St. Barnabas 28. How the Jerusalem Council Decree Was Understood.
Recall that the issue was whether the
Gentiles who became believers in Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, had to accept
the entire Jewish law, including its ceremonial and dietary provisions. This
was an enormous question which Barnabas and Paul had dealt with over and over
again.
Now the decision of the Apostles and
Elders in Jerusalem, as written in the letter, was: “It has seemed good to the
Holy Spirit and to us” – note the authority: God the Holy Spirit (consistent
with the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity) and the Apostles (chosen by Christ)
and Elders (some perhaps chosen by Christ, others by the Apostles as this is 19
years following Jesus’ ascension), God and humans together in the Church – “to
lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain
from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is
strangled and from unchastity.” (Ac 15:28-29.) Circumcision and the remainder
of ceremonial law is not required.
The book of Acts demonstrates the early
Church’s process of reaching a decision in articulation of its faith: first
human conflict and debate, but then also by means of discernment of God’s
activity. Peter relates his experience, Barnabas his, and Paul his. All
witnessed to what God had done through them among the Gentiles, and thus
witnessed to God’s own choice (Ac 15:7, 12, 14). James then reflects on
Scripture, but he does not say the witnesses’ words agree with the Prophets.
Instead he says, “The prophets agree with this” (Ac 15:15). One commentator
suggests this indicates “the text of Scripture does not dictate how God should
act. Rather, God’s action dictates how we should understand the text of Scripture.” [1]
Another commentator suggests this
“rejoicing” by the Church in Antioch indicates the decree of the letter was
understood to not impose any additional dietary restrictions [2], other than those
already required by Jewish standards for God-fearers (Lev. 17). These standards
would already be known to any Gentiles who had come to synagogue, particularly
as it was also the protocol of table-fellowship in the ancient world that one
would eat only with someone who shared the same values. [3]
In 1442, the Ecumenical Council of
Florence addressed the issue of whether this decree of Acts 15 remained in
effect in the entire Church. The Council quoted 1 Tim. 4:4, “Everything created
by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when received with thanksgiving,”
and declared: “The apostolic prohibition, to abstain ‘from what has been
sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled,’ was suited to
that time when a single Church was rising from Jews and Gentiles, who
previously lived with different ceremonies and customs. This was so that the
Gentiles should have some observances in common with Jews, and occasion would
be offered of coming together in one worship and faith of God, and a cause of
dissension might be removed, since by ancient custom blood and strangled things
seem abominable to Jews, and Gentiles could be thought to be returning to
idolatry if they ate sacrificial food.” [4]
So these dietary prohibitions were a matter of Church discipline for that particular time, place, and situation, and could be changed; they were not a matter of faith (dogma) which does not change.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.
Dibby Allan Green has a BA in Religious Studies (Westmont College, 1978) and MA in Theology (Augustine Institute, 2019), is a lay Catholic hermit, and a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.