Episode 131: Did the Apostles appeal to Sola Scriptura?

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting

mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the Light of the world

and the life of all. Give us wisdom by your law and

enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge.

Sanctify our souls by Your truth and grant that we may be

obedient to Your words and may fulfil Your commandments at

every hour. O You who enlightens the

rational with the knowledge of Your greatness, do enlight, O my

Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate upon Your holy and

divine Scriptures at all times. O Lord of all, Father and Son

and Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.

Continue our study of the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles

of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, and we'll pick it up

from chapter 15. Glory to God.

We we concluded chapter 14 and we learned that Paul and

Barnabas returned back to Antioch and they tell the church

there of the good things. They didn't focus on the

negative, but they focused more on the positive that the Lord

was working and the gospel was thriving and the Gentiles were

receiving the gospel and Jews were receiving the gospel and

there were Jews that didn't receive the gospel and they were

opposing the disciples putting their lives in the apostles.

I'm sorry the lives in risk, but they they told the church and

everyone was was joyful and glorifying God as we always do.

You know, when you hear a good, you know, good word or good news

from, from the churches, from other diocese, other parishes,

and you know, and we all thank God when we open a new church or

a school is opened or a, a new ministry is, is established, We,

we glorify God and we, and we like that and we, we praise God

for it. And we, we take a heart that

the, the scriptures, the, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ

is being preached and the church is continuing on its fishing,

fishing mission. So let's pick it up from the

chapter 15, verse one. I'll read to you verses one and

two and we'll, we'll have a talk about this.

And certain men who had come down from Judea taught the

brethren, brethren meaning the the Christians.

So when you hear the word brethren, it means the

believers, the Christians. Because we are brothers and

sisters in Christ. Through our faith in Jesus

Christ, which has brought us to being to the adoption of

sonship, we are children of God. Galatians 3/26/27 being children

of a God through our faith and baptism, being children of God,

we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Hence they didn't refer to them as Christians.

You know the word Christian as I've mentioned in previous

episodes wasn't wasn't used. The term Christian came about

2nd century I believe if I'm not mistaken.

But it was called the believers or the way the people of the way

or brethren. So Judea, they came from from

Judea. I'm sorry.

Let's, let's go again. And certain men who had come

down from Judea taught the brethren come down from Judea to

Antioch. By the way, come came down from

Judea taught the brethren. Unless you are circumcised in

accordance with the custom of the law.

I need your utmost attention this this episode and every

other episode. Please listen intently.

According with the customs of the law, you cannot be saved.

So Gentiles, you have been baptized, you've received the

Holy Spirit, but because you haven't been circumcised, you

are not saved. And there was great dissension

and controversy between them and Paul and Barnabas.

And it reached such a point that it was necessary for Paul and

Barnabas and others with them to go up to Jerusalem.

One, and we'll talk about it. I'm not going to jump the gun to

go up to Jerusalem to the apostles.

Paul is an apostle to the apostles.

And elders meaning presbyters, meaning priests.

Concerning the question. So who were these men?

These men were Christians, we use the term now.

They were believers in Jesus Christ, but also observed

circumcision and the law of Moses and they taught that those

who believed from the gentiles, the non Jews, should keep all

the legal things with faith in Jesus Christ.

So you have faith in Jesus Christ, you need to be

circumcised. You need to offer your

offerings. Most probably you need to

continue to offer your your blood offerings.

It doesn't specifically say we know it's circumcision, but they

were saying that no, we need to keep the law as well.

But faith in Jesus Christ, right.

Maybe they were the Jews for Jesus.

Yeah, Steven, Jews for Jesus. Maybe they were the Jews for

Jesus. In any case but Saint Paul, an

apostle, and St. Barnabas, an apostle who were

chosen by the Holy Spirit, who instructed the Church to set

aside Paul and Barnabas for the task and the mission that they

were chosen for, taught that faith in Christ and the

observance of His commandments, not the law of the flesh, the

commandments of the Lord was sufficient for the salvation of

men. Hence you love me, Jesus said

fulfill my commandments, not the observance of the law, his

commandments, beloved, and that was plenty.

