Day 336: The Council at Jerusalem (2025)

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 336. We are reading from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15, from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapters 11 and 12, as well as Proverbs, chapter 28, verses 10 through 12. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast and receive daily episodes and daily updates. It is day 336, reading Acts 15, 1 Corinthians chapters 11 and 12, as well as Proverbs chapter 28, verses 10 through 12. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15, the council at Jerusalem. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, reporting the conversion of the Gentiles, and they gave great joy to all the brethren. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, It is necessary to circumcise them and to charge them to keep the law of Moses. The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter rose and said to them, Brethren, you know that in the early days God made 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 did to us. And he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. And all the assembly kept silence. and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, Brethren, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David which has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up, that the rest of men may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name says the Lord who has made these things known from of old. Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and from unchastity and from what is strangled and from blood. For from early generations, Moses has had in every city those who preach him for he has read every Sabbath in the synagogues. The Council's Letter to the Gentile Believers Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, with the following letter. The brethren, both the apostles and the elders, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting. Since we have heard that some persons from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, It has seemed good to us in assembly to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us 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. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words and strengthened them. And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brethren to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. Paul and Barnabas separate. And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Come, let us return and visit the brethren in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are. And Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp contention so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed the way to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. The first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 11. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Head coverings. I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a woman is her husband and the head of Christ is God. Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head. It is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. For as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman, and all things are from God. Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is degrading to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her pride? For her hair is given to her for a covering. If anyone is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other practice, nor do the churches of God. Abuses at the Lord's Supper But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better, but for the worse. For in the first place when you assemble as a church I hear that there are divisions among you and I partly believe it For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized When you meet together it is not the Lord supper that you eat For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. The Institution of the Eucharist For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also the chalice after supper, saying, This chalice is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Partaking of the Eucharist unworthily. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened, so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together to be condemned. About the other things I will give directions when I come. Chapter 12, Spiritual Gifts. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to mute idols, however you may have been moved. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says Jesus be cursed. And no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit. To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, the ability to distinguish between spirits. to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. One body with many members. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God has arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those parts of the body which we think less honorable, we invest with greater honor. and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. and God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts and I will show you a still more excellent way. The book of Proverbs chapter 28 verses 10 through 12. He who misleads the upright into an evil way will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will have an excellent inheritance. A rich man is wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has understanding will find him out. When the righteous triumph, there is great glory. but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for your word. We also thank you for the ways in which your word challenges us, the ways in which your word convicts us. We thank you for questions. We thank you for things that arise in your word that are difficult to wrap our minds around and difficult to understand. We ask you in those moments, in these moments, to extend to your Holy Spirit in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Give us hearts that are open to being taught. Give us hearts that are open to seeing things the way you see them, the way the things are. Help us to trust you with everything, not just your word, but also your will in our daily lives. Help us to trust you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. So Acts chapter 15 is a pretty critical chapter. Now, obviously, a lot of things are critical, but what's going on? This is one of the things that St. Paul is gonna be writing about. He wrote about it to the Romans. He writes about it to the Ephesians. He writes about it to the Galatians. He writes about it to the Corinthians a little bit. But it's this thing called the Judaizers. So the Judaizers were what? They were folks who had been Christian. We might have talked about this before, but they were Jews who become Christian. And they held on to the idea that, okay, if Gentiles are going to become a Christian, that's fine. If they're brought into the new covenant, that's great. But they first have to be brought into the old covenant in order to be brought into the new covenant. See, because think about this. that is, that's all the first Christians came from the old covenant, right? They were part of the people of God that God established his covenant with in the old Testament. And so one of the ways, the way that if you a man you brought into the old covenant you brought in through circumcision And so here are the Judaizers And what they thought was well that makes sense If we going to have Gentiles come into this new family in the new covenant then they're brought in first like we were, circumcised, then baptized. That's just, that's the stages. That's how we did it. That's how they should do it. And the big question was, do those Gentile converts have to first be circumcised before they're baptized? circumcised and you realize that they didn't, I mean, the apostles didn't know Jesus didn't say anything about this. There's nothing about this in the old Testament. In fact, if there's anything in the old Testament, it says you got to be circumcised. And so they don't have an answer. There's not an answer that God said in his word. There's not an answer that God said through the person of Jesus. So what do you do? In fact, it says there arose no little dissension among them. They had, they had, I love this in chapter 15, verse seven, it said, after there had been much debate, much debate. Like they argued about this. There were fights, we'll say. In my family, we call them discussions. There were discussions. There were debates. There were fights here about we need to get them circumcised. We don't need to get them circumcised. But who determines that? I mean, this is the big question. This is the reason why we need the church and not just an invisible spiritual church. This is the reason why we need the authority of the church, right? Think about this. In this section, in chapter 15, we have the first church council. It's called the Council of Jerusalem. We had the next church council. You know, we have Council of Nicaea, the Council of Ephesus. We have the Council of Constantinople. We have the Second Vatican Council. Those church councils look exactly like chapter 15. The apostles, aka the bishops, their successors, and the pope, aka the successor of St. Peter, they come together. They debate. They argue about this. They fight about this. In fact, there's there's legends i'm not sure if this is actually accurate but there's legends that there was a guy named arius and in the 325 right arianism had taken over the world this idea that jesus christ isn't fully god but is only partly god he's like part god part man kind of like hercules situation and arius because there's some scriptures that indicate well maybe you know jesus says the father is greater than i i mean maybe that means who knows what that means maybe that doesn't mean he's fully god and yet the orthodox belief is that no jesus is fully god and fully man. So the Council of Nicaea in 325, there are stories of a guy named jolly old St. Nicholas, that St. Nick himself was at the Council of Nicaea. And it's legend. Maybe it didn't happen. Some people are like, it happened. Some people are like, it didn't happen. And I'm in the middle where I'm like, let's just tell the story. It's kind of fun. But the idea is here is St. Nicholas, who himself would have been disfigured because he suffered for the faith. He himself had been tortured because he believed that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. And he's debating Aries, at one point it says that he punched him in the face or slapped him. I don't know, one of those things. And that's why I think, I guess it's fun to know about jolly old St. Nicholas because he just, you know, knows when to throw down with a heretic like Aries. But, you know, it wasn't established fully. Is Jesus fully God, fully man? Yes, the Christians believe that. But what about those problematic passages where Jesus seems to indicate the Father is greater than I? But he also says the Father and I are one. And so that seems to indicate equality. And it is not resolved until when? Until the church came together with the bishops and the Pope. And they say, okay, it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us. Bam, here, Jesus is fully God, fully man. Later in the Council of Constantinople, that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one divine being in three divine persons. Like that's a thing that comes from the Catholic Church coming together and saying, this is the doctrine. This is the dogma. And the first time we have that is here in chapter 15, the Council of