From today’s reading...
‘Accordingly we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by word of mouth what we have written.’” Acts 15:27
From the beginning, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have worked together to create a system here on earth of checks and balances to ensure the correct message, i.e., the Truth, was spread far and wide by sinful, imperfect men.
We’ve seen this repeatedly throughout Acts, and we see it again here today whereby “the apostles and elders, with the whole church” (v22a), met, discussed the faith, made a decision as to how they would practice our faith, and chose representatives they empowered to speak and teach on their behalf (kinda like Matthew 16:19, which harkens back to ).
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a community and a hierarchy.
The Father sent the Son.
The Son sent the 12 and the 72.
The Son asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to those He had chosen.
The chosen then passed on the Holy Spirit directly and via those they in turn chose.
It has remained this way, unbroken, from the beginning.
Understanding and accepting this structure of the Church, which is “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), is the only way to...
Stay the course.
Keep the faith.
Endure.
Now go sell something.