"Upon this rock, there is reconciliation between dissenting brothers." St. Peter and St. Paul 2025

29. June 2025

St. Peter and St. Paul

Acts 12:1–11; Galatians 2:1-10; Matthew 16:13-19

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. Our churches often feature statues of Christ with Peter on His right and Paul on His left. Of course, Lutherans have a special affinity with St. Paul. His letters to the churches in Galatia and Rome are responsible for the rediscovery of the Gospel in the sludge of the late medieval Roman church. We’re a little skeptical of St. Peter, given that the Papists has claimed him as its founder and the first pope. Thus, these two saints might represent the current division between the church of Rome and the churches of the Reformation.

Roman social media influencers claim that Luther is responsible for all the denominationalism in Christendom today. I beg to differ, and today’s festival helps. The church is wise to recognize the two great pillars of the Christian church together on one day. These two apostles of Christ Jesus were not always in agreement. The church has suffered from earthly divisions from the beginning of the apostolic church. But in the confession of Christ, they found unity.

It’s not a surprising story. St. Paul had been Saul, a great persecutor of the church. He was of the Pharisaical party. Before his conversion, he was actively seeking to imprison and kill the Christian converts. By a miraculous appearance of our Lord Jesus, he was first blinded, then converted and baptized. He received the pedagogy of the Holy Spirit for fourteen years before beginning his apostolic ministry to the Gentiles. Still, it's not hard to imagine the skepticism and distrust he received from the Eleven. Is it possible for God to convert a persecutor, hater, and murderer into a faithful follower, lover of Christ, and proclaimer of life? That’d be a miracle for sure.

Both Peter and Paul were Jews by birth, but their differences are stark. Peter was a lowborn fisherman with little education or eloquence. Paul is a highborn Roman citizen and Pharisee. Peter was given the task of preaching to both the circumcised and the Gentiles in Jerusalem. Legend has it that he later travelled to Rome. Paul was sent to the Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire. Their backgrounds, personalities, and ministries were radically different.

The first major controversy in the Christian church was whether circumcision was necessary. The question placed Peter on one side and Paul as his opponent. St. Luke records that some taught, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). This false teaching caused dissension between Paul and Barnabas, his helper, who advocated for it. Both were appointed to go to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem with this divisive question. You can imagine how difficult it was for the converted Jews to give up their custom of circumcision despite the new institution of Holy Baptism, which replaces it. No wonder, then, that there was much debate amongst the elders and apostles. Imagine if you were being asked to give up any aspect of your heritage that had been part of your family for millennia?

St. Paul recalls that it was James, Cephas, and John who recognized that Paul was truly converted. But it is finally St. Peter who acknowledges to the assembly that while there are many differences between him and St. Paul, they are unified in the petra, the rock of confession, Jesus Christ. Despite their previous differences, both have received the same grace of God. God desires that all men, Jew and Gentile, be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. All are saved by the grace of God alone.

And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” (Acts 15:6-11)

Thus, St. Peter confessed before the Jerusalem council precisely what Christ had declared to him years before. The only cornerstone that will provide a suitable foundation for the fledgling church is Christ Jesus Himself. Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This confession of faith is the firm rock upon which Christ builds His Church. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. Upon this rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail. Upon this rock, there is true reconciliation between dissenting brothers. Upon the truth of the Word, the church is built and preserved.

As St. Paul will later confess, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph 4:4-6). The last week of Advent each year, we sing: “O come, O King of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind. Bid all our sad divisions cease and be yourself our King of Peace.” This is based on the Magnificat antiphon assigned for December 22, which confesses our hope: “O King of nations, the ruler they long for, the cornerstone uniting all people: Come and save us all, whom You formed out of clay.”

It is Christ Jesus’ desire to bring all into his body, each as living stones built into a temple for the Holy Spirit. This holy work of God is accomplished among you. In Baptism, the authority of God the Father to create new life, given to God the Son, was carried out by God the Spirit. You are given new life by the Word and Spirit in Holy Baptism. You are named God’s own child, baptized into Christ Jesus.

God the Holy Trinity performs this great work through His chosen messenger, whoever He decides to send. On any given day and in any place, God completes His work behind the mask of the pastor and within the congregation He selects. Despite different contexts and messengers, the same baptism is administered. We confess, “I acknowledge in one baptism for the remission of sins.” For all who are joined to Christ Jesus, there is Christ’s blood-bought forgiveness, along with eternal life and salvation.

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:5) wrote St. Paul to the church in Ephesus. Because there is only one God, there is only one church. All who are baptized are grafted into one body by one Spirit. In Baptism, you are part of this one body with parents and grandparents and the heavenly host that have come and will come. Finally, in the end, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Php 2:10).

Thus, we confess there is “one holy Christian [catholic] and apostolic church.” This is the confession of an invisible reality that should not be confused with visible divisions and confusions. There is only one Lord, and therefore, only one faith, one baptism, and one church. Make no mistake, there are divisions within the Christian community. These are not different perspectives of the same truth. No Christian or congregation takes the one faith and then alters or adds to the pure Word based on their own preferences.

If we are willing to admit that there are divisions in the visible manifestation of Christ’s church and that these divisions are our own fault, then we also must be willing to accept correction from this Word. The only hope for reconciliation in the visible church is in Christ’s Word. This applies to your families, this congregation, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and the whole Christian church on earth. There is no place for ignoring error, confusion, or other false teaching. Accepting or tolerating falsehood does not heal divisions but further drives the wedge of separation.

No one is immune to the desire to conform what Christ says in His Word to what their heart longs for. Every Christian lives a continual life of repentance for the confusing error with the truth. Every day, the thoughts of our mind and desires of our heart are examined against the revelation of God’s will in His Word. This is the divine purpose of the office of preaching: “[to] convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim 4:2).

This is why Christ Jesus attaches to Holy Baptism these words, “Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” The baptized live in the Word of God. You are conformed to God’s Word, not God’s Word to you. God burns away the chaff you have added and renews your mind in the teaching you have forgotten. St. Peter’s great baptismal epistle proclaims of the baptized, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:2). Baptizing and teaching together is disciple-making. Those baptized into Christ Jesus listen to Christ Jesus. The Word of Christ, preached and taught, is the pure spiritual milk that the newborn of Christ require to remain in the faith given in Baptism. There is only one faith, one baptism, and one Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, let us all return to our Baptism, the gift which unites us to Christ Jesus. The only hope for unity amongst these earthly divisions of faith is in Jesus, by whom there is the forgiveness of sins. Let us forgive each other for pursuing our desires rather than the light of Christ’s truth. Let us be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to confess the truth of Christ at all times. Let us heed the example and testimony of two brothers in Christ and apostles of the church who were able to set aside earthly differences and be reconciled in the eternal Word of Christ. Amen.

This is the Word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His + Name. AMEN.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School - Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin