All the multitude kept silence, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul reporting what signs and wonders God had done among the nations through them. After they were silent, James answered, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations to take out of them a people for his name.
This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,
‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up
that the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.’
“All of God’s works are known to him from eternity. Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God, but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood. For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brothers. They wrote these things by their hand: “The apostles, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings.
Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment; it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”
So, when they were sent off, they came to Antioch. Having gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter. When they had read it, they rejoiced over the encouragement.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31 12. All the multitude held their peace. By these…
12. All the multitude held their peace. By these words, Luke giveth us to understand that the Spirit of God did so reign in that assembly, that they yielded forthwith to reason. The disputation was hot before; but now, after that Peter hath laid open the counsel of God, and hath handled the question according to the doctrine of the Scripture, by and by all noise being stayed, they are quiet and whist who did of late unadvisedly defend the error. This is a lively image of a lawful Council, when the truth of God alone, so soon as it is once come to light, maketh an end of all controversies; and assuredly it is effectual enough to appease all discord when the Spirit beareth the chief sway; because he is again a fit governor, as well to moderate their tongues who must speak before others as to keep the rest under obedience, that they be not too much addicted to themselves and wedded to their own wills, but that, laying away stubbornness, they may show themselves obedient to God. Neither is it to be doubted but that there was some few which would not yield, as it falleth out in a great assembly; yet the truth of God had the upper hand, so that the silence whereof Luke speaketh was a manifest testimony of common obedience. And this was no small moderation in Peter, in that having suffered every one to say for himself what he could, he deferred his judgment (lest it should be prejudicial to others) so long, until the question had been thoroughly discussed to and fro.
They heard Barnabas and Paul. We may gather by these words that they were not heard with silence before.: For seeing that the more part was persuaded that they did wickedly admit the profane Gentiles into the Church, there should nothing which they should have said have been patiently received until this false opinion were corrected and reformed; but all should have been taken at the worst. We see what a poison displeasure conceived for no cause is, which doth so possess men’s minds, that it stoppeth the way, so that the truth can never have en, trance. Hereby we learn how true that saying is, All things are sound to the sound, (Titus 1:15,) for there is nothing so wholesome but corrupt affection do turn the same into that which is hurtful. And to this end tendeth the narration made by Paul and Barnabas, that they may show and prove that God doth allow their apostleship among the Gentiles; forasmuch as it was ratified and confirmed by miracles, which are, as it were, certain seals thereof.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30 A true pattern of a lawful Council, where God’s…
A true pattern of a lawful Council, where God’s truth only reigneth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–31 12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave…
12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
Ver. 12. Then all the multitude kept silence] See here the picture of a lawful council, guided by the word and Spirit of God. It was not a Cyclopical assembly, ubi ουδεις ουδεν ουδενος ακουει, nor as in Alcibiades’ army, where all would be leaders, no learners, &c. Or, as the Jews of this day in their Jeshiboth, or academies, meet to dispute, but talk all together confusedly: the rabbis with their scholars, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–31 All the multitude; the apostles and elders themselves gave…
All the multitude; the apostles and elders themselves gave attention to what Barnabas and Paul declared, and by their silence did tacitly approve of what they had said.
Miracles and wonders; the conversion of the Gentiles in itself, and not only the signs which did attend it, is truly wonderful: the saving of any one soul is a miraculous work.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 21, 30 The second speech made in this council, was that…
The second speech made in this council, was that of Barnabas and Paul, who declared what miracles God had enabled them to work among the Gentiles, which was an evidence of God’s approbation of the Gentiles, though uncircumcised, and that he was pleased with their adminstration among them.
Hence they conclude very well, that the miracles wrought among the Gentiles, and the Holy Ghost descending upon the Gentiles, was God’s approving testimony, in the case that the believing Gentiles, without circumcision, should find no less acceptance with God than the believing Jews, who were of the circumcision.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v22 We have here the result of the consultation that…
We have here the result of the consultation that was held at Jerusalem about the imposing of the ceremonial law upon the Gentiles. Much more, it is likely, was said about it than is here recorded; but at length it was brought to a head, and the advice which James gave was universally approved and agreed to nemine contradicente - unanimously; and letters were accordingly sent by messengers of their own to the Gentile converts, acquainting them with their sentiments in this matter, which would be a great confirmation to them against the false teachers. Now observe here,
I. The choice of the delegates that were to be sent with Paul and Barnabas on this errand; not as if they had any suspicion of the fidelity of these great men, and could not trust them with their letters, nor as if they thought that those to whom they sent them would suspect them to have altered any thing in their letter; no, their charity thought no such evil concerning men of such tried integrity; but,
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1. They thought fit to send men of their own company to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas, Act 15:22. This was agreed to by the apostles and elders, with the whole church, who, it is likely, undertook to bear their charges, Co1 9:7. They sent these messengers, (1.) To show their respect to the church at Antioch, as a sister-church, though a younger sister, and that they looked upon it as upon the same level with them; as also that they were desirous further to know their state. (2.) To encourage Paul and Barnabas, and to make their journey home the more pleasant (for it is likely they travelled on foot) by sending such excellent men to bear them company; amicus pro vehiculo - a friend instead of a carriage. (3.) To put a reputation upon the letters they carried, that it might appear a solemn embassy, and so much the more regard might be paid to the message, which was likely to meet with opposition from some. (4.) To keep up the communion of the saints, and cultivate an acquaintance between churches and ministers that were at a distance from each other, and to show that, though they were many, yet they were one.
2. Those they sent were not inferior persons, who might serve to carry the letters, and attest the receipt of them from the apostles; but they were chosen men, and chief men among the brethren, men of eminent gifts, graces, and usefulness; for these are the things which denominate men chief among the brethren, and qualify them to be the messengers of the churches. They are here named: Judas, who was called Barsabas (probably the brother of that Joseph who was called Barsabas, that was a candidate for the apostleship, Act 1:23), and Silas. The character which these men had in the church at Jerusalem would have some influence upon those that came from Judea, as those false teachers did, and engage them to pay the more deference to the message that was sent by them.
II. The drawing up of the letters, circular letters, that were to be sent to the churches, to notify the sense of the synod in this matter.
1. Here is a very condescending obliging preamble to this decree, Act 15:23. There is nothing in it haughty or assuming, but, (1.) That which intimates the humility of the apostles, that they join the elders and brethren in commission with them, the ministers, the ordinary Christians, whom they had advised with in this case, as they used to do in other cases. Though never men were so qualified as they were for a monarchical power and authority in the church, nor had such a commission as they had, yet their decrees run not, "We, the apostles, Christ's vicars upon earth, and pastors of all the pastors of the churches" (as the pope styles himself), "and sole judges in all matters of faith;" but the apostles, and elders, and brethren, agree in their orders. Herein they remembered the instructions their Master gave them (Mat 23:8): Be not you called Rabbi; for you are all brethren. (2.) That which bespeaks their respect to the churches they wrote to; they send to them greeting, wish them health and happiness and joy, and call them brethren of the Gentiles, thereby owning their admission into the church, and giving them the right hand of fellowship: "You are our brethren, though Gentiles; for we meet in Christ, the first born among many brethren, in God our common Father." Now that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and of the same body, they are to be countenanced and encouraged, and called brethren.
2. Here is a just and severe rebuke to the judaizing teachers (Act 15:24): "We have heard that certain who went out from us have troubled you with words, and we are very much concerned to hear it; now this is to let them know that those who preached this doctrine were false teachers, both as they produced a false commission and as they taught a false doctrine." (1.) They did a great deal of wrong to the apostles and ministers at Jerusalem, in pretending that they had instructions from them to impose the ceremonial law upon the Gentiles, when there was no colour for such a pretension. "They went out from us indeed - they were such as belonged to our church, of which, when they had a mind to travel, we gave them perhaps a testimonial; but, as for their urging the law of Moses upon you, we gave them no such commandment, nor had we ever thought of such a thing, nor given them the least occasion to use our names in it." It is no new thing for apostolical authority to be pleaded in defence of those doctrines and practices for which yet the apostles gave neither command nor encouragement. (2.) They did a great deal of wrong to the Gentile converts, in saying, You must be circumcised, and must keep the law. [1.] It perplexed them: "They have troubled you with words, have occasioned disturbance and disquietment to you. You depended upon those who told you, If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you shall be saved; and now you are startled by those that tell you you must keep the law of Moses or you cannot be saved, by which you see yourselves drawn into a snare. They trouble you with words - words, and nothing else - mere words - sound, but no substance." How has the church been troubled with words, by the pride of men that loved to hear themselves talk! [2.] It endangered them; they subverted their souls, put them into disorder, and pulled down that which had been built up. They took them off from pursuing pure Christianity, and minding the business of that, by filling their heads with the necessity of circumcision, and the law of Moses, which were nothing to the purpose.
3. Here is an honourable testimony given of the messengers by whom these letters were sent.
(1.) Of Paul and Barnabas, whom these judaizing teachers had opposed and censured as having done their work by the halves, because they had brought the Gentile converts to Christianity only, and not to Judaism. Let them say what they will of these men, [1.] "They are men that are dear to us; they are our beloved Barnabas and Paul - men whom we have a value for, a kindness for, a concern for." Sometimes it is good for those that are of eminence to express their esteem, not only for the despised truth of Christ, but for the despised preachers and defenders of that truth, to encourage them, and weaken the hands of their opposers. [2.] "They are men that have signalized themselves in the service of Christ, and therefore have deserved well of all the churches: they are men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Act 15:26), and therefore are worthy of double honour, and cannot be suspected of having sought any secular advantage to themselves; for they have ventured their all for Christ, have engaged in the most dangerous services, as good soldiers of Christ, and not only in laborious services." It is not likely that such faithful confessors should be unfaithful preachers. Those that urged circumcision did it to avoid persecution (Gal 6:12, Gal 6:13); those that opposed it knew they thereby exposed themselves to persecution; and which of these were most likely to be in the right?
(2.) Of Judas and Silas: "They are chosen men (Act 15:25), and they are men that have heard our debates, and are perfectly apprized of the matter, and will tell you the same things by mouth," Act 15:27. What is of use to us it is good to have both in writing and by word of mouth, that we may have the advantage both of reading and of hearing it. The apostles refer them to the bearers for a further account of their judgment and their reasons, and the bearers will refer them to their letters for the certainty of the determination.
4. Here is the direction given what to require from the Gentile converts, where observe,
(1.) The matter of the injunction, which is according to the advice given by James, that, to avoid giving offence to the Jews, [1.] They should never eat any thing that they knew had been offered in sacrifice to an idol, but look upon it as, though clean in itself, yet thereby polluted to them. This prohibition was afterwards in part taken off, for they were allowed to eat whatever was sold in the shambles, or set before them at their friend's table, though it had been offered to idols, except when there was danger of giving offence by it, that is, of giving occasion either to a weak Christian to think the worse of our Christianity, or to a wicked heathen to think the better of his idolatry; and in these cases it is good to forbear, Co1 10:25, etc. This to us is an antiquated case. [2.] That they should not eat blood, nor drink it; but avoid every thing that looked cruel and barbarous in that ceremony which had been of so long standing. [3.] That they should not eat any thing that was strangled, or died of itself, or had not the blood let out. [4.] That they should be very strict in censuring those that were guilty of fornication, or marrying within the degrees prohibited by the Levitical law, which, some think, is principally intended here. See Co1 5:1. Dr. Hammond states this matter thus: The judaizing teachers would have the Gentile converts submit to all that those submitted to whom they called the proselytes of righteousness, to be circumcised and keep the whole law; but the apostles required no more of them than what was required of the proselytes of the gate, which was to observe the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, which, he thinks, are here referred to. But the only ground of this decree being in complaisance to the rigid Jews that had embraced the Christian faith, and, except in that one case of scandal, all meats being pronounced free and indifferent to all Christians as soon as the reason of the decree ceased, which, at furthest, was after the destruction of Jerusalem, the obligation of it ceased likewise. "These things are in a particular manner offensive to the Jews, and therefore do not disoblige them herein for the present; in a little time the Jews will incorporate with the Gentiles, and then the danger is over."
