[The posts which follow make extensive use of The Acts of the Apostles, by Madame Cecilia, (Religious of St Andrew's Convent, Streatham), with an Imprimi potest dated 16 October 1907 (Westminster); Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. (London). With grateful prayers for the author and her team:
REQUIEM æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.ETERNAL rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.]
Acts XV : 23-35
 |
| From Saint Peter. Fouard. Longmans (1907) |
[24] Forasmuch as we have heard, that some going out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls; to whom we gave no commandment:
[25] It hath seemed good to us, being assembled together, to choose out men, and to send them unto you, with our well beloved Barnabas and Paul:
[26] Men that have given their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[27] We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves also will, by word of mouth, tell you the same things.
[28] For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay no further burden upon you than these necessary things:
[29] That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which things keeping yourselves, you shall do well. Fare ye well.
[30] They therefore being dismissed, went down to Antioch; and gathering together the multitude, delivered the epistle.
[31] Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
[32] But Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, with many words comforted the brethren, and confirmed them.
[33] And after they had spent some time there, they were let go with peace by the brethren, unto them that had sent them.
[34] But it seemed good unto Silas to remain there; and Judas alone departed to Jerusalem.
[35] And Paul and Barnabas continued at Antioch, teaching and preaching, with many others, the word of the Lord.
[23] scribentes per manus eorum : Apostoli et seniores fratres, his qui sunt Antiochiae, et Syriae, et Ciliciae, fratribus ex gentibus, salutem. [24] Quoniam audivimus quia quidam ex nobis exeuntes, turbaverunt vos verbis, evertentes animas vestras, quibus non mandavimus : [25] placuit nobis collectis in unum eligere viros, et mittere ad vos cum carissimis nostris Barnaba et Paulo,
[26] hominibus qui tradiderunt animas suas pro nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi. [27] Misimus ergo Judam et Silam, qui et ipsi vobis verbis referent eadem. [28] Visum est enim Spiritui Sancto, et nobis nihil ultra imponere vobis oneris quam haec necessaria : [29] ut abstineatis vos ab immolatis simulacrorum, et sanguine, et suffocato, et fornicatione, a quibus custodientes vos, bene agetis. Valete. [30] Illi ergo dimissi, descendeunt Antiochiam : et congregata multitudine tradiderunt epistolam.
[31] Quam cum legissent, gavisi sunt super consolatione. [32] Judas autem, et Silas, et ipsi cum essent prophetae, verbo plurimo consolati sunt fratres, et confirmaverunt. [33] Facto autem ibi aliquanto tempore, dimissi sunt cum pace a fratribus ad eos, qui miserant illos. [34] Visum est autem Silae ibi remanere : Judas autem solus abiit Jerusalem. [35] Paulus autem et Barnabas demorabantur Antiochiae docentes, et evangelizantes cum aliis pluribus verbum Domini.
Notes
23. by their hands. In the Greek we have the singular “ hand ” This is a Hebraism equivalent to “by them.” Cf. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachias (Malach. i. 1). This is the first mention of an apostolic letter ; other examples of this practice are seen in the epistles, but these were not decisions of an assembly of the Church, but of individual apostles.
In the book of Machabees we have an example of a letter being sent to the Jews dispersed in Egypt to announce the purification of the Temple. The letter began thus . To the brethren, the Jews that are throughout Egypt, the brethren, the Jews that are in Jerusalem, and in the land off Judea, send health and good peace (2 Mach. 1. 1).
ancients brethren. Codices E, G, II, many cursives, and the Coptic and Syriac Versions give “and the brethren” (και οἱ ἀδελφοι). Codices A, B, C, and the Vulgate and Armenian Versions omit “and the,” so that “brethren” stands in opposition to “apostles and ancients,” This reading agrees better with the context, since the apostles and ancients had assembled to discuss the matter, and St Paul and Silas were charged to deliver to the churches what had been decreed by the apostles and ancients who were in Jerusalem (ch. xvi. 4). The ancients call themselves “brethren” to shew that, by Christian charity, they are intimately united with the Gentile converts, to whom the letter is addressed.
Antioch. This city is named first, because there the discussion concerning circumcision had arisen.
Syria and Cilicia. From the special mention of these two provinces, we may infer that the disagreement concerning circumcision had spread widely in these districts, or that it was considered opportune to make known the decree in these countries on account of the large Jewish population inhabiting them, so that peace might be maintained when Gentiles were received into the Church. Where the converts were chiefly drawn from the Gentile population, this difficulty was not so likely to arise.