Jerusalem, because we realize that if you don't have to get circumcised, then yeah, let's not do that. But if you do, then you are risking your entire salvation by not getting circumcised. So the answer that they're going to come up with here better be right, right? It better be infallibly right, or else everyone who is uncircumcised, even if they're baptized, will not be able to enter heaven. And so thanks be to God, God gave us this church. And this church actually can teach us things that God himself didn't reveal through scripture and didn't reveal in the person of Jesus, but does reveal through the teaching of the church. Does that make sense? This is so important. And even though we know this, we know this, we know the church is imperfect. I mean, think about this. They're very after this and they announce this great news to the Gentile believers. And they're so excited. They're pumped. And then Paul and Barnabas are going to go on another missionary journey. and Barnabas wanted to take John Mark. And Paul thought it best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp contention between the two of them so that they separated from each other. Remember Barnabas, the son of encouragement, it was, oh my gosh, I imagine like the right-hand man of Paul. Maybe they were each other's right hand. I don't know, but there's brothers in the Lord, right? Maybe I always picture them as best friends because as they're going through day after day of this mission work that you hope and pray that they liked each other. You hope and pray that they lived like brothers. But in this moment, they disagreed so vehemently with each other about whether John Mark should come with them or not that they separated from each other. He broke up the band. Yoko Ono here is John Mark. John Mark, who was Barnabas's cousin. Now, later on, we praise God. We praise God for this. Later on, they reconcile. Later on, Paul and Barnabas are close again. Later on, Paul even calls John Mark his son. And yet at this moment, here's the church that is imperfect and yet can teach accurately, can teach infallibly. And that is essential. I hope that makes sense. I hope that makes sense. Chapter 15 just highlights the need for the visible church to exist. And not only that, but that it has the authority to teach us. Some people say, I remember people asking this, they say, where is that written? Where's that written down? You have to go to mass on Sundays. Okay, where's that written down? And I would say, well, there's a lot of indication in scripture, but A, why do you need to written down? Where would it have to be written in order for you to believe it? Because it could be written in the Bible. That's great. We believe the Bible is the word of God. But could it also be written in church documents? Could it also be written by the church who gave us the New Testament, who gave us these 73 books? Could it be written by that authority? and we'd accept that authority. Now, speaking of authority, moving on to 1 Corinthians 11 and 12, you know, here's our first challenging letter, first challenging section of St. Paul when it comes to men and women. And it's important to understand that as we move into this, when St. Paul is talking about the head, he's not talking about better. He's talking about source. Goes on, he says, I want you to understand, head of every man is Christ. Jesus is the source. Head of every woman is her husband. That husband's the source. Head of Christ is God. that God the Father is the source. Now, this is very important to get that right right away. I want you to understand, the head of every man is Christ, the head of every woman is her husband, the head of Christ is God. Now, we have to understand this last piece, the head of Christ is God Question we just covered this a second ago Is Jesus Christ less is he inferior to God the Father The answer of course is absolutely not So Jesus Christ is not inferior to God the Father. Is Jesus Christ co-equal, co-eternal with the Father? Absolutely. So they are both God from God, light from light, true God from true God, right? So Jesus Christ and God the Father are completely equal in honor and dignity and glory. Yes. Are they the same? No. The father's not the son. The son is not the father. The Holy Spirit's not the son. The Holy Spirit's not the father. They're all co-equal, one God. So that's the context for everything comes after this. So when St. Paul says, oh, the husband is the head of the wife, is he saying that that means she's inferior to her husband? Well, no, unless he means also that Jesus is inferior to the father. And he does not mean that. Keep that, keep this in mind. Very important that what he's talking about, he's talking about order. We believe that the Trinity is a communion of persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, loving each other, not the same, but loving each other with his fierce pouring out themselves in love and also receiving that love and submitting to one another, submitting to one another out of love. This is just, it's incredible to even just begin to imagine what and who the Holy Trinity is and what St. Paul's imagining, envisioning, he's right about this in Ephesians as well, is envisioning is this same kind of dynamic between husband and wife in their marriage. Is that that relationship, that dynamic is, okay, yes, not the same. The man is not the woman. The woman is not the man. They're not the same. And yet they are co-equal. And so what do they do? They say, okay, let's have order here. And the order that he's offering here is that the husband is the head of the household, essentially, right? Now, what does that mean? What does it not mean? Well, it doesn't mean that he makes all the decisions. That's not what that means. Because obviously, Scripture indicates and clearly