(2.) The manner in which it is worded. [1.] They express themselves with something of authority, that what they wrote might be received with respect, and deference paid to it: It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, that is, to us under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and by direction from him: not only the apostles, but others, were endued with spiritual gifts extraordinary, and knew more of the mind of God than any since those gifts ceased can pretend to; their infallibility gave an incontestable authority to their decrees, and they would not order any thing because it seemed good to them, but that they knew it first seemed good to the Holy Ghost. Or it refers to what the Holy Ghost had determined in this matter formerly. When the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles, he endued them with the gift of tongues, in order to their preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, which was a plain indication of God's purpose to call them in. When the Holy Ghost descended upon Cornelius and his friends, upon Peter's preaching, it was plain that Christ designed the taking down of the Jewish pale, within which they fancied the spirit had been enclosed. [2.] They express themselves with abundance of tenderness and fatherly concern. First, They are afraid of burdening them: We will lay upon you no greater burden. So far were they from delighting to impose upon them that they dreaded nothing so much as imposing too far upon them, so as to discourage them at their setting out. Secondly, They impose upon them no other than necessary things. "The avoiding of fornication is necessary to all Christians at all times; the avoiding of things strangled, and of blood, and of things offered to idols, is necessary at this time, for the keeping up of a good understanding between you and the Jews, and the preventing of offence;" and as long as it continues necessary for that end, and no longer, it is enjoined. Note, Church-rulers should impose only necessary things, things which Christ has made our duty, which have a real tendency to the edification of the church, and, as here, to the uniting of good Christians. If they impose things only to show their own authority, and to try people's obedience, they forget that they have not authority to make new laws, but only to see that the laws of Christ be duly executed, and to enforce the observance of them. Thirdly, They enforce their order with a commendation of those that shall comply with it, rather than with the condemnation of those that shall transgress it. They do not conclude, "From which if you do not keep yourselves, you shall be an anathema, you shall be cast out of the church, and accursed," according to the style of after-councils, and particularly that of Trent; but "From which if you keep yourselves, as we do not question but you will, you will do well; it will be for the glory of God, the furtherance of the gospel, the strengthening of the hands of your brethren, and your own credit and comfort." It is all sweetness and love and good humour, such as became the followers of him who, when he called us to take his yoke upon us, assured us we should find him meek and lowly in heart. The difference of the style of the true apostles from that of the false is very observable. Those that were for imposing the ceremonial laws were positive and imperious: Except you keep it, you cannot be saved (Act 15:1), you are excommunicated ipso facto - at once, and delivered to Satan. The apostles of Christ, who only recommend necessary things, are mild and gentle: "From which if you keep yourselves, you will do well, and as becomes you. Fare ye well; we are hearty well-wishers to your honour and peace."
III. The delivering of the letters, and how the messengers disposed of themselves.
1. When they were dismissed, had had their audience of leave of the apostles (it is probable that they were dismissed with prayer, and a solemn blessing in the name of the Lord, and with instructions and encouragements in their work), They then came to Antioch; they staid no longer at Jerusalem than till their business was done, and then came back, and perhaps were met at their return by those that brought them on their way at their setting out; for those that have taken pains in public service ought to be countenanced and encouraged.
2. As soon as they came to Antioch, they gathered the multitude together, and delivered the epistle to them (Act 15:30, Act 15:31), that they might all know what it was that was forbidden them, and might observe these orders, which would be no difficulty for them to do, most of them having been, before their conversion to Christ, proselytes of the gate, who had laid themselves under these restrictions already. But this was not all; it was that they might know that no more than this was forbidden them, that it was no longer a sin to eat swine's flesh, no longer a pollution to touch a grave or a dead body.
3. The people were wonderfully pleased with the orders that came from Jerusalem (Act 15:31): They rejoiced for the consolation; and a great consolation it was to the multitude, (1.) That they were confirmed in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and were not burdened with that, as those upstart teachers would have had them to be. It was a comfort to them to hear that the carnal ordinances were no longer imposed on them, which perplexed the conscience, but could not purify nor pacify it. (2.) That those who troubled their minds with an attempt to force circumcision upon them were hereby for the present silenced and put to confusion, the fraud of their pretensions to an apostolical warrant being now discovered. (3.) That the Gentiles were hereby encouraged to receive the gospel, and those that had received it to adhere to it. (4.) That the peace of the church was hereby restored, and that removed which threatened a division. All this was consolation which they rejoiced in, and blessed God for.
4. They got the strange ministers that came from Jerusalem to give them each a sermon, and more, Act 15:32. Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, endued with the Holy Ghost, and called to the work, and being likewise entrusted by the apostles to deliver some things relating to this matter by word of mouth, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them. Even those that had the constant preaching of Paul and Barnabas, yet were glad of the help of Judas and Silas; the diversity of the gifts of ministers is of use to the church. Observe what is the work of ministers with those that are in Christ. (1.) To confirm them, by bringing them to see more reason both for their faith in Christ and their obedience to him; to confirm their choice of Christ and their resolutions for Christ. (2.) To exhort them to perseverance, and to the particular duties required of them: to quicken them to that which is good, and direct them in it. They comforted the brethren (so it may be rendered), and this would contribute to the confirming of them; for the joy of the Lord will be our strength. They exhorted them with many words; they used a very great copiousness and variety of expression. One word would affect one, and another another; and therefore, though what they had to say might have been summed up in a few words, yet it was for the edification of the church that they used many words, dia logou pollou - with much speech, much reasoning; precept must be upon precept.
5. The dismission of the Jerusalem ministers, Act 15:33. When they had spent some time among them (so it might be read), poiēsantes chronon - having made some stay, and having made it to good purpose, not having trifled away time, but having filled it up, they were let go in peace from the brethren at Antioch, to the apostles at Jerusalem, with all possible expressions of kindness and respect; they thanked them for their coming and pains, and the good service they had done, wished them their health and a good journey home, and committed them to the custody of the peace of God.
6. The continuance of Silas, notwithstanding, together with Paul and Barnabas, at Antioch. (1.) Silas, when it came to the setting to, would not go back with Judas to Jerusalem, but let him go home by himself, and chose rather to abide still at Antioch, Act 15:34. And we have no reason at all to blame him for it, though we know not the reason that moved him to it. I am apt to think the congregations at Antioch were both more large and more lively than those at Jerusalem, and that this tempted him to stay there, and he did well: so did Judas, who, notwithstanding this, returned to his post of service at Jerusalem. (2.) Paul and Barnabas, though their work lay chiefly among the Gentiles, yet continued for some time in Antioch, being pleased with the society of the ministers and people there, which, it should seem by divers passages, was more than ordinarily inviting. They continued there, not to take their pleasure, but teaching and preaching the word of God. Antioch, being the chief city of Syria, it is probable there was a great resort of Gentiles thither from all parts upon one account or other, as there was of Jews to Jerusalem; so that in preaching there they did in effect preach to many nations, for they preached to those who would carry the report of what they preached to many nations, and thereby prepare them for the apostles' coming in person to preach to them. And thus they were not only not idle at Antioch, but were serving their main intention. (3.) There were many others also there, labouring at the same oar. The multitude of workmen in Christ's vineyard does not give us a writ of ease. Even where there are many others labouring in the word and doctrine, yet there may be opportunity for us; the zeal and usefulness of others should excite us, not lay us asleep.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–31 Then all the multitude kept silence,.... Upon this oration…
Then all the multitude kept silence,.... Upon this oration of Peter's, there was a profound silence in the whole assembly, among all the brethren of the church, who were come together on this occasion; they were all satisfied with, and by their silence acquiesced in, what Peter said; and waited to hear what might be further said about this matter, by other persons in the assembly; and even those who were on the other side of the question, were confounded and nonplussed, and knew not what to say, and the more so, when they perceived that the rest of the apostles and elders were of the same mind; for Beza's most ancient copy introduces this clause thus; "then the elders agreeing to the things that were said by Peter, the whole multitude was silent": and this gave Paul and Barnabas an opportunity of being heard; who, perhaps, could not so well be heard before, for the clamour of the people against them, who might not have so good an opinion of them, and of their practices:
and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul; Barnabas is mentioned first, he being most known to the Jews, and of whom they might have the better opinion; and who probably gave the account of their proceedings and success among the Gentiles:
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declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them; what wonders of grace were wrought in the conversion of multitudes of them, wherever they came; and what miracles in nature were wrought for the confirmation of the Gospel, such as the striking blind Elymas the sorcerer, at Paphos in Cyprus, and curing the cripple at Lystra; and which they ascribe not to themselves but to God, whose instruments they only were.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29 Miracles and wonders - By which also what St.…
Miracles and wonders - By which also what St. Peter had said was confirmed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31 Verse 12. All the multitude kept silence] The strong…
Verse 12. All the multitude kept silence] The strong facts stated by St. Peter could not be controverted. His speech may be thus analyzed:
1. Circumcision is a sign of the purification of the heart.
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2. That purification can only be effected by the Holy Ghost.
3. This Holy Spirit was hitherto supposed to be the portion of those only who had received circumcision.
4. But the Gentiles, who were never circumcised, nor kept any part of the law of Moses, have had their hearts purified by faith in Christ Jesus.
5. As God, therefore, has given them the thing signified, he evidently does not intend that the sign should be administered.
6. Should we impose this burthensome rite, we should most evidently be provoking God, who plainly shows us that he intends no more to save in this way.
7. Therefore it is evident that both Jews and Gentiles are to be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gave audience to Barnabas and Paul] These apostles came forward next, to corroborate what Peter had said, by showing the miracles and wonders which God had by them wrought among the Gentiles. Peter stated facts: Paul and Barnabas confirmed the statement.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 19, 22, 24, 28, 30 Act 15:12-18. Then all the multitude kept silence —…
Act 15:12-18. Then all the multitude kept silence — Having nothing further to object to what had been advanced; and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul — Who confirmed Peter’s reasoning, by declaring what miracles God had wrought among the Gentiles — By their ministry; of which, the chief miracle was, that he had amply conferred the gifts of the Holy Spirit on the believing Gentiles, although they were uncircumcised. After they had done speaking, James, the son of Alpheus, one of the apostles, answered those who were for subjecting the Gentiles to the law, by adding, in supplement to Peter’s reasoning, that the prophets had foretold the conversion of the Gentiles; so that it was always God’s purpose to make them his people. The passage he appeals to, quoting it according to the reading of the Seventy, is Amo 9:11-12; where see the notes. It may be thus paraphrased: After this — After the Jewish dispensation expires; I will return — To my people in mercy; and will build again the tabernacle — That is, the house, or family, of David; which is fallen down — Is in a low, degraded state: I will do this by raising from his seed the Christ, who shall erect, on the ruins of his fallen tabernacle, a spiritual and eternal kingdom; that the residue of men — And not the Jews alone; might seek after the Lord — After an acquaintance with him, and the blessings consequent thereon; and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called — Or who shall be called by my name; who shall be my people. James adds, Known unto God are all his works — This the apostle infers from the prophecy itself, and the accomplishment of it. And this conversion of the Gentiles, being known to him from eternity, we ought not to think a new or strange thing. It is observable, he does not speak of God’s works in the natural world, (which would have been nothing to his present purposes) but of his dispensations toward the children of men. Now he could not know these, without knowing the characters and actions of particular persons, on a correspondence with which the wisdom and goodness of those dispensations are founded. For instance, he could not know how he would deal with heathen idolaters, (whom he was now calling into his church,) without knowing there would be heathen idolaters; and yet this was a thing purely contingent, a thing as dependant on the freedom of the human mind as any we can imagine. This text, therefore, among a thousand more, is an unanswerable proof that God foreknows future contingencies, though there are difficulties relating thereto which man cannot solve.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31 Then all the multitude - Evidently the multitude of…
Then all the multitude - Evidently the multitude of private Christians who were assembled on this occasion. That it does not refer to a synod of ministers and elders merely is apparent:
(1) Because the church, the brethren, are represented as having been present, and as concurring in the final opinion Act 15:22-23; and,
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(2) Because the word “multitude” τὸ πλῆθος to plēthos would not have been used in describing the collection of apostles and elders merely. Compare Luk 1:10-11, Luk 1:13; Luk 5:6; Luk 6:17; Luk 19:37; Joh 5:3; Joh 21:6; Act 4:32; Act 6:2; Mat 3:7.
Gave audience - Heard, listened attentively to.
Barnabas and Paul - They were deeply interested in it, and they were qualified to give a fair statement of the facts as they had occurred.
