The Gentile Controversy

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles for today's liturgy introduces the controversy regarding Gentile converts. As the sacred writer records, some believed that it was necessary for Gentiles to become Jews before being baptized as Christians. While the notion baffles us today, historically it makes perfect sense. Once we remember that the Jewish community and the Christian community were linked for the first forty years after Jesus' resurrection, it becomes easier to see why this argument was being made. Only after the Jews expelled the Christians from the synagogue did the Christians begin to see themselves as an independent entity.

Several times in the Gospel we hear references to the notion that salvation came through the Jews. This statement refers to the fact that God chose self-revelation through the Sinai Covenant. The Exodus experience, although it is recorded in the second book of the Bible, is the real beginning of the story. All that precedes it in the Book of Genesis is a prelude to it. It was the Exodus and the resulting covenant between God and the Israelites that set the plan of salvation in motion. Jesus was born into the Jewish community. He completed God's plan and is the final revelation of God to the people.

The history of the Jewish people and God's plan of salvation are intimately connected. Not until the destruction of the Temple c. 76 A.D. do we see that connection begin to fray. It is for this reason that many within the Christian community were convinced that it was necessary for all Gentiles to become members of the Jewish community before baptism.