“THE DECISION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT” . . . The First Reading for this Sixth Sunday of Easter comes from the New Testament, from the Acts of the Apostles. It speaks of the first great internal crisis faced by the nascent Church, and of how that crisis was resolved by the Apostles. The issue concerned whether or not one first has to become a Jew before he/she could be baptized. All of the first followers of Jesus were Jewish, and all of the men who followed him, including the Apostles, had been circumcised – as prescribed by the Law of Moses. Some of the Jewish Christians were insisting that before a man who was a Gentile (i.e., not a Jew) could be baptized, he would first have to be circumcised. Both male and female Gentiles would have to promise to follow all of the precepts of the Mosaic Law. In other words, before a Gentile could become a Christian, he/she first had to become a Jew.
Paul and Barnabas, along with the Gentile Christians, asserted that the only thing required for baptism (and for salvation) was a living faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah. It was not necessary for a Gentile to follow the Law of Moses in all its details in order to become a Christian. This controversy simmered within Church communities for several years, and became more and more divisive. Finally, it was decided to refer the matter to the Apostles themselves for resolution. After hearing arguments on both sides of the matter and after much discussion among themselves, the Apostles determined that it was not necessary for a man to be circumcised, nor to observe all the strictures of Mosaic Law, in order to be a Christian, although certain fundamental prohibitions should be followed. In the words of the Apostles themselves, …
“It is the decision of the Holy Spirit,
and ours too,
not to lay on you any burden beyond that which is strictly necessary,
namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood,
from the meat of strangled animals, and from illicit sexual union.
You will be well advised to avoid these things. Farewell.”
[Acts 15.28-29]
This key meeting of the Apostles was in fact the very first Council of the Church, the so-called “Council of Jerusalem.” It is noteworthy that the language used by the Apostles to convey their decision clearly shows that they understood that their decision was that of the Holy Spirit himself! They were convinced that it was God himself who was speaking through them!
There have been only twenty “Ecumenical Councils” in the two-thousand year history of the Church. The last was the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), which took place in Rome, from 1962-1965. In each of these assemblies, that original apostolic conviction that it is God himself who speaks through the Magisterium (the Teaching Authority given by Christ to his Church) has been fundamental. That Magisterium comprises the Bishop of Rome (the successor of the Apostle Peter and the Vicar of Christ) and the bishops of the world in communion with him (the successors of the Apostles). The most solemn expression of the Magisterium occurs when the bishops of the world gather with the Bishop of Rome in a Church Council – just as the Apostles gathered with Peter in Jerusalem in the earliest days of the Church, and just as some three thousand bishops from around the world gathered with Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council in the mid-twentieth century. All of this is in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to his Apostles given in today’s Gospel:
“… the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit
Whom the Father will send in my name,
Will instruct you in everything,
And remind you of all that I told you …”
[Jn. 14.26]
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