Declaring what miracles and wonders ... - The argument here evidently is, that God had approved their work by miracles; that he gave evidence that what they did had his approbation; and that as all this was done without imposing on them the rites of the Jews, so it would follow that those were not now to be commanded.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 28, 29, 31 To the Lord was known his own work. He…
To the Lord was known his own work. He bringeth it to pass, as he hath decreed, though his decrees are to us unknown. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv22, 30 22Then pleased it [resolved] the apostles and elders, with…
C.—THE DECISION, AND THE EPISTLE OF THE ASSEMBLY
Act_15:22-29
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22Then pleased it [resolved] the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen [to choose and send] men of their own company [from among themselves] to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed10 Barsabas, and Silas, chief [who were leading] men among the brethren: 23And they wrote letters by them after this manner [And they placed in their hands the following letter]; The apostles and elders and11 brethren send greeting unto [salute] the brethren which [who] are of the Gentiles in Antioch and [in] Syria and Cilicia: 24For as much as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law [have heard that some (persons) who went out from us, have troubled you with discourses, in that they unsettle your souls];12 to whom we gave no such [om. such] commandment: 25It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen [Therefore we, being assembled with one accord, have resolved (ἔδοξεν) to choose and send] men unto you with our beloved [our dear friends] Barnabas and Paul, 26Men [Who (Barn, and P.) are men] that have hazarded their lives [their souls] for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall [will] also tell you the same things by mouth [things verbally]13. 28For it seemed good to [pleased] the Holy Ghost, and to [om. to] us, to lay upon you no greater [further, πλέον] burden than these14 necessary things: 29That ye abstain from meats offered to idols [from idol-sacrifices], and from blood, and from things [any thing]15 strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves [therefore, if ye keep this], ye shall do well [it will go well with you]. Fare ye well.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_15:22. a. Then pleased it, etc.—The resolution adopted by the assembly as the result of the proceedings which are described above, is now given. The word ἔδοξε, Act_15:22; Act_15:25, frequently occurs, in classic Greek, in the formal resolutions of a senate, a popular assembly, or other body invested with authority, and hence the resolutions themselves are termed τὰ δεδογμένα or δόγματα; com. Act_16:4. The assembly consisted, according to this account, of three classes: 1. apostles; 2. elders of the congregation at Jerusalem; 3. the members of the congregation itself; all the latter were present, that is, male members (οἱ ἀδελφοί, Act_15:23), without doubt, however, those only who were of full age. But the terms: σὺν ὅλῃ τῇ ἐκκλησία, and οἱ ἀδελφοί, Act_15:23, show quite plainly that the customary names of this assembly, viz., “Apostolic Council,” “Convention of the Apostles,” are not altogether appropriate. Independently of the fact that the elders of the congregation had already been addressed by the congregation at Antioch, Act_15:2, as well as the apostles, and, according to Act_15:6; Act_15:22-23, participated in the proceedings, it is expressly stated that the congregation itself in Jerusalem, was present at the assembly, and that the members were not merely hearers, but also assisted in framing the resolution (σν̀ν ὅλῃ τ.ἐκκλ.).
b. To send chosen men [to choose and send men]. (’Εκλεξαμένονς—πέμψαι, is equivalent to: ἵνα ἐκλεξάμενοι—πέμψωσι. [Winer: Gr. N. T. § 38. 4.]). The resolution to choose messengers among the members of the congregation at Jerusalem, and send them to Antioch, had not been previously proposed. It was a happy thought, although the name of the person who first suggested it, is not given. The congregation of Antioch had sent a deputation, consisting of several of its members to the one in Jerusalem (καί τινας ἄλλονς ἐξ αν̓τῶν, Act_15:2.). It was, accordingly, a just and reasonable recognition of this congregational embassy, when the Christians of Jerusalem likewise sent messengers of its own to Antioch, in order to express, in this manner, its fraternal sentiments, and contribute its share in strengthening the bond of union which already existed. It was, moreover, a judicious measure that messengers from Jerusalem accompanied Paul and Barnabas, inasmuch as the testimony of the former fully confirmed the report furnished by the Antiochians on their return; omnibus modis cavebatur, ne Paulus sententiam concilii videretur pro suo referre arbitrio. (Bengel). Comp. Act_15:27 : καὶ αν̓τον́ς—ἀπαγγέλλοντας τὰ αν̓τά.
c. Two men were chosen for this purpose: the first was Judas, surnamed Barsabas, of whom we have otherwise no knowledge whatever; his surname has induced some learned men (Grotius, for instance) to believe that he was a brother of Joseph Barsabas, who had, with Matthias, been proposed as a candidate for the apostleship, Act_1:23.—The other was Silas, well known as, subsequently, a fellow-laborer and companion of Paul in his missionary work among the Gentiles; Paul himself calls him Silvanus (1Th_1:1; 2Co_1:19). Both are here described by Luke as ἄνδρες ἡγούμενοι ἐν τοῖς ἁδελφοῖς, i.e., they not only exercised great influence, but were also office-bearers in the congregation, whose duty it was to guide others; compare Heb_13:7; Heb_13:17, where the officers and teachers of the church receive this title [ἡγον́μενοι]. They were, probably, elders of the congregation in Jerusalem; Luke calls them also prophets, Act_15:32.
Act_15:23. a. And they wrote letters by them [And they placed in their hands the following letter (τάδε); for the anacoluthonγράψαντες instead of γρ́ψαντας, see Winer: Gr. N. T. § 63. I. 1.—Tr.]. The adoption of a resolution that a general epistle should be addressed to the Gentile-Christians, is another circumstance which had not hitherto, been mentioned in the account of the proceedings, that is, if we assume that ἐπιστεῖλαι, [see Exeg. note on] Act_15:20, signifies, not literis mandare, but, simply, mandare. An epistle was the most suitable means for conveying to the remote Gentile-Christians, whom the matter concerned, a knowledge of the decision and pleasure of the assembly, in the original form, and in an authentic statement. The document was placed in their hands (διὰ χειρὸς αν̓τῶν), i.e., of Judas and Silas, the two messengers sent from Jerusalem—not in those of Paul and Barnabas. It is the only congregational general letter of the apostolic age, which has descended to us, and the oldest synodical public letter (if we may use the expression), with, which we are acquainted. Luke does not mention the name of the person who composed it, or acted as scribe, neither does he state the language in which it was written. But its genuine Greek epistolary form, beginning with χαίρειν, and closing with ἔῤῥωσθε, and the phrase ευ̇̄ πράττειν (Act_15:29), which so frequently occurred in letters, render it very probable that it was originally written in Greek, and that Luke has, consequently, given us an exact copy of the original itself. We may, besides, easily suppose, as Bengel has already done, (who is sustained by Bleek, in Stud. und Krit., 1836, 1837), that James, the brother of the Lord, composed the letter, in the name and by the authority of the assembly. For he exercised at that time already (comp. Act_12:17), a commanding influence in the congregation, and he had himself, on the present occasion, materially assisted in conducting the assembly to a decision. And, lastly, an analogy, in more than one point, may be found between this letter and the Epistle of James, of which he is unquestionably the author.
b. The apostles, and elders, etc.—The letter is addressed to the Gentile-Christians as to brethren (τοίς—ἀδελφοῖς τοις ἐξ ἐθνῶν), and thus their equality with the Judæo-Christians in rank and privileges, is unequivocally acknowledged. They are, further, described as inhabitants of Antioch, of Syria, and of Cilicia. The capital city, the congregation of which had originally brought the matter forward, is appropriately mentioned in the first place; the name of the whole province (Syria) succeeds, and that of Cilicia is then added. It necessarily follows that Christian congregations must, already at that time, have existed in Cilicia, [comp. Act_15:41], and that they, too, had been disturbed by the efforts of the Judaists. On the other hand, the congregations which had been recently formed in the two provinces of Asia Minor, viz., Pisidia and Pamphylia, are not mentioned, although the proceedings in Jerusalem referred also to them; comp. Act_16:4. It is possible that they had not yet been disturbed by the visits of Judæo-Christians, who entertained Pharisaical sentiments.
Act_15:24. As we have heard.—The occasion of the letter is stated in brief, but expressive, terms. The assembly declares that the procedure of those who had molested the Gentile congregations by their Judaizing demands, was unauthorized; οῖς ον̓ διεστειλάμεθα, i.e., ‘they received no commission, no authority, for such a course, from us.’ Their conduct is described as a ταράσσειν λόγοις—conduct which created disturbances, doubts and scruples; Paul uses the same expression in Gal_5:10; ὁ ταράσσων ὑμᾶς. The result is, further, described as an ἀνασκευάζειν τὰς ψυχὰς ῦμῶν, evertere, destruere animas; this verb does not occur in the Septuagint, and is found in the New Testament only in this passage. It signifies: to break down, to destroy, a building, and is, hence, precisely the opposite of οἰκοδομεῖν; comp. Act_9:31. The assembly, accordingly did not spare the authors of those troubles, but disapproved of their conduct and condemned it, as not only altogether unauthorized, but also as adapted solely to disturb the consciences of men.
Act_15:25-26, a. To send chosen men [To choose and send men]. The assembly, on the other hand, unequivocally sanctions, in its general letter, the course pursued by Paul and Barnabas. They are significantly styled οἱ ἀγαπητοὶ ἡμῶν. While the Judaistic emissaries had assumed a hostile attitude towards the apostles of the Gentiles, the Judæo-apostles, the elders, and the whole congregation in Jerusalem, emphatically express the ardent love with which they regard Paul and Barnabas, and declare that they were intimately united with them in spirit. Moreover, they commended the unconditional self-devotion of these two men, who were willing to sacrifice even their lives for the Lord Jesus, for the confession of his name, and for His honor. [Men, Act_15:26, (ἀνθρώποις) in apposition with Barnabas and Paul, not with men (ἄνδρας) in Act_15:25.—Tr.]. (ΙΙαραδοῦναι τὴν ψυχήν means: to deliver up, to jeopard, the soul, the life.). These words were intended to be a recommendation and a justification of the two men, on whom personally their opponents had doubtless thrown suspicion, but for whose integrity the members of the assembly pledge themselves.—The name of Barnabas precedes that of Paul [see Exeg. note on Act_15:12-15. a.—Tr.], as the former had been longer known to the apostles and the congregation, and this arrangement is a plain indication of the genuineness of the letter [of its “diplomatic” precision. (Bleek, Meyer, de Wette).—Tr.]
b. The resolution was adopted by them γενομένοις ὁμοθνμαδόν (an adverb, where an adjective would be expected [Winer: Gr. N. T. § 54. 2.—Tr.]), that is: “after we were of one mind”; the sense is that the resolution was not adopted by a majority, while a difference of opinion still remained, but by a unanimous vote. We must, accordingly, suppose that after those who entertained Pharisaic views, had expressed themselves in very emphatic terms, (see Act_15:5; Act_15:7), they were ultimately silenced by the decisive testimony of the apostles, and the cordial concurrence of the large congregation. Compare Baumgarten [Die Apostelgesch, etc.], II. 1, 159. It is not, indeed, implied that their Judaistic sentiments had been changed or extirpated, but simply, that, at the moment, they felt that they were defeated, and bowed before the power of the truth.
Act_15:27. We have sent, therefore.—The two ambassadors, Judas and Silas, who had been chosen in order to proceed with Barnabas and Paul to the Gentile-Christians (Act_15:25), are directed to announce διὰ λόυ, i.e., by word of mouth, the same things (τὰ αν̓τά) which the letter contained. The expressions τὰ αὐτά and διὰ λόγου, belong together, so that the sense cannot be, as Neander supposes: ‘Judas and Silas will tell you the same things that Paul and Barnabas announce.’ The following words, moreover, viz., ἔδοξε γὰρ, show that the subject to which ἀπαγγέλλειν refers, can be no other than the substance of the resolution concerning the Christianity of the Gentile-Christians.