St Paul had preached the Gospel in these countries. Cf. Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia (Gal. i. 21).
Tarsus, St Paul’s native country, was the capital of Cilicia.
greeting. The usual salutation of a Greek letter. The same word occurs in St James’ epistle i. 1, and in the letter sent by Claudius Lysias to Felix the governor (infra, xxiii. 26).
24. some going out, — i.e. from Jerusalem ; these jndaizers evidently had given themselves out as delegated by the Church in Jerusalem.
subverting. (ἀνασκευαζοντες.) This verb signifies to remove the furniture from a house ; hence to throw into disorder, to turn upside down.
we gave no commandment. The false doctrine could not have been taught by the apostles, for they were guided into all truth by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus had promised. Individual members of the Church may err, but the teaching Church, as a body, cannot teach what is false.
25. being assembled together. Bettor, “being together with one accord ” (γενομενοις ὁμοθυμαδον).
to choose ... to send. The Church alone has authority to send out teachers. Cf. Hoiv shall they hear loithout a jjreacher ? And how shall they preach unless they he sent? (Rom. x. 14-15).
our well beloved Barnabas and Paul. Here we have a proof that the church in Jerusalem fully approved the doctrines taught by St Paul and Barnabas. St Paul refers to this formal recognition by the apostles in his epistle to the Galatians. Cf. And when they had known the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who seemed to he pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision : Only that we should be mindful of the poor, which same thing also 1 was careful to do (Gal. ii. 9-10).
From various passages in the epistles, we learn bow faithfully St Paul complied with the request to assist the poor brethren of Jerusalem : e.g. But now I shall go to Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a contribution for the poor of the saints that are in Jerusalem (Rom. xv. 25-26. See also 1 Cor. xvi. 1-3 ; 2 Cor, ix. 1-2; Acts xxiv. 17).
Barnabas is here mentioned first because he was better known to the brethren of Judea than St Paul, who, for some years after his conversion, was unknown by face to the churches of Judea (Gal. i. 22).
26. Men that have given, etc. They had given their lives in will if not in deed. The events which had occurred in Antioch and Iconium and St Paul’s miraculous escape at Lystra were known to the church in Jerusalem. The praises bestowed on St Paul and Barnabas would naturally tend to counteract the false reports which the judaizers had circulated concerning them.
for the name, — i.e. for the personal love of Jesus Christ.
27. by word of mouth. These delegates could give further information and answer all questions touching this matter.
28. to the Holy Ghost and to us. The apostles did not hesitate to ascribe their decision to the Holy Ghost, who governed the Church of God through their instrumentality.
“The apostles were inspired by God, but they did not lose their personal identity. The human element was not absorbed into the Divine, but it was spiritualized and transfigured by it.” All the ecumenical councils of the Church are also the utterances of the Holy Ghost, and their decisions are binding on the faithful.
29. keeping, — i.e. if ye keep.
30. they went down to Antioch. They probably returned by the same route, and by communicating the decision of the Church again caused great joy to all the brethren, to whom they had given an account of the conversion of the Gentiles (see verse 3).
the multitude. Note that the decision affected the greater number, as most of the Christians of Antioch were Gentile converts.
31. rejoiced for the consolation. The doubts which had disquieted them and subverted their souls were now removed.
32. prophets. See Annot. on ch. xi. 27.
33. they were let go with peace. Lit. “were dismissed’’ (ἀπαλυθησαν). From these words we may infer that there was a solemn gathering of the Church, accompanied with prayer, and probably the celebration of the Holy Eucharist “ Peace be with you ’’ was an ordinary formula for taking leave of one another. Those critics who reject verse 34 as not genuine, since it has not good MS. authority (being only found in two Greek codices and a few versions), take the plural pronoun as referring to Judas and Silas, and conclude that the latter returned to Jerusalem to give an account of his mission to Antioch, and afterwards rejoined St Paul in that city.
35. teaching and preaching. Those who had received the Faith needed to be taught more fully, while to those who had not heard or accepted it, the Word of God was preached.
with many others. There was no lack of labourers in the vineyard, and on this, as on other occasions, a period of trial was followed by a season of peace and prosperity. The presence of these “ many others” rendered St Paul, Barnabas, and Silas free to evangelize elsewhere.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
No comments:
Post a Comment