Now remembering again, please and I, I must remind you and

remind especially in particular our Protestant brothers and

sisters, there was no Bible in the hand that there was no they

weren't reading in the Bible. They were preaching the law,

they were preaching from the Pentateuch, but they were

concluding it in Jesus Christ and, and, and and beginning and

steering the people to the new covenant of the Spirit which

Jesus gave us. So Paul and Barnabas knew that

no, no, no faith in Jesus Christ, Baptism, receiving the

Holy Spirit and obviously partaking the Eucharist and the

rest is enough for salvation from the bondage of the law,

from the evil. Not it wasn't sufficient for

eternal life. You're in eternal life.

No, no, no, saved from the past, the evil, the the, the law,

which couldn't do, which couldn't, which was weak in the

flesh. So Paul and Barnabas went to

Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and elders.

Wasn't Saint Paul? Don't be.

What is the title of Saint Paul? Let me think, oh, help me guys.

Saint Paul the Apostle. Yeah, we call him the apostle.

Couldn't he have made a decision?

Couldn't those people who had praised Jesus and and God had

put in their heart, couldn't they have prayed and said, Lord,

you tell us what? No, this apostle, the two

apostles and elders, they went to meet the apostles and the

elders because it was a a Catholic decision.

It was a universal decision because there was split in minds

and there was divisions in understanding.

They had to go to the of the apostles, so that what the

apostles would bind on earth, it would be bound in heaven, and

what it, what was bound in, in loosened on earth would be

loosed in heaven. But wait a minute, wait a

minute, number one, the church accompanied and send them.

It was the church. And some of the people from the

church went. Let me give you this example.

In the Assyrian Church of the East, when the lay people, the

faithful, unlike calling the the faithful people, they're

faithful people, we call them almaya.

Almaya is worldly people. We shouldn't use that term.

The lay or the faithful people, the faithful of the Church have

an issue with, with a Canon of the law, with a, with an

instruction of the Church, the Canon of the Church, an

instruction of the Church and they present it to the priest

and there is 123 you know from the mouth of two and three, a

witness is, is is acceptable, a testimony is acceptable.

Then the priest, the presbyters meet with the Bishop and the

Bishop is advised that we have an issue in the Church and this

is what the faithful are requesting.

Now, if the Bishop sees that this is a diocesan understanding

and a diocesan issue, the Bishop can make that decision.

And once the Bishop makes that decision, it's the apostle

binding on earth. When it is a universal issue,

then the Bishop will do what the Church will accompany, meaning

this church will send the Bishop to the Synod to the to this the

Holy Synod, which will convey and can and then discuss these

things. And then that Bishop will then

present this issue and this this understanding or this this

difficulty. And then the bishops will all

discuss under the auspices of the Catholic as Patriarch.

And then when the Synod all decrees that this is going to be

the solution, then the Bishop comes back, tells the Archdeacon

to tell the people this is the decree, this is what was

happening. The church sent beloved.

But hang on a SEC. Wait.

In Galatians Chapter 7, one verse 17, Saint Paul says I did

not go to Jerusalem to the apostles who were before me, but

I went to Arabia and returned to Damascus.

Huh. How you just went to Jerusalem?

Is Paul lying? And then in Galatians, I'm not

sure what chapter he says that I went to Jerusalem.

I met with Peter for 15 days. So what are these travels?

Well, this travel, beloved, he had not gone up spontaneously.

No, there was a cause. So Paul is saying I didn't just

go up to see the apostles. I've gone to Jerusalem because

there was an issue and I was sent by others.

And in this visit, this travel, he didn't go to learn something.

He knew what was proper for Gentile converts, but to

persuade others because there was a division, he did it for

others. He did it for the harmony of the

church. So this is not the first council

of the church. No, no, no, the Nicean Nicean

council is the first council of the church.