Act_15:28-29. a. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.—With regard to the grammatical construction, it may be remarked that we should not depart from the most obvious and simple sense (according to which two subjects are placed in juxtaposition, to whom the decision and the resolution are ascribed), unless an unintelligible or inappropriate interpretation of the words would be the result. But the most obvious sense is, at the same time, here appropriate in every respect; see below, Doctrinal and Ethical, No. 4. It is, therefore, not necessary to resort to any far-fetched interpretation and assume that a hendiadys occurs here, i.e., either “to the Holy Ghost in us,” (Olshausen), or, “nobis per Spiritum Sanctum.” (Grotius). The explanation of Neander appears to be even more artificial; he assumes that the words τ. ἁγ. πνεύματι occur as an ablative, i.e., “through the Holy Ghost it pleased us also, (as well as Paul and Barnabas).” [Neander recalled or modified his original opinion in a later edition of Gesch. d. Pfl. (History of the Planting, etc. I. 166, text and note 1), and explains: “We have resolved” (not “through,” for then ἐν should precede, according to the N. T. usus loquendi) “under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, to lay, etc.”—Tr.]. The resolution means, in general, that the assembly did not wish to impose any further burden on the brethren among the Gentiles except “these necessary things.” (’Επιτίθεσθαι is not passive, imponi per quosvis doctores (Bengel), but occurs here in an active sense, as it does in by far the greatest number of cases in which it is employed.
b. To lay no greater burden.—The whole assembly, accordingly, declares that the Gentile-Christians shall be exempt from any further exactions, as far as a Mosaic legality is concerned, and be required to abstain only from the four things which James had already specified. The enumeration in Act_15:29, differs from that in Act_15:20, merely in substituting εἰδωλόθντα for εἴδωλα (the former: partaking of sacrifices which had been offered to gods), and in assigning the fourth instead of the second place to πορνειά. The words at the close: ἐξὦν—ευ̇̄ πράξετε, show conclusively that the term ἐπάναγκες does not refer to any unconditional and absolute necessity of a moral nature, for that language would be very inexpressive and feeble, and, indeed, altogether inappropriate, if the intention was to demand an abstinence which was absolutely and per se indispensable. The last sentence rather seems to give counsel, in a faithful and impressive manner. Ἐξ ὦς is not to be understood as in direct connection with διατηρεῖν, in the sense of: abstinere a re, for διατηρεῖν is always connected with an accusative, only seldom with μή, and never with ε̇κ; ἐξ ὦν is, therefore, equivalent to “in consequence of,” or, “accordingly.” Εν̓͂ πράττειν does not mean: to do morally right, but, to be in a good condition; it is against the usus loquendi of the New Testament, to regard it as identical with σωθῆναι (Kuinoel). [Ενὐ̄ πράξετε—says Meyer, who refers to various passages in Plato and Demosthenes,—means: “Ye shall be in a favorable condition,” namely in consequence of the peace and concord which will then prevail among Christians. Ἐῤῥωσθε is the epistolary Valete.—Tr.]
c. With respect to the question: How can the present report of the assembly and its proceedings, be reconciled with the statement of the apostle Paul in Gal_2:1 ff., see my Apost. u. nachap. Zeitalt. 2d. ed. p. 393, [where Lechler devotes more than 40 pages to a successful examination of, and answer to, certain difficulties proposed by Baur, Schwegler, Zeller, etc.—Tr.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. This is the first ecclesiastical assembly or Synod that is mentioned in the history of the Church; it furnishes an apostolical model for all succeeding ages. It was held for the purpose of considering an important question, involving essential points connected with the Christian doctrine and life—a question, too, which it was imperatively necessary to answer. The subject concerned the entire church of Christ of that age—the Gentile-Christians in a direct, and the Judæo-Christians, in an indirect manner. The decision was voluntarily submitted by the congregation of Antioch, which was immediately interested, to Jerusalem, as the mother-church. But the apostles did not assume the office of deciding, still less did Peter act alone; they did not even proceed to action with the elders as their associates; on the contrary, the whole congregation at Jerusalem was present, and rendered essential aid in the solution of the question that had been proposed. The opposite opinions which were entertained, were expressed with the utmost freedom. But truth and evangelical liberty triumphed, and, indeed, solely by the power of the Spirit—of the word of God—of His wonderful works. The decision was made, not by a doubtful majority which tyrannized over the minority, but by the assembly, with entire unanimity of sentiment. This result, moreover, had not been previously known and arranged, so that the proceedings were instituted only for the sake of appearance, or afforded simply a delusive spectacle. The views which ultimately prevailed, and the practical resolution which was adopted, were, on the contrary, the development and natural result of the preceding discussion. The resolution was not skilfully constructed to suit any concessions which the several parties made with a calculating spirit; it was the fruit of an honest consideration of the whole matter, conducted in the fear of God and with a desire to maintain the truth, and it proceeded from men who were guided and illuminated by the Holy Spirit; see below, No. 4.
2. The assembly addressed an epistle to the brethren among the Gentiles; the genuineness and authenticity of the alleged decrees of the assembly were thus established by a written instrument. The wish that the report of the proceedings should not be simply verbal, was both wise and benevolent. Although Paul and Barnabas might enjoy the confidence and love of the apostles and the congregation in Jerusalem in the highest degree, and although Silas and Judas might possess very great influence, and really be ἡγούμενοι, they were, nevertheless, not infallible men, whose report was necessarily and absolutely trustworthy; the sense of the assembly could be conveyed with perfect accuracy and fidelity only by writing. Our evangelical motto is: Verbo solo. The word of the Scriptures, as inspired by the Spirit—the word in which the Spirit lives, and through which the Spirit can, with power, fulness, and directness, influence accessible souls—is our treasure, and firm ground of faith.
3. True Christian love is not effeminate and feeble in its character, or so spiritless that it does not venture at any time to refuse its concurrence. If the Redeemer could not have pronounced a “Woe!” in the case of perverse men, of Pharisees and Scribes, his “Blessed!” would not possess that heavenly power of love, which it now exercises. If the apostles and brethren had not spoken in opposition to the Pharisees in the assembly, disapproved of their course, and uttered words of stern rebuke (Act_15:24), they would not have displayed sincere love to the Gentile-Christians, and to Paul and Barnabas themselves. But they repelled the former with the utmost decision, in order to add to the freedom and cordiality with which they embraced the latter. He alone who unhesitatingly and consistently honors the truth, is capable of entertaining a genuine, Christian love in his heart, and manifesting it in his life.
4. The declaration: It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, is of great importance. It has, on the one hand, been often interpreted as an expression of hierarchical arrogance, and has been exposed to censure; it has, on the other, been altered in sense and softened by interpreters, with good intentions, but without due consideration; see Exeg. etc. above, Act_15:28-29. a. In order to ascertain the true meaning of the words, the circumstance should be carefully noted, that the letter speaks of two resolutions adopted by the assembly, only one of which is mentioned in this manner. The resolution to send messengers to the Gentile-Christians, Act_15:25, is introduced only with the words: ἕδοξεν ἡμῖν γενομένοις ὁμοθυμαδόν; the other, on the contrary, according to which no further burdens should be imposed on the Gentile-Christians, and only abstinence in certain cases should be required, is thus introduced: ἔδοξε τῷ ἁγ. πν. καὶ ἡμῖν. It hence follows that the assembly does not ascribe all its resolutions ultimately to the Holy Ghost, but only that momentous decision which so deeply concerned the conscience alike of the brethren among the Gentiles, and of the Judæo-Christians themselves. It is solely this resolution which the assembly recognizes as one not only dictated by human wisdom, but also divinely inspired, or as one which proceeded from the guidance of the Holy Ghost himself. Can it be possible that this expression of the convictions of the assembly, contained an error or a wrong—that it originated in a fanatical self-delusion—or, that it was an attempt to deceive others, suggested by spiritual pride or hierarchical ambition? By no means! It conveys, on the contrary, a striking truth, conceived with entire sobriety of judgment, and announced in a devout spirit after calm deliberation. The assembly recognizes with humility and gratitude to God, and is not ashamed to make the confession before men, that, with regard to the best course, or the true bond of union, that is, such a solution as neither sacrifices truth to love, nor violates love for the sake of truth—a solution which both vindicates evangelical liberty, and secures the unity of the church of Christ—they are indebted, not to themselves, but to the Holy Ghost, who guides into all truth; and thus they give the glory to God. And yet they do not deny that they, too, had labored, had carefully deliberated in common, and honestly sought after the truth—and that the result had not been obtained from above while they slept, but followed after they had themselves (καὶ ἡμῖν) made diligent and earnest efforts. This peculiar language recognizes, accordingly, both the divine and gracious operations of the Holy Ghost, and also the independent action of man in searching and laboring; it furnishes, not a partial, but a complete view of their internal convictions, and combines humility with Christian dignity.—The remark may, finally, be made, that this passage furnishes an indirect proof of the personality of the Holy Ghost. For it is only when this doctrine is admitted, that a δοκεῖν, in the sense in which the word here occurs, can be ascribed to the Holy Ghost, i.e., an intention and determination of the will.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_15:22. Then pleased it the apostles, etc.—We have here a model of Christian prudence, suited to all succeeding ages; it teaches that mode of regulating the affairs of a congregation, deciding questions, and directing any institution, by which the rights of conscience, the claims of love, and the existence of personal liberty, are respected, while, at the same time, the welfare of the great majority is thus promoted. (Rieger).—Men of their own company [from among themselves].—The act of selecting messengers from the congregation in Jerusalem, was of service both to the Christians of Antioch, and also to Paul and Barnabas. It convinced the former that their own messengers did not, as it frequently occurs, unconsciously report their own opinion as that of the assembly; to the latter, nothing could be more welcome than a course by which their integrity, and their rightful claim to the title of apostles, would be attested by Jerusalem.
Act_15:23. And they wrote letters by them.—A mere verbal communication, even though upright brethren should be the agents, did not appear to the apostles to be an adequate and sufficiently sure method of conveying the knowledge of doctrinal truths and ecclesiastical ordinances. They deemed it necessary to express their sentiments in writing. The circumstance shows how far the apostles were from entertaining the opinion that any individual could be infallible, although he might even be the most prominent among their brethren. We gratefully acknowledge the wisdom of God, who did not give us merely oral testimony, but furnished us with a “sure word of prophecy” [2Pe_1:19] in a written form. Our faith now rests on a firm foundation, since we can say: “It is written.” (Ap. Past.).
Act_15:24. As we have heard … subverting [in that they unsettle] your souls.—Observe that the Holy Ghost does not send the men who teach works and the law, but says that they confuse and distress Christians. (Luther).—The Holy Ghost does not send false teachers; they come without authority; they do not edify, but only confuse and distress. Even as sound doctrine cheers the heart, and makes it strong in God, so false doctrine unsettles the soul, and does not allow it to find true peace. (Starke).
Act_15:25-26. With our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives, etc.—With the same firmness and decision with which they withdrew from the Christians of Jerusalem who entertained Pharisaic sentiments, they acknowledged Barnabas and Paul. They term them beloved friends; and, for what reason? They delivered up their lives for the name of Christ, not only by exposing themselves to bodily danger, but also by consecrating all the powers of their souls to the service of Jesus. Such a course still continues to constitute the duty and the glory of a servant of Christ. He issues the command: “Die at the post of duty, but gain souls for the Lamb.” (Williger).
Act_15:27. Tell you the same things by mouth.—The oral and the written testimony were intended to sustain each other. It was necessary that the dead letter of the Scriptures should be made alive by the Holy Ghost who spoke through the men of God. And so, too, in our own day, it is not sufficient that the word of God should be read; it must also be heard, when it is spoken by divinely enlightened men. (Williger).
Act_15:28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us.—The Holy Ghost is the arbiter and judge in matters of religion.—The decision of a case which believers have considered in the light of the Holy Ghost, may very properly be regarded as a decision of the Holy Ghost.—Our decision should not anticipate, but conform to, that of the Holy Ghost.—Let no one attempt to obtrude his fancies on others, as if they constituted the will of the Holy Ghost. (Starke).
Act_15:29. From which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well.—Even when they mention those few points which they deem necessary, they employ very moderate terms (“Ye shall do well”), as compared with the violent threats of the others (“Ye cannot be saved”, Act_15:1). How tenderly we should deal with the consciences of men! (Rieger).—As we learn from the introductory words of the Epistle, that the command was not intended for all the congregations, so, too, we learn from these concluding words, that it was not to be of perpetual validity, but to endure only until the attachment to the Mosaic ordinances had somewhat abated. (Ap. Past. and Bengel’s Gnomon).—Fare ye well. Through this concluding salutation, expressed in the manner of the Greeks, the Hebrews became Greeks to their Greek brethren. They could, with great propriety, say: “Fare ye well,” to brethren who had found eternal life by faith in the Lord Jesus, and whose fraternal love was the rule of their conduct in all the affairs of this life. “Fare ye well”, that is, Be faithful to Jesus ! (Besser).
