Acts 15:35

‘But Paul and Barnabas tarried in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.'

Everything now having settled down, and the crisis being over, Paul and Barnabas now returned to the situation as it had been in Acts 14:28. It was as though the crisis had never been. All was as it was before the interruption, with the added blessing that the issue had been resolved once and for all as far as they were concerned. They continued with their teaching and preaching of ‘the word of the Lord' in Antioch, along with many others who did the same. And the result of the wise decision that had been reached was that the word which had come from God, the word about ‘the Lord', continued to spread and be multiplied.

Note.

We see here that the spreading of the word continues to be the central theme and all else is built into it. It is that which is central to Acts and what appear to be the ‘major themes' such as Stephen's martyrdom, the conversion of Saul, the gathering of the Apostles and elders at Jerusalem in order to examine Peter, the persecution of Herod Agrippa, and the necessity for this further gathering of the Apostles and elders in order to reach this important decision, are all seen as simply a part of that ongoing movement of the word and a means to that end. Again and again it is to the fact of the spreading of the word that we are brought back. The purpose of these ‘decrees' was in order that the churches might be made strong in the faith and continue to increase in number daily (Acts 16:5, compare Acts 2:47) as the word spread. For they too were to aid in the spreading of the word.