This is the Jerusalem council where the disciples came.

We're going to read who was there and who made the

declaration too. By the way, Peter was there,

James was there, and there were other people and there were some

Pharisees there as well. So he went for the harmony of

the church. That's why he's saying that I

didn't go to Jerusalem. I'm just gone to visit by visit.

But there is a time that he does.

He goes to Jerusalem. So we see that the early church

were considerate of the law. They still have the law in mind.

Now you can't tell me. Oh, ignorance.

Oh, they weren't saved. They didn't really know Jesus.

You know, I say it in ridicule because that's some of the

ridiculous things I hear. Oh, they weren't saved, I'm

sorry. The criterias of salvation they

only given to you one church or one person, but God only speaks

with one person to to then make a judgement of who's saved,

who's not saved. No, no, they had consideration

of the law because they were continuously being preached at

that law, Not the Scriptures, not John 316, not one

Corinthians, not Ephesians 29 By faith you have been saved, and

this is not of you, so that no one will boast of you.

No, they were preaching the Pentateuch.

Why? Why they didn't claim that the

law is abolished. Why?

Because their master didn't do that as well.

Matthew 517. Or is it 18?

Matthew 518 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass

away, not even a youth, which is a very small letter or a dash,

shall pass away from the law until all of it is fulfilled.

That's a keyword. So Jesus didn't come to abolish,

He fulfilled it. The Antiochans did not hesitate

to send someone to Jerusalem to inquire about this controversy.

They didn't hesitate. They wanted to know, what is the

truth? How are we going to solve this

not let us all gather and pray and Father God, we ask that you

move someone and then that someone say God put in my heart

to tell you this is what's going no, that's not how the church

worked. Find me in the in the in the in

the Scriptures where God puts in people's heart.

God only put in Simon's heart and in in Paul's heart to go to

meet various churches, but not any faithful would come up and

say God put in my heart to come and tell you that this is wrong.

No. So they sent them to inquire

about the controversy and yet their inquiry isn't amazing.

Wasn't about about God the Godhead of Jesus Christ, you

know, the, the, the providential incarnation of the Lord Jesus

Christ of the Son, or the Holy Spirit or the angels or the

powers of heaven or anything like that.

No, it was about circumcision, about the least part of a man's

genitals. Do you see how cautious they

were that they would not just teach anything and come to an

agreement? Because this is talking about

the salvation of souls, Beloved, it boggles my mind to stand

there and preach for two hours or one hour to convince people

that baptism has no effect in salvation.

It boggles my mind. All right, these are, as I said,

this is not about about baptism, something so minute.

But they wanted to get it right. And the church has it right for

2025 years. Now, if Martin Luther or Calvin

had issues, that's their problem.

The church had it right now, maybe the Catholic Church.

Yeah, the Catholic Church. You know, they dropped the ball

on a few of their cannons. Yeah.

Yeah, there are many things that in the Catholic Church, the

assuming Church of the East, don't adhere to.

OK, but doesn't mean the church is incorrect.

Church has got it wrong. No, I always say, I pray that

Martin Luther when leaving the Catholic Church, I pray that he

would have come to. I hope that he would have come

to. I would have loved that he would

have come to the East and found the Church of the East, the

Church of the martyrs who was missionizing the world.

But that's another story. You know why, beloved?

You know why they were so cautious about this as well

concerned because they learned of the Word, because they were

taught by the apostles that Jesus said a single iota and a

single point of the law will not be abolished.

No, they knew that it had to be fulfilled.

And there was a great spiritual meaning in there.

The Antiochian disciples were afraid to take authority to make

that decision. But they took so much thought

even for questions that seemed to be so pity beloved, you know,

they they were they were pondering on this, seeing that

these things are important that Paul and Barnabas who mission

who went and preached should go and consult Jerusalem, those in

Jerusalem and we'll see in verse 22.

Let me read it to you in when the decision has been made.