The wisdom and the love with which we should deal with errors and the erring, in the Church.—The Church of the Lord possesses legislative powers: I. Because the Spirit of God operates in her, Act_15:28; II. Because it is her duty to decide on the changing affairs of this life with a view to the salvation of mankind, Act_15:24; Act_15:29. (Lisco).—How is that which is temporary in Christianity to be set aside? I. When has the proper time arrived? II. By what considerations are we to be guided? (id.).—The Epistle of the church of Jerusalem to the brethren among the Gentiles, viewed as an adequate and valid charter for mankind, now released from the bondage of the law: adequate and valid, I. On account of the occasion which called it law, forth; (it concerned the question: Moses or Christ? Human traditions, or the work of God?) II. On account of its holy and inviolable source: (it was dictated by the Holy Ghost, Act_15:28). III. On account of its venerable bearers; (they were heralds of evangelical grace and truth, whom God himself had accredited.) IV. On account of the incontestable truth of its contents; (exemption from the temporary ceremonial, but not from the eternal moral law, Act_15:29; release from the yoke of servile obedience, but not from the service which self-denying love renders to the Lord, Act_15:26).—True evangelical liberty: it is, indeed, I. Freedom from human ordinances and a ceremonial service, Act_15:24; Act_15:28, but at the same time, II. Subjection, in love, to the Lord (Act_15:26), to the eternal moral Act_15:29.—The written word of God, and its living bearers; each is attested by the other: I. The Scriptures, by the character of the bearers: II. The bearers, by the character of the Scriptures.
Footnotes:
[10]Act_15:22. [In place of ἐπικαλοὐμενον before Bαρσ., of text. rec., from H., fathers, etc., recent editors agree in adopting the simple form with A. B. C. D. E. G., and Cod. Sin., and regard the former as an explanatory correction.—Tr.]
[11]Act_15:23. Five important MSS., A. B.C. D. and Cod. Sin., omit καὶ οἱ [of text. rec.] before ἀδελφαό, as well as several fathers and versions [Vulg., etc.]. Lachmann has therefore cancelled καὶ οἱ. But it may easily be conceived that the omission was occasioned by a scruple respecting the coöperation of the congregation with the apostles. [Meyer, whose opinion de Wette adopts, supposes that the omission was the result of a hierarchical feeling, and that the two words are genuine.—Tr.]. E. G. H., and most of the versions and fathers, insert καὶ οἱ, and this reading is, with Tischendorf, to be received as genuine. [It is dropped by Alf. as an interpolation. Cod. Sin. (original) omitted it, but it was inserted by a later hand, marked C by Tisch.—Tr.]
[12]Act_15:24. The words: λέγοντες περιτὲμνεσθαι καὶ τηρεῖν τὸν νόμον, [of text. rec., and found in C. E.] are wanting in A. B. D. [and Cod. Sin.], in several versions [Vulg. etc.], and fathers; they are a gloss from Act_15:1; Act_15:5, and have therefore been very properly cancelled by Lach. and Tisch. [But both Meyer and de Wette incline to the opinion that the words are genuine; E. even inserts δεῖ after περιτέμ.; the manuscripts vary considerably; Alf. says that the words are “manifestly an interpolation,” and, like Born., omits them.—Tr.]
[13]Act_15:27. [In place of “mouth,” (Tynd., Cranmer, Geneva), the margin of the Engl. Bible proposes “word.” (Wiclif.); διὰ λόγου is equivalent to “verbally” or “orally.”—Tr.]
[14]Act_15:28. Tischendorf has cancelled τούτων [of text. rec. from E.G.] after τῶν ἐπάναγκες, but on the authority of only one manuscript, viz. A. [The word is omitted by several minuscules and fathers.]. Lach., in accordance with B. C. D. [and H.], reads τούτων τῶν ἐπάναγκες [and is supported by Meyer.—D. omits τῶν. Alf. omits τούτων altogether, as a marginal gloss.—Cod. Sin. (original) reads: τουτων επαναγκαις; a later hand (C) here inserted των.—επαναγκαις is found also in A. C.—Tr.]
[15]Act_15:29. Tischendorf [with Lach.], in accordance with A (orig.). B. C [and Cod. Sin.].reads καὶ πνικτῶυ, whereas the singular,πνικτοῦ [of text. rec.] is found in A. (corrected), as well as in E. G. H. [Vulg.—D. omits καὶ πν. Alf. agrees with Tisch., and supposes that the singular is an “alteration for uniformity with Act_15:20.”—Cod. Sin. (original) exhibits the plural, for which a later hand, C, inserted the singular.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 31 Then all . . . gave audience to Barnabas…
Then all . . . gave audience to Barnabas and Paul--On this order of the names here, see on Act 15:25.
declaring what miracles and signs God wrought among the Gentiles by them--This detail of facts, immediately following up those which Peter had recalled to mind, would lead all who waited only for divine teaching to see that God had Himself pronounced the Gentile converts to be disciples in as full standing as the Jews, without circumcision; and the attesting miracles to which Paul here refers would tend, in such an assembly to silence opposition.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30 12. Kept silence—Hushed, not from the tumult of debate,…
12. Kept silence—Hushed, not from the tumult of debate, as some commentators think; nor by the power of Peter’s speech, as others; but hushed from eager expectation of what the Antiochian ambassadors will say, and held silent by the thrilling interest of their narrative. Barnabas here, by local propriety, takes precedence, as also in the letter of the Council, (Act_15:25,) just as James takes precedence of Peter in Gal_2:9. Yet it no doubt is true that Jerusalem never so expanded her soul as to take in the greatness of Paul’s apostolate.
Miracles and wonders—The tale of these two hardy itinerants could not but possess all the novelty and power of romance to their listening ears. For a brief hour, at least, they stood upon the high platform of Jesus Himself, and their horizon extended into the breadth of his commission, “Go into all the world.” For a moment they realized that Christianity was to become a universal religion by shedding Judaism from its back.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 12. Then all the multitude] Though the apostles and…
12. Then all the multitude] Though the apostles and elders are alone mentioned (Act_15:6) as coming together, it now appears that the assembly was a large one.
kept silence] The authority with which he could speak through whom God had first opened the door of faith to the Gentiles must have silenced opposition. For he like themselves had had prejudices to overcome before his mission to Cornelius.
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and gave audience] Here the imperfect tense implies the steady continuous attention to the whole narrative of that first missionary journey of St Paul.
what miracles] The word is that usually rendered signs; and the two nouns are the same which occur in the prayer of the disciples (Act_4:30) ‘that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy servant Jesus.’ The prayer was now being answered abundantly. It is well that the English rendering should accord in these places.
by them] See note on Act_15:4 above.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31 (12) And gave audience to Barnabas and Paul.—The leaders…
(12) And gave audience to Barnabas and Paul.—The leaders of the Church had clearly reserved their part in the debate to the last, and the two Apostles of the Gentiles were now called on to repeat more publicly what they had already narrated to the Apostles and elders (Act_15:4). It was, perhaps, with a special view to the character of their hearers that they laid stress on the “signs and wonders” which had attested God’s acceptance of their work (Mat_12:38; Mat_16:1; 1Co_1:22). Miracles had been wrought among the Gentiles as freely as among the Jews, and those who wrought them, unless they were casting out devils by Beelzebub (and the Judaisers appear to have shrunk from that charge), must have been sent by God (Joh_3:2; Joh_9:31-33).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 And for then, A.V.; they hearkened for gave audience,…
And for then, A.V.; they hearkened for gave audience, A.V.; rehearsing what signs for declaring what miracles, A.V. Kept silence; marking the contrast between the noisy questionings and disputings which had preceded Peter"s speech, and the quiet orderly attention with which they now listened to Paul and Barnabas, telling them of the conversion of the Gentiles. It recalls Virgil"s description of the effect of the presence of a man of grave piety upon an excited crowd
Tum, pielate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem Aspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adslant. ("AEneid," 1:152. )
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Vers. 12-35. A grave crisis in the kingdom of God: more lessons.
After Peter"s speech (vers. 7-10) came the narration of facts by Barnabas and Paul, in which they laid stress on the Divine tokens of favor and support which they had received in the execution of their work (ver. 12); and then James summed up the matter, evidently giving voice to the decision of the Church. We learn
I THAT MEN OF DIVERGENT THOUGHT SHOULD STRIVE TO MEET ONE ANOTHER"S VIEWS IN CHRISTIAN COUNCIL. Probably it would be hard to find two good men of any age or country who have taken more divergent views of the gospel of Christ than did James and Paul. Their Epistles show us how they viewed the one truth from separate and even distant standpoints. Had they come to this Church meeting intent on magnifying their own distinctive points, there would have ensued bitter conflict and fatal rupture. But they strove to meet one another, and the end was peace and the furtherance of redeeming truth.
II THAT AN EQUITABLE COMPROMISE MAY BE THE MOST HONORABLE SETTLEMENT. (Vers. 19-21.) In concession to the Gentile party, it was not required that they should submit to the distinctive rite; in concession to the Jewish party, it was required that certain statutes should be observed by them. Occasions will very frequently occur when each side owes it to the other to make concession. The spirit that strives only for victory is not the spirit of Christ. We should, as his disciples, count it an honor and a joy to concede, when we conscientiously can do so, to Christian brethren who differ from us.
III THAT WE MAY LEAVE UNIMPORTANT MATTERS TO THE SETTLEMENT OF TIME. The particular precepts which James and those who thought with him desired to have enforced have long since disappeared. Their observance at the time was expedient, for Moses had in every city them that preached him, etc. (ver. 21). But when the special reasons for conformity were removed, then they fell through. Where the peace of a Church or a large Christian community is at stake, we do well to accept small matters which are unessential; time is on our side.
IV THAT CHRISTIANITY HAS PURIFIED AND PROPORTIONED PUBLIC MORALS. It surprises and shocks us to read of abstinence from meat which had been offered to idols, and from things strangled, being placed side by side with abstinence from the sin of fornication, as if, in morals, these things stood on the same level. We feel that the latter is a thing so utterly and inherently bad that the former is not at all comparable with it in heinousness of offence. The fact is that we think thus because our holy religion has purified our thoughts, and taught us to see ceremonial and moral offences in true perspective. But wherever Christianity has been corrupted, where the traditions of men have overlaid its simplicity with their ceremonialism, we find this defective view prevailing. It was necessary, at that time and in the then condition of the world, formally and expressly to disallow a custom which we now shudder at and shrink from as a shameful sin.
V THAT DECISIONS, WHEN ONCE ATTAINED, SHOULD BE COURTEOUSLY AND CAREFULLY CARRIED OUT. (Vers. 22-33.) The Church at Jerusalem, though on the main point it had yielded to the Church at Antioch, did not give way sulkily or grudgingly. It did not dismiss the deputation with a cold and formal resolution. It sent able and influential men, with letters, to accompany Paul and Barnabas, and these greeted the Syrian Church and laid the matter fully before them. So that, in the end, the two communities understood one another and rejoiced in one another the more. What is done in Christ"s name and cause should be done with utmost courtesy and with perfect thoroughness.
VI THAT WE MAY REST HAPPY IN THE ALL-SEEING WISDOM AND ALL-EMBRACING LOVE OF GOD. (Vers. 14-15.) James intimated that what was then happening was only the fulfillment of the Divine intention. God knew from the beginning what he should accomplish, and he purposed the recovery and redemption of the whole Gentile world,
1. When we are baffled by the perplexities of the way, let us remember that all things are in the hands of the omniscient One.
2. When we are distressed by the disappointments and difficulties of our work, let us be consoled by thinking that God means to restore mankind; his wisdom and his love will prevail, though we see not our way and though our fears abound. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 23, 28 Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience…
Act_15:12
Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul.
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Apostolic testimony
1. When Paul speaks we want to know what Paul says. But some men must be their own reporters. So we turn from the Acts to the opening verses of Galatians. Where Luke contents himself with a summary, Paul passes into detail. Some reports are too condensed, and therefore unjust. The minister called and prayed. We do not say that he walked miles, and that when he prayed his heart wept.
