The Church in Antioch in the First Century CE: Communion and Conflict

This text explores the problems faced by the church in Antioch in the mid-1st century CE once the decision was taken to welcome Gentiles into the church. Michelle Slee argues that a particular problem was the celebration of the Eucharist, since some Jewish Christians felt that the table-fellowship this involved inevitably brought the risk of contamination (because of Gentile contact with idolatry). She suggests that this was the subject debated at the Jerusalem conference described in Acts 15 and Galatians 2, and that it was the eventual decision of the Antioch church to hold separate Eucharists that led to Paul's break with the church (Gal 2.11-14). The Didache and the Gospel of Matthew, Slee concludes, were both composed after the events described in Gal 2.11-14 and both in their own way address the question of Jewish-Gentile table-fellowship. For the Didachist, Jews and Gentiles can attend the same Eucharist if the Gentile has previously agreed to abstain from all idolatry. For Matthew all Gentiles must first convert to Judaism. Thus even at the end of the first century CE the Antioch church was still divided on the issue.