R. Meynet, Les Actes des apôtres, RBSem 43, Peeters, Leuven 2024 (683 p.)
Analysed according to the laws of biblical-semitic rhetoric, the Acts of the Apostles, like many other biblical texts, proved to be organised in a concentric manner. Two large sections (A: 1:1-14:28 and C: 15:36-28:31) frame a much shorter section, traditionally entitled ‘The Council of Jerusalem’ (B: 15:1-35). The extreme sections each contain nine sequences, also organised in a concentric manner: each is centred on its fifth sequence, which serves as the pivot, the turning point of the section. This is the extreme testimony of Stephen (A5: 6,1-8,1a), followed by that of Paul, who escapes death only to be led to the slaughter of Caesar’s court (C5: 21,1-23,35).
At the centre of the work, the Council of Jerusalem constitutes the watershed. It is here that the great problem that had gradually emerged in the course of the first section is discussed and resolved: under what conditions could the Gentiles be welcomed and integrated into the community of Jesus’ disciples? Were they to become Jews, subject to the Law of Moses, starting with circumcision, or could they remain as they were? If the Gentiles were not fully integrated into the community of the children of Israel, could the Jews, who had also become disciples of Jesus, mix with them and share their meals without becoming unclean, as they were, according to the Law?
Was Unity to be achieved by pure assimilation, or could difference be tolerated? The decision taken by the assembly merely confirmed the one God himself had taken when he had poured out his Spirit on the Gentiles gathered in the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius, just as he had done on the Jews alone on the day of Pentecost, greatly surprising the Jews who witnessed the scene.
From the Council onwards, the mission could resume with serenity among the Jews and Gentiles who had become disciples of Jesus, forming one and the same Church. The ‘we’ of Christians is plural and has remained so to this day. The account in the Acts of the Apostles – with the famous ‘passages in us’ – invites today’s readers to enter into the ‘us’ of brotherhood that overcomes and defeats jealousy.