2. Paul says he went up to Jerusalem by revelation. If he had gone up to Jerusalem awed by its position and fame, he would have picked out dainty inoffensive words that would win the ear of many. In reality, Paul went from heaven to Jerusalem, and withered its contemptibleness under the majesty of the visions from which he had just turned his eyes. We have dropped the word revelation except on the Sabbath, when we venture to say it sometimes. We have meaner words--such as impression, feeling, etc. These are inoffensive terms; an atheist might use such mock jewellery. The apostle said, I went up by revelation. I knew that the truth was with me, and I was anxious only that Christs Cross should be lifted up and seen everywhere as the one way of salvation.
3. Was Paul then afraid of Jerusalem, and pillars, and men of reputation? Paul was anxious to let the leaders of the Church know exactly what he had been preaching, so he had a private interview with those who were of reputation. Could we have heard him then! Speaking to a sympathetic audience, to men who had seen the Lord! Paul had no fear about his gospel. He said, I have been preaching salvation by Christ; now, brethren, what say you?
4. Paul was not ashamed of his Gentile converts. He took Titus with him, and said, This is a Gentile convert. He has begun in the Spirit; is he to be made perfect in the flesh? Always vindicate your arguments by your converts.
5. Paul illustrates by anticipation the right of private judgment. To those who were of reputation, who seemed to be pillars, he gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour. And speaking of those who seemed to be somewhat, he said, They added nothing to me. Where, then, was submission to papal authority? Here is one man who stands up in the Church, and says, This is the gospel which I have received, which I will preach, for which I mill live, for which, and in which, I will die. I am crucified with Christ, etc. That was the true assertion of private judgment: not the expression of an individual will, but the expression of a personal loyalty to a living Christ.
6. Paul showed the true nature of real and enduring unity. In effect, he said: We may be one without seeming to be united. There are men to whom circumcision is a hereditary rite. There are others to whom it would be an intolerable yoke. Now, let us go, the one to the circumcision, and the other to the uncircumcision; for I know that as this gospel spreads it will be seen at the last that neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision.
7. But the council could not break up so. One thing, said the council, shall unite us--that we remember the poor. The poor have ye always with you. So they all--the circumcision and the uncircumcision--in philanthropy showed their union in the Lord, who lived to redeem the human race! Speculative theology divides men; practical philanthropy unites them. Let us unite where we can. Never inquire into the creed of a needy man. The man is hungry; the creed must be bread. When he has eaten his bread you may ask him questions. Begin where you can; wherever the heart door is ajar, go in; wherever opportunity is offered, speak the living word or do the helpful deed. Always seek for the centre of union, and always avoid the cause of division or distrust. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 22, 30 12. All the multitude kept silence. After Peter's reminder…
12. All the multitude kept silence. After Peter's reminder of his work among the Gentiles, Paul and Barnabas were probably called on to show whether their work, like Peter's, showed that God was with them. They therefore gave some account of the miracles that God had wrought by their hands, thereby attesting the Divine favor.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v22 HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_15:22-35
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_15:22-35
The Letter from the Church at Jerusalem; or, the Publication of the Settlement
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I. The resolution of the Church.—
1. To prepare an encyclical letter, to be sent round the Gentile Churches. This suggestion, made by James (Act_15:20), was formally adopted by the whole Church, under the visible leadership of the apostles and elders (Act_15:22), and at the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the supreme president of the assembly (Act_15:28).
2. To forward it to Antioch, the missionary centre, by chosen messengers, along with Paul and Barnabas. This addition to James’s motion, by whomsoever proposed, commended itself to the sanctified intelligence of the community as at once respectful to the brethren at Antioch and expressive of their own high sense of the importance of the occasion.
II. The special messengers.—
1. Their names.
(1) Judas, called Barsabbas. That he was not the apostle Judas Thaddeus his surname shows. That he was a brother of Joseph Barsabbas, the candidate for the apostleship (Grotius) is an unproved conjecture. It is enough to know that those who selected and sent him were acquainted with his person as well as with his name.
(2) Silas. Silvanus in the Epistles. Paul’s companion on the second missionary journey (Act_15:40). Whether the bearer of the first epistle of Peter to the Churches of Asia (1Pe_5:12) cannot be decided. Not the writer of the Acts (see Act_1:1).
2. Their character. “Chief men among the brethren,” eminent disciples, had in reputation perhaps both for piety and ability. The word translated “chief,” meaning “leading,” may point to the fact that they were elders (Heb_13:17).
3. Their standing. Whether they had been among the seventy (Luk_10:1) may be doubtful; no uncertainty exists as to this: that they ranked as prophets (Act_15:32; compare Act_8:1).
4. Their companions. Barnabas and Paul, who returned to Antioch bearing the affection of the whole Church at Jerusalem. “Our beloved Barnabas and Paul” the letter styles them, and—knowing that their splendid services in the cause of Christ had been acknowledged—“men that have hazarded their lives,” etc., it continues.
5. Their selection. Rendered necessary in order to authenticate the letter to the Churches, and to free Paul and Barnabas from all suspicion of having tampered with the letter, or imposed their views on the assembly.
III. The encyclical letter.—
1. The reason for its sending stated. That the Church of Jerusalem had heard how the Gentiles in these Churches had been troubled, even to the degree, in some instances, of having their souls subverted by certain unauthorised teachers who had gone forth from their midst (and perhaps pretending to their authority).
2. To whom it was addressed. To the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, which shows how widely these false leaders had diffused their pernicious doctrines. That it was designed to be laid before all Gentile Churches cannot be inferred (but see Act_21:25).
3. In whose names it was despatched. Those of the apostles, elders, and brethren (A.V.), or of the apostles and elder brethren (R.V.); i.e., either of the Church’s office-bearers alone (Presbyterianism) or of the Church membership as well (Congregationalism). See Critical Remarks.
4. The writing it contained.
(1) After the opening salutation (Act_15:23), in which the word used for greeting points to James’s band as that which drew up the document (see Critical Remarks), and
(2) the insertion of the above-stated reasons (Act_15:24), there follow
(3) the names of the special envoys sent with Paul and Barnabas (Act_15:27), and
(4) the decision of the council—its authorship (the Holy Ghost, with the apostles and elders), and its contents (Act_15:28-29); after which it closes with
(5) a word of farewell (Act_15:29).
5. The reception it met with. Arrived at Antioch, towards which they had been solemnly dismissed, perhaps with religious services (see Act_15:33; Act_13:3), and possibly an escort for several miles of the way (Act_15:3), Judas and Silas, having convened a meeting of the Church, formally delivered into their hands the epistle, which, when they had read (it may be, had heard read by Barnabas, the son of consolation), they rejoiced, for the consolation it gave them by the happy settlement of a hard question, which most likely, had it not been settled, would have proved troublesome, and even dangerous to the peace and prosperity of the Church.
IV. The return of the envoys.—
1. After a period of happy service at Antioch, in which they (Judas and Silas), themselves prophets, delighted to engage, and in which they attained considerable success (Act_15:32), exhorting the disciples there with many words to cleave to Christ alone for salvation.
2. With a parting salutation of peace, or with best wishes for their happiness and safety (compare Act_16:36; Mar_5:34; Luk_7:50).
3. To those who had sent them forth—i.e., to the Church at Jerusalem, leaving Paul and Barnabas behind at Antioch, to continue there the work of teaching and preaching the word of the Lord; though from the narrative (Act_15:40) it may be gathered that Silas soon after rejoined Paul at Antioch.
Learn—
1. That wisdom and love combined are much required in dealing with the difficulties of Christian members.
2. That Church courts should strive to attain unity in all their decisions.
3. That the decisions of supreme ecclesiastical courts should always be announced with tenderness.
4. That only persons of approved piety should be entrusted with special missions for the Church:
5. That the Holy Ghost requires unity among Christians only in essentials.
6. That decisions of ecclesiastical assemblies, if come to under the Holy Spirit’s presidency, may be fitly regarded as His decisions.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_15:22. “Chief men among the brethren;” or the prominent leaders in the first Christian council.
I. Two apostles.—
1. Peter. One of the original twelve: who opened the door of the Church to the Gentiles in the person of Cornelius.
2. James. Of apostolic rank, though not included in the twelve; the president of the Jewish Christian Church at Jerusalem.
II. Two missionaries.—
1. Paul. The apostle to the Gentiles par excellence, the pioneer evangelist who carried the gospel beyond the bounds of Palestine—first into Asia, and subsequently into Europe.
2. Barnabas. The son of consolation, the good Levite; the modest and self-effacing companion of his great colleague.
III. Two deputies.—
1. Judas Barsabbas. A Jerusalem Christian of good repute among his brethren; otherwise unknown.
2. Silas. Also a recognised disciple of good standing; afterwards Paul’s companion on the second missionary tour.
Act_15:23. The Jerusalem Concordat.—
1. The salutation—“Greeting.” “The actual form of the salutation is remarkable—χαίρειν: Hail! The secular traditional Greek salutation is used here, and not yet, as in the subsequent epistles, the apostolic greeting: ‘Grace and peace from God and Christ’; but the Israelitish salutation of Jesus and his disciples is no longer adopted, which ran, ‘Peace be with you!’ We find this χαίρε used in the New Testament by Judas with the kiss of betrayal (Mat_26:49), by the mocking soldiers (Mat_27:49; Mar_15:18; Joh_19:3); in the letter from the chief captain Lysias to the governor Felix (Act_23:26); it is also quoted as a salutation of everyday life in 2Jn_1:10-11, and it is made use of in the Epistle to James (Act_1:1). This Greek expression, χαίρειν, is certainly spiritualised by Christian use, and raised to its true and highest signification, just as is the Israelitish שָׁלוֹם לְךָ in the mouth of the Lord; here, however, it is a friendly mode of address to the Greek brethren, and a greeting highly suited to the case” (Stier).
2. The contents. “As an independent commandment of loving wisdom for the edification of the Jewish and Gentile Church, this letter formed the remarkable beginning of inspired writing of the New-Testament system, as the Decalogue did in the Old Testament.… In this letter we find the first transition from oral teaching to the principal form of the New Testament Scripture” (Stier).
3. The authority. “It seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and to us.” “We must neither look upon this expression as a mere formula, as in the later councils, nor must we refine upon it, as if the apostles and elders said, The Holy Ghost instructed us in this in the house of Cornelius, and we now decide therefrom; as if they had been taught by that outpouring of the Holy Spirit that these four items were to be specially imposed on the Gentile brethren. In this decretal formula now made use of there is, of course, some allusive reference to the matters of fact which had been set forth by Peter, and to the Scripture that had been quoted by James, both being alike testimony of the Holy Spirit, by which testimony the assembly had been induced to come to a conclusion.” … “But the ἔδοξε of the Holy Ghost refers as much to the four requisitions of abstinence as to the principal resolution, which declared the liberation of the Gentiles; consequently, it is always maintained that these four requisitions were made by the full authority of the Holy Ghost” (Stier).
Act_15:24. Subverting Souls.
I. An easy performance.—May be done by
(1) promulgating erroneous doctrine;
(2) setting a bad example; or
(3) unduly exercising liberty (Rom_14:15).
II. A frequent practice.—By no means seldom occurring. Sometimes ignorantly, but often also deliberately done (2Ti_2:14; 2Ti_3:6; Tit_1:10-11).
III. A dangerous achievement.—
1. Imperilling the salvation of the subverted soul.
2. Involving in awful guilt—that of soul murder—him who subverts (2Pe_1:1-3).
Act_15:26. Hazarding One’s Life for the Name of Christ.
I. To decline to do so when necessary is sin.—To save one’s life at the expense of one’s fidelity to Christ, or to deny Christ in order to save one’s life, is to be guilty of apostasy.
II. To do so when called on by conscience is duty.—When one who is called to serve Christ finds that he cannot do so without imperilling his life, it becomes his duty to embrace the risk.
II. To do so voluntarily, in order to serve Christ, is heroism.—One who would not hesitate to sacrifice his life when serving might still shrink from deliberately encountering such risk, in order to find opportunities of serving Christ. This latter did Barnabas and Paul.
Act_15:30. The Jerusalem Epistle: the Church’s Charter of Liberty.
I. Its urgent occasion.—It concerned the question, Moses or Christ.
II. Its unassailable origin.—Dictated by the Holy Ghost.
III. Its honourable bearers.—The heralds of evangelical grace, accredited by God Himself.
IV. Its incontestable contents.—Freedom from the ceremonial, but not from the moral, law. Deliverance from the yoke of slavish obedience, but not from the service of self-denying love.
