Category: Bible Study

“I have told you…” –John 16:1, 4 Jesus mentions twice in today’s Gospel reading that He told the apostles something in advance. First, Jesus warns them that He told them “all this” so that their faith may not be shaken under worldly pressure, and therefore they may not fall away (Jn 16:1). To what does “all this” refer? Jesus had just finished warning His apostles that worldly people would hate, harass, and disrespect them. Why? Jesus says it’s because they bear witness to Him and because they don’t belong to the worldly system which refuses to accept His lordship (Jn...

“The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My name, will instruct you in everything, and remind you of all that I told you.” —John 14:26 The Holy Spirit will teach us everything (Jn 14:26). To receive true, profound, practical teaching on all that we need to know, we must be teachable, that is, docile. It’s easy to be teachable to the Spirit on some things, but it takes a miracle to be teachable in many areas that the Spirit teaches. For example, the Holy Spirit taught the Gentile Christians of the early Church about burdens “strictly...

“The congregations grew stronger in faith and daily increased in numbers.” –Acts 16:5 The early Church grew in numbers daily. “Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). The early Church grew daily because: “They went to the temple area together every day, while in their homes they broke bread” (Acts 2:46). “Day after day, both in the temple and at home, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news of Jesus the Messiah” (Acts 5:42). “Each day they studied the Scriptures” (Acts 17:11). They encouraged “one another daily” (Heb 3:13)....

“This is My commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” –John 15:12 Gentile Christians were commanded by the leaders of the early Church to change their eating habits and sexual practices (see Acts 15:20). People are usually very resistant to limitations on their food consumption or sexual activity. However, the Gentile Christians read the letter containing their new orders with “great delight at the encouragement it gave” (Acts 15:31). For those in love, obedience, in even the most difficult matters, is a delight. The psalmist prayed: “To do Your will, O my God, is my delight” (Ps 40:9)....

“The apostles and the presbyters accordingly convened to look into the matter. After much discussion, Peter took the floor.” –Acts 15:6-7 This meeting of the leaders of the early church in Jerusalem was one of the most important in history. This is not because they ruled against the necessity of circumcision for Gentile Christians but because they removed an obstacle to world evangelization. The result of the meeting was that “Paul and Barnabas continued in Antioch, along with many others, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord” (Acts 15:35). Furthering evangelization is the criterion by which we judge the...