reveals that men and women are equal, but they're not necessarily the same. You might say people have poetically said, if the husband is the head of the household, the wife is the heart of the household. And just like St. Paul will go on to describe later on in this next chapter, he's saying, okay, the head and the heart can't say to each other, I don't need you. The foot can't say to the hand, I don't need you. I can't say to the ear, I don't need you. They're different, but they're equal. Does that make sense? This whole context is all together. It's all united together. And if we start to understand, we start to falsely believe, falsely understand, incorrectly understand that St. Paul is making a distinction and saying one is better than the other. The idea of having authority does not mean superiority. The idea of surrendering oneself or submitting oneself does not mean inferiority. That is not the context. And we know this because of verse three, where when St. Paul says the head of Christ, the head of Jesus Christ is God, right? Order, not inferiority and superiority. We know this. Okay. So does that make sense? I, we need to drill this in because I know that there are some women who, when, when they heard this, they automatically shut down or they put up their dukes, right? They kind of like put up the walls and defensives. I'm like, I'm ready to fight. I'm ready to throw down. You talked about a St. Nick and Arius, you know, fighting. We're going to fight father. right here. Like, no, no, no. So important. And we know this again, it's reiterated because in verse 11 and 12, it said, nevertheless, the Lord in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. We need each other for as woman was made from man. Speaking of Genesis chapter two, so now man is born of woman and all things are from God. So keep that in mind. This whole thing in mind is that we need each other. Now, the church was, I mean, think, where do we even get the idea that men and women are equal? We get that from the Bible. The Judeo-Christian worldview is men and women are equal. The only place in the world, the only religion in the world, the only philosophy in the world that's ever taught that is this, the books we've been reading, these 73 books that we're reading in this one year. So keep that in mind. Keep that in mind. And oh my gosh, that's so important for us. Okay. What's he talking about head covering then? Well, in the ancient world, a woman that went without her head covered was most likely a prostitute. Just there you go. So here's St. Paul saying, yeah, eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, unless it's going to lead someone to sin. So here's some women who are like, in that case, I'm taking off the veil covering. I don't have to go outside with this veil because I'm not living under the law anymore. I'm living in the spirit. And he's like, ah, yeah, but listen, that's going to be hurtful to some other people. It's not actually very honoring because you're going to lead people to think that all the women who are Christians going without veil head coverings are prostitutes. And so does that make sense? Okay, gosh, I should have spent less time on this, but the abuse at the Lord's Supper, so horrible, but yet St. Paul reiterates that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. That is when we celebrate the mass, it is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. How do we know this? because of this horrible thing. St. Paul says in chapter 11, verse 27, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup unworthily is guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. That is his body and blood. In fact, that idiom, profaning the body and blood of the Lord means you're guilty of his murder. And that's really important. That's one of the reasons why every single one of us has to go to confession before we go to communion. If we're aware of mortal sin, we're aware of serious sin, we have to go to confession before receiving Holy Communion. You know, that's why there are debates like of coming before the Lord, going to mass and receiving Holy Communion. If someone is in public and obstinate opposition to the commands of God, then they may not receive Holy Communion. Typically, we just, we police ourselves. It's like, I'm not going to go forward. If I go forward, I'll maybe cross my arms over my chest to receive a blessing. But yeah, it's tough because St. Paul says this is why people are dying even. And it's a big deal. I spent too much time talking about the beginning of chapter 11. I think it's important though, because our sisters, you need to know that we are equal. You know, the church, I was going to say this last word, not only the gifts of the Holy Spirit. How amazing is that? Tomorrow we're going to talk about the greatest of these is love. Okay, that's going to be amazing. But the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you guys, we need to have these gifts. Okay, the world hated the church. Originally, why? Because the world said, many women are different. And church was like, yeah, yeah, many women are different and they're equal. And the world hated the church for that because we said men and women are equal. Now, the world says men and women are not different. Men and women are the same. And the world hates the church again because the church still says men and women are equal, but also men and women are not the same. They were not equal. We're complementary. And so it's so interesting, right? How the world changes, yet the church continues to be hated. Church continues to be hated. But what can we expect? Jesus said it would happen. okay long day sorry about that guys my name is father mike i'm praying for you please pray for me my name is father mike i cannot wait to see you tomorrow god bless