The Acts of the Apostles gives us a history of the early Church. As with all histories, it mixes facts with interpretations to help us understand the history. The Church started out in Jerusalem, then spread to Samaria. It later came to Antioch and accepted even the uncircumcised pagans. There were persecutions, inner tensions and misunderstandings among the Christians themselves then as now.
Our text today seems to indicate that there was some lack of harmony between Paul and Barnabas as well as some questions about circumcision for pagans before baptism. The text does not go into great details, but gives us a quick view. Acts was interested in stressing the Church’s continuity with the history of Israel.
We have always had factions in the Church. At first, Hebrew-speaking believers and Greek-speaking believers had conflicts. Then people had to accept the fact that the half-Jewish, half-pagan Samaritans had accepted the faith. Next, pagans themselves were coming to faith and this, without circumcision!
At this time also, the first generation of believers was aging out of the community and the second generation was accepting the roles of leadership. The Church in Jerusalem had both Apostles and presbyters. The Apostles, who had grown up with Jesus, were dying out. In their place, presbyters were assuming leadership.
At first we did not have bishops, priests and deacons, as we know them now. The word priests comes from the Greek word presbyter, which means elder. The presbyters mentioned with the Apostles today were officials of the Church. They may have functioned as bishops do nowadays or may have functioned as a board of directors. Eventually the term presbyter took on the function and duties of today’s priests. The overseeing function, however, of the presbyters was assumed by bishops. The term bishop comes from the Greek word for overseer, which gives us the word episcopal. More change. Where would change stop and what should be done about all these tensions?
Nowadays, the times, they are a-changing. Today some still find much fault the Second Vatican Council. Catholic Republicans and Catholic Democrats have to worship in the same parishes. Our response to the coronavirus has caused some tension in the Church. How we deal with the issues of sexuality causes tensions in the Church. The times are a-changing, but the times are similar. We must live in today’s world just as the Christians of the Acts of the Apostles had to live in theirs.
There is continuity between us and the previous generations just as there was continuity between the first believers and the whole of Israel in the Acts of the Apostles. The Holy Spirit and we are still in this together. The facts and interpretations can encourage us.