Let's jump the gun a little bit. It says verse 221522.

Then the apostles and Enders with all the whole church chose

men from among themselves and sent them to Antioch with Paul

and Barnabas. Why?

So that when they returned that this decision, this decree,

people would not say this is just your understanding.

They would accept it because from the mouths of two and

three, you know, testimonies is standing.

Now let's read about some other people that were there and how

they were adamant about circumcision, Beloved, verse 5.

And that's where we'll stop at today, verse 5.

But some of them I'm sorry, let me read. 3345 They were given an

escort and sent on their way to the church, and they travelled

through all Phoenicia and the territory of the Samaritans,

declaring the conversion of the Gentiles.

And they caused great joy to all the brethren.

Yes, we must rejoice when we hear of souls being saved.

We must rejoice, you know, in the Church when we hear there is

a successful diocese. Take for example Australia, the

Diocese of Australia and New Zealand with the schools.

We must rejoice and praise God and we must reach out and ask

for help. And the Diocese of Australia and

New Zealand must not withhold help and assistance.

No, because we are one church, we must strive together that if

I have come to this point, I want you to be in this point

because it is for the salvation ultimately for the our salvation

of souls. Let me give you an example.

The children ministries we have in this style in, in, in in this

Central Valley, you know, where we have some curriculums, but we

want to have a, a proper ACOE curriculum.

Let me put it this way. I reached out to His Grace

Marvin Yamin, Bishop of Melbourne and New Zealand, and I

know that they've vested time and effort and funds to write

books, to print books for the Mar the Rabban Hormas Syrian

Primary School, Christian Primary School and the modern

Arce K to 12 curriculum RE religious education.

When I picked up the phone, and this is the second time, to my

shame when I picked up the phone, said Gessy.

Or my beloved guess he means my oh, Lord Mar, can you please?

Yes, I should. We'll send them to you.

We'll e-mail it to you. We'll even e-mail you

instructions of how to print them.

If you want to make booklets, but just not for not for

selling, utilize them. At the click of the finger, His,

his, his Grace agreed to send. And by the way, they have

already been sent, but I've lost the USB drive, right?

But I still haven't received the second copy at the click of the

Why? Because His Grace knows that

this is not to boast about. This is not to parade to the

whole world. This is to be used for the

salvation of souls and mainly primarily for the nurture of the

children from the evil schools and teachers and governments and

principles that are in the world.

This is to nurture our children to raise them in the Christian

faith so that what happens that happens here.

Yes, we're, we're contemplating schools here just like the

Diocese of, of Australia and New Zealand.

And when I reach out, when we reach out to those that are in,

yes, of course, we're, we're always ready to help you.

Why not go ahead. Encouraging, not bringing down,

encouraging, not boasting, only encouraging.

But yes, because ultimately, again, it's for the salvation of

souls. So they were being happy, they

were rejoicing when they heard of the success of the Gospel in

all these areas. On the arrival at Jerusalem,

they were received by the church, the church by the

apostles, the apostles by the elders, the presbyters and the

bishops and the priests. Sorry, this is how we receive

apostles in the church. This is how we receives our

prelates and they reported everything that God had done

with them. Again, the positives, not the

negatives, but there was an issue.

Verse 5 but some of the men who had been converted from the set

of the sect of the Pharisees who thought that they were they were

it. They saw that they they're the

only pure ones, but these are the Christians now they would

have they would have had a change of heart.

They rose up and said you must circumcise them and command them

to keep the law of Moses. So they were adamant.

Why? Why were they adamant?

Genesis 1710 to 13 And you, God says to Abraham, listen very

carefully. Stop, pull over, give up.

Stop the washing of the dishes, the vacuuming.

I always say that stop scrolling on the on your phone.

Listen, because if you ring me one day and ask me about this,

I'll say go on. Listen to episode 131.

I believe Stephen Wright Genesis 1710 to 13 and you shall

circumcise the flesh of your foreskin.