V. Its joyous publication.—First to the Church at Antioch, and afterwards to the Churches in the cities visited by Paul and Silas (Act_16:4).
Delivering the Epistle.—That this encylical was never composed and far less delivered—at least in the way recorded in the Acts—has been argued (Baur, Zeller, Weizsäcker, Holtzmann, and others) on various grounds.
I. The apparent discrepancy between the narrative in Acts and the account given by Paul, who was an eyewitness of what took place in Jerusalem, it is said, shows the letter to be unhistorical.—It is urged—
1. That the conference with the Jerusalem authorities, according to Galatians, was sought for by Paul alone; whereas, according to Acts, it originated in a Church resolution.
2. That the Galatian story bears no trace of the antecedent disturbance at Antioch; whereas the picture drawn by Luke is that of storm and dissension, both at Jerusalem and Antioch. 3. That Acts is absolutely silent about the Titus episode, which forms so striking a feature in the Galatian letter. But, as to the first, why may not both statements be true, and Paul have resolved, on his own account, while executing the Church’s commission, to lay before the Jerusalem authorities a full and clear exposition of the gospel which he preached among the heathen, in the hope and belief that this would put an end to all further controversy? As to the second, may not Paul have deemed it quite unnecessary to inform the Galatians of every detail concerning the struggle for liberty at Antioch and Jerusalem, and considered it enough to emphasise the main point, that his apostleship to the Gentiles had been expressly recognised by the three pillar apostles, James, Cephas, and John? The third, the Titus episode, though not particularised in Luke’s narrative, is not contradicted, or even excluded, and may well have formed an item in the much questioning (Act_15:7) which preceded Peter’s speech; or it may have been deliberately omitted from Luke’s narrative because it formed no part of the public discussion. In any case the two accounts, when impartially viewed, are rather supplementary than contradictory of each other.
II. Had the letter been written as reported, it is held Paul could not have stated in Galatians, as he does, that those who were of repute imparted nothing to him.—“There is no getting beyond this,” says Weizsäcker. “It is a round assertion, and perfectly clear.… All possibility of an exception, of anything having been added by the apostles, is excluded.… Paul has not said that nothing burdensome, but that nothing at all, was imposed upon him.” But surely this is to misunderstand the meaning of the apostle, who is not writing about ecclesiastical decrees for the observance of Gentile converts, but about apostolic authorisation for himself, and who distinctly asserts that the three pillar apostles imparted nothing to him—i.e., did not for a moment ever imagine that he required to be authorised by them, and certainly did not arrogate to themselves the right to authorise him as an apostle to the Gentiles, but, on the contrary, recognised that he had already been authorised as such by God.
III. Had the letter been written, it is difficult, we are told, to see how either Peter could have acted at Antioch or James at Jerusalem, as they are represented afterwards to have done (Gal_2:11-12). But
(1) with reference to both apostles it should be borne in mind that it is by no means uncommon for even the best of men to act at times inconsistently and in flat contradiction to their previously expressed opinions and principles—even Barnabas, as well as Peter, was carried away with the prevailing spirit of dissimulation.
(2) As regards Peter, had the letter not been written it is doubtful if Paul would have been justified in so sharply censuring Peter’s conduct. Nor
(3) is it likely that Paul would have so distinctly charged Peter with having acted contrary to his avowed principles had he not been aware how Peter had expressed himself at the Jerusalem conference. While
(4) as to James, it is not certain that his emissaries did not travel beyond their instructions; or, if they did not, it is by no means unintelligible that, while James may, at the conference, have recognised the Church membership of uncircumcised Gentiles, he may also have desired that Jewish Christians should not be too free in social intercourse with the Gentiles.
IV. Had the letter been written, it is further contended, it would hardly have dropped so completely as it appears to have done out of the Pauline epistles.—Though referred to again in Acts (Act_16:4; Act_21:15) it is not alluded to again by Paul, it is said, in either Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, or Ephesians. But—
1. Paul may have deemed it unnecessary to cite the apostolic decrees either
(1) because they were sufficiently well known, or
(2) because they were more or less Palestinian in their colouring, and therefore less suitable for impressing Churches in Europe and Western Asia;
(3) because the purpose of his letters did not call for their citation; or
(4) because he chose to rely rather on fundamental gospel principles than on ecclesiastical enactments.
2. Even in Galatians Paul may have judged it better to make no appeal to the decrees, in case of weakening his claim to apostolic autonomy and total independence of human authority in the exercise of his ministry.
3. It is scarcely accurate to assert that all trace of the encyclical, if it ever existed, quickly disappeared, since each of the above-named epistles contains manifest allusions to its contents, as, e.g.,
(1) to abstinence from flesh and wine (offered to idols) for the sake of a weak brother (Rom_14:21);
(2) to the practice of fornication (1Co_5:1; 1Co_6:13; 1Co_10:8);
(3) to things offered to idols (1Co_8:1; 1Co_8:13; 1Co_10:7; 1Co_10:19-21; 1Co_10:28);
(4) to the freedom of the Gentiles from circumcision (Gal_2:3; Gal_2:11; Gal_2:14; Gal_5:2); and
(5) to marriage (Eph_5:25).
V. The recognition by Paul of the mother Church in Jerusalem as the supreme court, whose decisions were universally binding (it is added), does not harmonise with his claim for independence of all human authority in the gospel which he preached (Gal_1:1).—But while Paul’s conviction that he had received his gospel by express revelation from heaven may have been, and was, for himself a sufficient authorisation of the same, he may also have felt (or been taught by the special revelation that sent him to Jerusalem) that a decision from the mother Church would not be without importance as a means of securing the acquiescence of Jewish Christians, who could hardly be expected to remain satisfied with his statement about the heavenly source of his views.
VI. Other objections to the historicity of this decree, such as that it opens and closes like Claudius Lysias’ letter to Felix (Act_23:26-30), and that the sentence formations of Act_15:24-25, are analogous to Luk_1:1-3, do not strike one as weighty. Both only show that there were customary modes of composition, which were known to Theophilus’s friend and to Claudius Lysias, as well as to the apostles and brethren in Jerusalem—surely by no means an impossible or even violent supposition!
VII. The suggestion that, nevertheless, the letter has a historical basis, and that a concordat of similar purport must have been arranged subsequent to the Antioch dispute (Weizsäcker), shows how hard put to it objectors feel themselves in their attempts to get rid of the document as it stands, and how difficult they find it to explain the growth of Gentile Churches without some such deliverance as Acts records.
Act_15:33. Let Go in Peace.
A testimony to—
I. The success of their mission.
II. The unity of the Church.
III. The influence of the letter.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 30 13. Now James, the brother of our Lord and…
13. Now James, the brother of our Lord and pastor of the Apostolic church at Jerusalem, rises after Peter and proceeds, delivering a number of focalized statements, which speak volumes appertaining to the gospel, church and human destiny.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v12 Act 15:12 - Act 15:29.
Acts
THE CHARTER OF GENTILE LIBERTY
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Act 15:12 - Act 15:29.
Much was at stake in the decision of this gathering of the Church. If the Jewish party triumphed, Christianity sank to the level of a Jewish sect. The question brought up for decision was difficult, and there was much to be said for the view that the Mosaic law was binding on Gentile converts. It must have been an uprooting of deepest beliefs for a Jewish Christian to contemplate the abrogation of that law, venerable by its divine origin, by its hoary antiquity, by its national associations. We must not be hard upon men who clung to it; but we should learn from their final complete drifting away from Christianity how perilous is the position which insists on the necessity to true discipleship of any outward observance.
Our passage begins in the middle of the conference. Peter has, with characteristic vehemence, dwelt upon the divine attestation of the genuine equality of the uncircumcised converts with the Jewish, given by their possession of the same divine Spirit, and has flung fiery questions at the Judaisers, which silenced them. Then, after the impressive hush following his eager words, Barnabas and Paul tell their story once more, and clinch the nail driven by Peter by asserting that God had already by ‘signs and wonders’ given His sanction to the admission of Gentiles without circumcision. Characteristically, in Jerusalem Barnabas is restored to his place above Paul, and is named first as speaking first, and regarded by the Jerusalem Church as the superior of the missionary pair.
The next speaker is James, not an Apostle, but the bishop of the Church in Jerusalem, of whom tradition tells that he was a zealous adherent to the Mosaic law in his own person, and that his knees were as hard as a camel’s through continual prayer. It is singular that this meeting should be so often called ‘the Apostolic council,’ when, as a fact, only one Apostle said a word, and he not as an Apostle, but as the chosen instrument to preach to the Gentiles. ‘The elders,’ of whose existence we now hear for the first time in this wholly incidental manner, were associated with the Apostles {Act 15:6}, and the ‘multitude’ {Act 15:12} is most naturally taken to be ‘the whole Church’ {Act 15:22}. James represents the eldership, and as bishop in Jerusalem and an eager observer of legal prescriptions, fittingly speaks. His words practically determined the question. Like a wise man, he begins with facts. His use of the intensely Jewish form of the name Simeon is an interesting reminiscence of old days. So he had been accustomed to call Peter when they were all young together, and so he calls him still, though everybody else named him by his new name. What God had done by him seems to James to settle the whole question; for it was nothing else than to put the Gentile converts without circumcision on an equality with the Jewish part of the Church.
Note the significant juxtaposition of the words ‘Gentiles’ and ‘people’-the former the name for heathen, the latter the sacred designation of the chosen nation. The great paradox which, through Peter’s preaching at Caesarea, had become a fact was that the ‘people of God’ were made up of Gentiles as well as Jews-that His name was equally imparted to both. If God had made Gentiles His people, had He not thereby shown that the special observances of Israel were put aside, and that, in particular, circumcision was no longer the condition of entrance? The end of national distinction and the opening of a new way of incorporation among the people of God were clearly contained in the facts. How much Christian narrowness would be blown to atoms if its advocates would do as James did, and let God’s facts teach them the width of God’s purposes and the comprehensiveness of Christ’s Church! We do wisely when we square our theories with facts; but many of us go to work in the opposite way, and snip down facts to the dimension of our theories.
James’s next step is marked equally by calm wisdom and open-mindedness. He looks to God’s word, as interpreted by God’s deeds, to throw light in turn on the deeds and to confirm the interpretation of these. Two things are to be noted in considering his quotation from Amos-its bearing on the question in hand, and its divergence from the existing Hebrew text. As to the former, there seems at first sight nothing relevant to James’s purpose in the quotation, which simply declares that the Gentiles will seek the Lord when the fallen tabernacle of David is rebuilt. That period of time has at least begun, thinks James, in the work of Jesus, in whom the decayed dominion of David is again in higher form established. The return of the Gentiles does not merely synchronise with, but is the intended issue of, Christ’s reign. Lifted from the earth, He will draw all men unto Him, and they shall ‘seek the Lord,’ and on them His name will be called.
Now the force of this quotation lies, as it seems, first in the fact that Peter’s experience at Caesarea is to be taken as an indication of how God means the prophecy to be fulfilled, namely, without circumcision; and secondly, in the argumentum a silentio, since the prophet says nothing about ritual or the like, but declares that moral and spiritual qualifications-on the one hand a true desire after God, and on the other receiving the proclamation of His name and calling themselves by it-are all that are needed to make Gentiles God’s people. Just because there is nothing in the prophecy about observing Jewish ceremonies, and something about longing and faith, James thinks that these are the essentials, and that the others may be dropped by the Church, as God had dropped them in the case of Cornelius, and as Amos had dropped them in his vision of the future kingdom. God knew what He meant to do when He spoke through the prophet, and what He has done has explained the words, as James says in Act 15:18.
The variation from the Hebrew text requires a word of comment. The quotation is substantially from the Septuagint, with a slight alteration. Probably James quoted the version familiar to many of his hearers. It seems to have been made from a somewhat different Hebrew text in Act 15:17, but the difference is very much slighter than an English reader would suppose. Our text has ‘Edom’ where the Septuagint has ‘men’; but the Hebrew words without vowels are identical but for the addition of one letter in the former. Our text has ‘inherit’ where the Septuagint has ‘seek after’; but there again the difference in the two Hebrew words would be one letter only, so that there may well have been a various reading as preserved in the Septuagint and Acts. James adds to the Septuagint ‘seek’ the evidently correct completion ‘the Lord.’
