Readings: Acts 15:1-21 | Galatians 2:1-10| Matthew 16:13-20
Text: Acts 15:1-12
Amidst the swell of information and ideas that freely travel in our day, it’s become quite overwhelming to discern truth from error. Often, it’s easier to simply say that everything is a matter of personal perspective. It can easily become rampant relativism, which says that something can be true and right for somebody, but not for another.
A more common reaction these days is to agree with some, and chalk up what you don’t agree with to other people’s opinions. This allows for a flood of information to be taken in, and each person becomes the curator to select what is useful or not.
But can this apply to theological topics and Christian beliefs? I believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Yet, there are a surprising number of people, even at seminaries, who do not agree with this. Ought we to just let different opinions coexist, and not see a problem with this? I hope you wouldn’t!
Biblical doctrine is one of those places where objective truth reigns and there is a right and wrong to matters. The readings for this commemoration of Saints Peter and Paul show this to us clearly, and the Lord’s work through these two Apostles continues to have impact for the Church today.
Look at what happened among the first Christians: “Some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’…[and] ‘It is necessary to circumcise [the Gentiles] and to order them to keep the law of Moses.’” How does one handle such a statement? Is it really true? How can you judge, without it being chalked up to personal opinion?
One clue to sorting this out comes in a word that appears in verse 5: “some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up…” The word translated “party” here is not a neutral term. Even though there can be sharp disagreements, we’re not talking about politics with these parties. This is a Greek word that is the root of the word ‘heresy’. It’s root is from the verb to take, and is defined a couple different ways: αἵρεσις/heresy “a taking or choosing for oneself…[a] philosophical sect, school” and “an opinion of private men different from that of the catholic and orthodox church”[1] So, to put it simply, a heresy is when one subscribes to a school of thought regarding Christian doctrine which does not agree with the universal Church.
One of the first heresies that arose within Christianity was circumcision. Distinguish between personal opinion and heretical teaching. Notice the supposedly authoritative statement: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” That’s a very heavy-hitting requirement, and it puts one’s eternal salvation on the line. How do you set the record straight? You’d be right if you say, go to the Bible.
The followers of this heresy had a bible-based point. Yet, to say something is biblical because it’s found in the Bible could lead someone to embrace polygamy or genocide because those are also in the Bible. We need to be more discerning than that.
The question of the necessity of circumcision is a direct affront to Christ’ saving work. He who said, “17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt. 5:17-18) also said from the cross as He offered up His wholly atoning sacrifice: “’It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30). With this, Matthew records that the veil which hid the Most Holy Place of the temple, “51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” (Matt. 27:51)
What, then, is circumcision? It was given to Abraham as a sign of faith in his promised Seed, in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 17:7-14). With Christ’s work accomplished, circumcision has been fulfilled. The requirement has been removed for all who believe in Jesus because He established the New Covenant with His own blood.
Saints Peter and Paul give us an example of how heresies are exposed, debated, and resolved toward a unity of faith and the bond of peace [Eph. 4].
On Pentecost, Peter had rightly applied Joel 2 to the crowds, when he said, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21) Later, in Acts 10, Peter received the vision of the sheet descending from heaven, and he rightly understood, “34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34-35)
But later on, Peter fell into this heresy of the Pharisees and needed to be corrected by St. Paul as acting contrary to orthodoxy (Galatians 2:11-14):
11But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
No human being, even the blessed Apostles, are immune to heresy. That’s because heresy, a party-spirit, is of the sinful flesh. St. Paul even lists it under the “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:20.
So, how can believers try to avoid heresy? Recall the definition from before: when one subscribes to a school of thought regarding Christian doctrine which does not agree with the universal Church.
So, how does the average Christian tell what is orthodox and avoid heresy?
- Start with the ecumenical (universal) Creeds. This is part of the benefit of learning these by heart. They not only confess what is true, but they also condemn the heresies which do not conform to the biblical faith.
- Read the Lutheran Confessions which filter out a lot of heterodox and outlying opinions. Just this past June 25 was the anniversary of the Augsburg Confession as it was confessed before Emperor Charles V in 1530. Yet in 495 years, you can find a lot of similar errors being taught.
- Ask the question, is this teaching contrary to three big areas which are regularly under attack:
- The Word of God is the only rule and norm, faithfully preserved down to our day in the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. “The prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments as the pure and clear fountain of Israel, which is the only true norm according to which all teachers and teachings are to be judged and evaluated.” (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Preface) So, watch for those who treat the Bible merely as a historic document and the words in it as only the result of backroom deals and power plays.
- The person and work of Jesus Christ (as summarized in the Creeds, but also His continued sacramental presence with the Church)
- 7. Therefore we believe, teach, and confess that Mary conceived and bore not only a plain, ordinary, mere man but the veritable Son of God; for this reason she is rightly called, and truly is, the mother of God. 8. Therefore we also believe, teach, and confess that it was not a plain, ordinary, mere man who for us suffered, died, was buried, descended into hell, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and was exalted to the majesty and omnipotent power of God, but a man whose human nature has such a profound and ineffable union and communion with the Son of God that it has become one person with him. 9. Therefore the Son of God has truly suffered for us, but according to the property of the human nature which he assumed into the unity of his divine person and made his own, so that he could suffer and be our high priest for our reconciliation with God, as it is written in 1 Cor. 2:8, They have “crucified the Lord of glory,” and in Acts 20:28, We are purchased with God’s own blood.” (Formula Epitome, Article VIII “The Person of Christ” 12-14)
- The proper distinction between Law and Gospel: How is the biblical message applied, so that repentance for our sins and forgiveness of sins in Christ alone is proclaimed (Luke 24:47), so that a Christian is clear on what displeases God and what Christ has done to redeem and restore him?
- 32. We believe, teach, and confess that the Law is properly a divine doctrine [Romans 7:12]. It teaches what is right and pleasing to God, and it rebukes everything that is sin and contrary to God’s will.4 3. For this reason, then, everything that rebukes sin is, and belongs to, the preaching of the Law.54. But the Gospel is properly the kind of teaching that shows what a person who has not kept the Law (and therefore is condemned by it) is to believe. It teaches that Christ has paid for and made satisfaction for all sins [Romans 5:9]. Christ has gained and acquired for an individual—without any of his own merit—forgiveness of sins, righteousness that avails before God, and eternal life [Romans 5:10]. (Formula Epitome, Article V “Law and Gospel” 3-5)
So may the Lord of the Church, who mightily used Saints Peter and Paul—in spite of their sins—keep the Church and all her members in the truth until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [Phil 2:10-11]
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
[1] “Heresy | Etymology of Heresy by Etymonline.” n.d. https://www.etymonline.com/word/heresy.
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