumcised. They have to speak to people who are still weak and afraid of them. This is the reason why this is added as well. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 33.

FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: They indicated clearly by what they wrote that though the decree had been written by men who were apostles, it was from the Holy Spirit and universal. Barnabas and Paul took this decree and confirmed it to the whole world. CATECHETICAL LECTURE 17.29.

RIGHT TO THE HOLY SPIRIT AND TO US. BEDE: That is, it has pleased the Holy Spirit, who, appearing as the arbiter of his own powers, “breathes where he wills” and speaks the things which he wishes. And it has pleased us, not in accordance with our own will alone but by virtue of the prompting of the same Spirit. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 15.28.

15:29 | Abstain from Sacrifices to Idols

DIVINE LAW COMPLETES HUMAN LAW. ORIGEN: Now in these precepts where it says that no other burden ought to be imposed on Gentile believers except abstinence from the sacrifices of idols, from blood, from what has been suffocated and from fornication, homicide is not forbidden, nor adultery, nor theft, nor homosexual acts, nor other crimes that are punished by divine and human laws. But if it is saying that Christians must observe only that which it has recounted, it will appear to some that it granted license concerning the rest. But consider how the Holy Spirit manages affairs: since other crimes are avenged by laws of the world, it seemed superfluous for those things, which are sufficiently covered by human law, also to have been forbidden by divine law. It only decreed those things about which human law had said nothing and which seemed proper to religion. COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 9.28.