It Is The Decision of the Holy Spirit and Us – A Teaching on the Catholicity of the Early Church

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimG
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
… it would seem that it was between 12 and 15 years before the baptism of the first Gentile took place!
Click to expand...
Quite a few years our first pope was “teaching” wrong doctrine and even this “papal scandal” eventually gets cleaned up by the Holy Spirit.

Peace!!!
 
What wrong doctrine was being taught? Can you cite the passages where this wrong doctrine is taught? Thank you. Most time lines I’ve seen have Peter baptizing Cornelius around 38 AD well before the Council of Jerusalem. The Navarre commentary says this:

“Up to this point the Gospel has been preached only to Jews. It’s extension to the Samaritans was seen as an announcement of salvation to people who had at one time formed part of the chosen people. By preaching only to Jews, the disciples were having regard to the fact that the people of Israel was the only people chosen by God to be bearers of the divine promises: as such, they had a right to be the first to receive the definitive message of salvation. Our Lord himself acted on this principle, and he told his disciples to preach only you the lost sheep of the house of Israel’(Mt 10:6; cf 15:24).
The Apostles had not yet asked themselves whether this preferential right of the Jewish people to receive the Gospel proclamation implied a certain exclusive right. Now God steps in to make Peter realize that the Good News is meant for all: it is his desire that all be saved and therefore the Christians need to shed the narrow ideas of Judaism as regards the scope of salvation.”
 
MarkInOregon said:
What wrong doctrine was being taught? Can you cite the passages where this wrong doctrine is taught? Thank you. Most time lines I’ve seen have Peter baptizing Cornelius around 38 AD well before the Council of Jerusalem. The Navarre commentary says this:
Click to expand...
Maybe i should have stated it more this way-

For the 17 years our 1st pope, and possibly others, believed and eventually taught contrary to what will become doctrine, sense there was no “doctrine” at the time.

Acts 15:1-2
1 Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers, Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved. 2 Because there arose no little dissension and debate…

Peace!!!
 
But there’s no indication Peter taught this—is there? Years before this (roughly 38 AD) he baptized Cornelius who would have been uncircumcised—if you look at Acts chapter 10 you’ll see it says “And believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” It seems highly unlikely that Peter would have been teaching that the uncircumcised could not be saved after this. It seem more likely that some men from Jerusalem came down teaching something contrary—do we not see this today in the Church? Do we not experience it on this website?—and the Church settled the dispute in a council as it settles things to this day.
 
You are correct! I was reading into it more than i should have.

Peace!!!
 
It seems Our Lord often has to “nudge” His Church to officially define a doctrine — and as I read, or heard, somewhere, He often does this by allowing heresies to arise!!
 
Last edited:
Also good to remember:
  1. The New Covenant was absolutely stunning and revolutionary.
  2. The Church was formed with limited human understanding.
  3. The Holy Spirit, as promised, lead the Apostles into all truth.
  4. This did not occur immediately, but gradually.
  5. As it has been ever since, man’s understanding of Divinely revealed truth was and is unfolding.
  6. That truth, however, remains unchanged.
  7. We, had we been there, would have - could have - done no better.
  8. The “Rule Book” was the Holy Spirit and thus, He had to be consulted regularly - but as problems or conflicts arose.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top