God says to Abraham and it shall be a sign of the covenant

between me and you and a son of eight days shall be circumcised,

putting that excruciating pain because the eight day child

understood, proclaimed God, confessed his faith and they

were circumcised. No, why?

I'm going to see why they have to be circumcised.

That's why we baptize infants. Let's not go there and the sum

of our days will be circumcised among you, every male for your

generation, born in the house and bought with many with money

from many, any sons of a foreigner, non Jews, you need to

circumcise them. This is what God is saying, not

Moses and Ezekiel and and Isaiah.

No, God is speaking. It's a command.

It's a covenant circumcision of a Gentile and bought with money

from any son of a foreigner that was not from your seed.

To circumcise they have to be circumcised.

Letter one born in your house and bought with your silver.

Be circumcised and listen very intently.

I'll read it slow and my covenant will be in your flesh

for an eternal covenant. Can you limit eternal?

Can you limit eternity? If you limit eternity, Well, I

don't want to go to the Kingdom of heaven.

I don't want to go to eternity because eternity has a

limitation. 10 years and I'm out.

No eternal covenant, God says. And the uncircumcised male whose

flesh of his foreskin will not be circumcised, that soul will

be destroyed from his people. He has withdrawn from my

covenant. So if the parents weren't

bringing the eight day children to be circumcised, they, not the

child, but the souls of the parents who are responsible for

the child would be destroyed because they withdrew from my

covenant. So what happens when families or

or parents refrain their children from being baptized?

You were cut out. 2 + 2 is 4 and that's not being racist. 2 + 2

is 4. It's clear as they right.

It's clear as they. You can't get any clearer.

You can't make it more simple. God said it, God commanded it.

God requires it, required it. It is His words, it is the word

of God which is living, and all efficient.

Hebrews 412. Stands forever.

Isaiah 48. Sweet to the roof of my palate,

better than honey to my mouth, better than the honey cone.

Psalm 119103. Lamp to my feet, and a light to

my path. Psalm 119105.

The word of God stands in heaven, is right in heaven, is

accepted, is obeyed in heaven. Psalm 11.

Psm 11918 is very precious. Psalm 119140 because the word of

God according to Isaiah chapter 55 verse 11, God says the word

Isaiah 55:11

that proceeds from his mouth shall not return to him empty

handed, but surely does the thing that God pleases and

accomplishes that for which he sent it.

So it's clear cut, the apostles would be expected to honor the

argument of the Pharisees, to honor the argument of the

believing Pharisees, and appeal to the scriptures alone.

Sola Scriptura. This is what it's all about.

Sola scriptura according to the Scripture.

And again, there was no Old Testament.

There was no Bible in their hand.

They were always appealing to the Old Testament Scripture.

And this is in Genesis 1710 to 3.

They should have come to these agreement very easy.

Yes, let's read the Scriptures. Oh, God said it's an eternal

covenant. Yeah.

Well, you need to do that. You have to do that according to

the Scripture. Well, sorry Sola Scriptura,

sorry Martin Luther, sorry John Calvin and his associates.

Next episode we will learn to what the apostles actually

appeal and arrive at their agreement.

We have the Scripture there. The Scripture's clear.

This covenant is eternal. You need to do it and and we

read. What does God say in Genesis?

Let me go back. Any male bought with money from

any son of a foreigner, A foreigner.

The Gentiles were foreigners, beloved.

They were circumcised. They became a part of the people

of God. The Gentiles during the New

Testament were foreigners. They had to be circumcised.

This is God's command. The Word of God is everlasting.

But let's wait till next year. Stay tuned for next next year.

Stay tuned for next episode, beloved, and we'll see how.

What is it that the apostles appeal to and what is it that

the Church today appeals to along with the Scriptures?

But there is something else that Jesus Christ left entrusted his

church to when He ascended to heaven.

That is what the Church also appeals to, to come at its

decisions and its decrees. Praise and glory be to Christ's

name, now and at all times and forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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