Now it is obvious that, even if we suppose his rendering of the whole verse to be a paraphrase of the same Hebrew text as we have, it is a correct representation of the meaning; for the ‘inheriting of Edom’ is no mere external victory, and Edom is always in the Old Testament the type of the godless man. The conquest of the Gentiles by the restorer of David’s tabernacle is really the seeking after the Lord, and the calling of His name upon the Gentiles.
The conclusion drawn by James is full of practical wisdom, and would have saved the Church from many a sad page in its history, if its spirit had been prevalent in later ‘councils.’ Note how the very designation given to the Gentile converts in Act 15:19 carries argumentative force. ‘They turn to God from among the Gentiles’-if they have done that, surely their new separation and new attachment are enough, and make insistence on circumcision infinitely ridiculous. They have the thing signified; what does it matter about the sign, which is good for us Jews, but needless for them? If Church rulers had always been as open-eyed as this bishop in Jerusalem, and had been content if people were joined to God and parted from the world, what torrents of blood, what frowning walls of division, what scandals and partings of brethren would have been spared!
The observances suggested are a portion of the precepts enjoined by Judaism on proselytes. The two former were necessary to the Christian life; the two latter were not, but were concessions to the Jewish feelings of the stricter party. The conclusion may be called a compromise, but it was one dictated by the desire for unity, and had nothing unworthy in it. There should be giving and taking on both sides. If the Jewish Christians made the, to them, immense concession of waiving the necessity of circumcision, the Gentile section might surely make the small one of abstinence from things strangled and from blood. Similarities in diet would daily assimilate the lives of the two parties, and would be a more visible and continuous token of their oneness than the single act of circumcision.
But what does the reason in Act 15:21 mean? Why should the reading of Moses every Sabbath be a reason for these concessions? Various answers are given: but the most natural is that the constant promulgation of the law made respect for the feelings {even if mistaken} of Jewish Christians advisable, and the course suggested the most likely to win Jews who were not yet Christians. Both classes would be flung farther apart if there were not some yielding. The general principle involved is that one cannot be too tender with old and deeply rooted convictions even if they be prejudices, and that Christian charity, which is truest wisdom, will consent to limitations of Christian liberty, if thereby any little one who believes in Him shall be saved from being offended, or any unbeliever from being repelled.
The letter embodying James’s wise suggestion needs little further notice. We may observe that there was no imposing and authoritative decision of the Ecclesia, but that the whole thing was threshed out in free talk, and then the unanimous judgment of the community, ‘Apostles, elders and the whole Church,’ was embodied in the epistle. Observe the accurate rendering of Act 15:25, ‘having come to one accord,’ which gives a lively picture of the process. Note too that James’s proposal of a letter was mended by the addition of a deputation, consisting of an unknown ‘Judas called Barsabas’ {perhaps a relative of ‘Joseph called Barsabas,’ the unsuccessful nominee for Apostleship in Act 1:23}, and the well-known Silas or Silvanus, of whom we hear so much in Paul’s letters. That journey was the turning-point in his life, and he henceforward, attracted by the mass and magnetism of Paul’s great personality, revolved round him, and forsook Jerusalem.
Probably James drew up the document, which has the same somewhat unusual ‘greeting’ as his Epistle. The sharp reference to the Judaising teachers would be difficult for their sympathisers to swallow, but charity is not broken by plain repudiation of error and its teachers. ‘Subverting your souls’ is a heavy charge. The word is only here found in the New Testament, and means to unsettle, the image in it being that of packing up baggage for removal. The disavowal of these men is more complete if we follow the Revised Version in reading {Act 15:24} ‘no commandment’ instead of ‘no such commandment.’
These unauthorised teachers ‘went’; but, in strong contrast with them, Judas and Silas are chosen out and sent. Another thrust at the Judaising teachers is in the affectionate eulogy of Paul and Barnabas as ‘beloved,’ whatever disparaging things had been said about them, and as having ‘hazarded their lives,’ while these others had taken very good care of themselves, and had only gone to disturb converts whom Paul and Barnabas had won at the peril of their lives.
The calm matter-of-course assertion that the decision which commended itself to ‘us’ is the decision of ‘the Holy Ghost’ was warranted by Christ’s promises, and came from the consciousness that they had observed the conditions which He had laid down. They had brought their minds to bear upon the question, with the light of facts and of Scripture, and had come to a unanimous conclusion. If they believed their Lord’s parting words, they could not doubt that His Spirit had guided them. If we lived more fully in that Spirit, we should know more of the same peaceful assurance, which is far removed from the delusion of our own infallibility, and is the simple expression of trust in the veracious promises of our Lord.
The closing words of the letter are beautifully brotherly, sinking authority, and putting in the foreground the advantage to the Gentile converts of compliance with the injunctions. ‘Ye shall do well,’ rightly and conformably with the requirements of brotherly love to weaker brethren. And thus doing well, they will ‘fare well,’ and be strong. That is not the way in which ‘lords over God’s heritage’ are accustomed to end their decrees. Brotherly affection, rather than authority imposing its will, breathes here. Would that all succeeding ‘Councils’ had imitated this as well as ‘it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us’!
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv12–31 12. This brief statement of facts had so good…
12. This brief statement of facts had so good an effect upon the multitude, that Barnabas and Paul determined to follow it by a rehearsal of similar facts in the history of their own labors among the Gentiles. (12) " Then all the multitude kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul relating what signs and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles through them. " Their remarks on this occasion were not a repetition of what they had said in the former meeting, when they had set forth "all that God had done with them," but were confined to the "signs and wonders" by which God had indicated his approbation of their ministry. The reversal of the order in which Luke now habitually names these two brethren indicates that Barnabas, whose name is first, was the first speaker. This gave Paul the closing argument on those events.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 16, 17, 19 Men and brethren
Men and brethren
Dispensationally, this is the most important passage in the N.T. It gives the divine purpose for this age, and for the beginning of the next.
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(1) The taking out from among the Gentiles of a people for His name, the distinctive work of the present, or church-age. The church is the ecclesia--the "called-out assembly." Precisely this has been in progress since Pentecost. The Gospel has never anywhere converted all, but everywhere has called out some.
(2) "After this viz. the out-calling I will return." James quotes from Amo 9:11; Amo 9:12. The verses which follow in Amos describe the final regathering of Israel, which the other prophets invariably connect with the fulfilment of the Davidic Covenant (e.g.); Isa 11:1; Isa 11:10-12; Jer 23:5-8.
(3) "And will build again the tabernacle of David," i.e. re-establish the Davidic rule over Israel 2Sa 7:8-17; Luk 1:31-33.
(4) "That the residue of men Israelites may seek after the Lord" cf Zec 12:7; Zec 12:8; Zec 13:1; Zec 13:2.
(5) "And all the Gentiles," etc. cf Mic 4:2; Zec 8:21; Zec 8:22. This is also the order of Rom 11:24-27.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv13, 22, 30 The proposal of James:
The proposal of James:
v. 13. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
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v. 14. Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
v. 15. and to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written,
v. 16. After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up,
v. 17. that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
v. 18. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.
v. 19. Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles a returned to God,
v. 20. but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
v. 21. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day.
By the time Barnabas and Paul had finished their rehearsal of the success which attended their labors, the hearers could not have had any other impression but that the conversion of the Gentiles was a work of God, and that their discipleship, even without the observance of the ceremonial law, must necessarily he acceptable to Him. No one else, therefore, having asked for the privilege of the floor, James, that is, James the Just, the brother of the Lord, one of the pillars of the congregation at Jerusalem, according to common report its head after the removal of the apostles, arose and added the evidence of prophetical prediction to that of the facts presented by the previous speakers. Requesting the audience to listen carefully, he opened his remarks with a reference to the report of Peter: Simeon has explained in what manner God at first, from the beginning, resolved to gain a people out of the Gentiles unto His name, for the glory and praise of His holy name, and called by His name, as His children. With this fact agree the words of the prophets. Although James quotes only one of the prophets, he may either have had in mind the hook of the prophets or implied that the other prophets make similar statements. He quotes the words Amo 9:11-12 according to the Greek translation. There the Lord had promised to return after this, at the time fixed by Him in the future. He would then build anew, erect once more, the tent of David which had been destroyed, laid low. He does not speak of the Old Testament Church as the house of David, as in other places, but as a tent, a booth, a hut that had decayed and fallen into ruins. But this hut which was lying on the ground as though struck down by a storm the Lord wanted to build anew and to set upright again as the tabernacle of the New Testament. This rebuilding of the ruins took place in and through Jesus Christ, in order that those that remained of the people should seek the Lord most diligently, that the rest of men, that is, all the heathen, without respect of persons and of works, all upon whom His name is pronounced in the preaching of the Gospel, should strive to possess the blessings of the Lord. It was this Lord that was doing all these things, whose manner of performing them could not be gainsaid. For He was not in the habit of performing any of His works in a haphazard manner, but had worked according to definite plans from the beginning of the world. And He had made these facts known of old, from the beginning of the world. On the basis of this clear prophetical statement, whose fulfillment no one could deny after hearing the reports made to the assembly, James now ventured an opinion, not necessarily as the president of the meeting, but as a speaker that presents the result of his deliberations in the form of a resolution. He offered the motion that they should not trouble or molest in any way those people among the Gentiles that were turning to God, and had been accepted by Him in faith. But he suggested that letters be sent to them warning them against the contamination of idol worship, against committing fornication, against partaking of meat of strangled animals, and against eating blood, in the worship of idols was included idolatrous feasts, where meat was served that had been sacrificed to false gods. To some extent, also, the sins against the Sixth Commandment were practiced in connection with the temples of the idols, though these sins were prevalent otherwise as well, nameless breaches of the Christian law of purity taking place as a matter of fact. That is the will of God to the Christians of all times, that they avoid fornication and all uncleanness, and that they remain unspotted from the world and its lusts, including the unclean, idolatrous joys and delights of the world. But that James wanted to add the prohibition concerning the eating of animals that had been stunned or strangled without the loss of blood, and that of blood itself, Lev 17:13; Deu 12:16-23; Deu 15:23, was done for another reason. These practices had been forbidden in the Old Testament and were considered especially disgusting by the Jews, an abomination before the Lord. And the Jewish Christians had not yet been able to throw off this feeling of loathing and disgust, in the opinion of James, therefore, the Gentile Christians might well be asked to have some consideration for their Jewish brethren in this case. Christian charity demanded as much, especially where meals were eaten in common. James added, in concluding his speech, that Moses from ancient times had men in all cities that proclaimed him in the synagogues, since he was read in the services on every Sabbath, that is, his books were read and explained in the services. The chances were, therefore, that these Mosaic customs would be well known everywhere, and their non-observance might cause offense, as though the way of salvation in the New Testament were different from that of the Old. Then, also, there was danger that the intercourse between Jewish and Gentile Christians would cease entirely unless the latter would be willing, for charity’s sake, to observe a decree which would make brotherly communion possible. And finally, those that still clung to the outward observance of the Mosaic customs need not be apprehensive, since Moses was at this time still being read. James knew very well that this would change in time, but did not propose to force the issue by tactless haste. Note: The draught which James proposed was not a Compromise resolution, as has been stated. It was not his opinion that the heathen Christians should indeed not be burdened with the entire Law of Moses, but only with certain ordinances. Even the smallest particle of the Mosaic Law, laid upon them as a condition of salvation, would have taken away the faith of the Christians in the free grace and mercy of the Savior. His suggestion was merely a proposal for the sake of Christian order, not to burden believing hearts, but to simplify the problem of uniting two races in the same congregations without the danger of continual friction. These directions did not concern the way of salvation, for this the Gentile Christians had learned from the Gospel.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 13, 15, 19, 22, 24, 27, 30 General Information:
General Information:
Here the word "them" refers to Paul and Barnabas.
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All the multitude
"Everyone" or "The whole group" (See: Acts 15:6)
God had worked
"God had done" or "God had caused"
translationWords
Barnabas
Paul
report
miracle
God
Gentile
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 14, 15, 20, 22, 29, 30 15:13-19 James, the brother of Jesus, declared that the…
15:13-19 James, the brother of Jesus, declared that the conversion of the Gentiles was clearly in accord with Scripture. He argued forcefully that it was contrary to the divine will to put unnecessary requirements on the admission of the Gentiles.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.