EXCURSUS A. On the Great Question which was decided by the First Church Council. In the first years which succeeded their Master's ascension, the disciples evidently, while following out the line of conduct traced for them by their Divine Friend and Teacher, remained in all outward observances _st... [ Continue Reading ]
_‘The Circumcision Difficulty, and the First Council of the Church,_ 1 - 36. Acts 15:1 _._ AND CERTAIN MEN WHICH CAME DOWN FROM JUDEA TAUGHT THE BRETHREN. The general aspects of this famous controversy are discussed in Excursus A, at the end of the chapter. The ‘certain men' are alluded to by St. Pa... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:2. NO SMALL DISSENSION AND DISPUTATION WITH THEM. It has been suggested that not improbably these Judaizing teachers succeeded in persuading certain of the Antioch Christians to adopt at least some of their views; for, at a later period, after the Jerusalem decision by the apostles, we find... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:3. AND BEING BROUGHT ON THEIR WAY BY THE CHURCH. That is, attended by some of the leading members of the Antioch congregation, as a mark of honour and respect. This notice was inserted, no doubt, to show that the majority, at least, of the Christians in Antioch were opposed to the Jewish int... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:4. AND WHEN THEY WERE COME TO JERUSALEM, THEY WERE RECEIVED OF THE CHURCH, AND OF THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS. The word translated here ‘were received,' implies a cordial reception on the part of the apostles and elders of the Jerusalem community, who welcomed with affection Barnabas and Paul as... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:5. BUT THERE ROSE UP CERTAIN OF THE SECT of the Pharisees. Some of these Pharisees must have been the companions of Paul years ago, when he studied the law under Gamaliel, and their animosity _now_ was doubtless strengthened against the great Gentile missionary, when they remembered what he... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:6. AND THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS CAME TOGETHER FOR TO CONSIDER OF THIS MATTER. Some seventeen or eighteen years had passed since the ascension of Jesus. Of the twelve apostles, one we know had gone through martyrdom to his rest; others were perhaps in distant parts; and round those who still r... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:7. AND WHEN THERE HAD BEEN MUCH DISPUTING. ‘Questioning' or ‘debating' would better represent the Greek word translated ‘disputing.' It can easily be conceived that the mixed assembly contained many earnest advocates, both of the old Jewish party, and of what may be termed the new Gentile sc... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:8. AND GOD, WHICH KNOWETH THE HEARTS, BARE THEM WITNESS, GIVING THEM THE HOLY GHOST, EVEN AS HE DID UNTO US. The Eternal, before whom the secrets of all hearts are open, was able to judge of the sincerity of these Gentiles. He testified that these hitherto despised strangers were acceptable... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:9. AND PUT NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US AND THEM. He no longer made any distinction between the Pagans who were converted and believed in the Lord Jesus, and the believing Israelite, after He had once purified their hearts by faith. The words here plainly allude to the case of the conversion of... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:10. NOW THEREFORE WHY TEMPT YE GOD, TO PUT A YOKE UPON THE NECK OF THE DISCIPLES? To impose new obligations upon these Gentile churches founded by Paul and Barnabas would be nothing else than tempting or trying God by demanding new proofs of His will, God, who in the case of the uncircumcise... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:11. BUT WE BELIEVE THAT, THROUGH THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WE SHALL BE SAVED, EVEN AS THEY. The believing Jew, who has tried to keep the law and failed, will be saved like the Gentile through the power of the blood of Jesus. _‘Their_ ground of trust is the same as _ours, ours_ as _... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:12. THEN ALL THE MULTITUDE KEPT SILENCE, AND GAVE AUDIENCE TO BARNABAS AND PAUL. The weighty words of Peter produced a marked effect upon the Council; his plain, simple recital disposed even the extreme Jewish party to listen with attention, if not with favour, to the case of the Gentile apo... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:13. AND AFTER THEY HAD HELD THEIR PEACE, JAMES ANSWERED. The discussion was closed by a very famous character in the early Church. James, the so-called brother of the Lord (see Galatians 1:19; Galatians 2:9), and the writer of the New Testament epistle which bears his name, who is generally... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:14. SIMEON HATH DECLARED. James at the commencement of his speech uses this Jewish form of the name Simon, the original name of Peter. Simon seems to have been familiar to the Church of Jerusalem (see St. Luke 24:34). In this use of the Jewish term by which Peter was known, James identifies... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:15. AND TO THIS AGREE THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS. After referring here to the _work of God_ instanced by Peter, James now shows how completely the _word of God_ in the writings of the prophets agreed with this _work._ The signs and wonders which accompanied the conversion of Cornelius, and su... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:16. I WILL RETURN, AND WILL BUILD AGAIN THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID, WHICH IS FALLEN DOWN. This Amos prophecy speaks first of the fall of the Jewish Church, and the abolition of its temple service; it next conveys the promise that God will build a new church on the ruins of the old, and gather t... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:17. 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. The quotation from Amos 9:11-12 , contained in Acts 15:16-17, is made freely from the Septuagint, which differs here considerably from the Heb... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:18. KNOWN UNTO GOD ARE ALL HIS WORKS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD. There are many variations of the Greek text here, but they all yield much the same meaning. On the whole, the translation of the best supported reading is Acts 15:17, ‘Saith the Lord, who doeth these things,' Acts 15:18, ‘... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:19. WHEREFORE MY SENTENCE IS. Better rendered, ‘My decision,' that is, ‘I for my part decide we ought not to burden them,' etc. There is no authoritative judgment here on the part of James. It is simply a weighty opinion of the presiding elder; an opinion which, coinciding with the already e... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:20. BUT THAT WE WRITE UNTO THEM, THAT THEY ABSTAIN FROM POLLUTIONS OF IDOLS, ETC. On the full meaning of the famous injunctions embodied in the decree of the Council, see Excursus at the end of the chapter, where they are discussed at length.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:21. FOR MOSES OF OLD TIME HATH IN EVERY CITY THEM THAT PREACH HIM. This is no figure of speech, but a simple expression of what was actually the case at that time in the Roman empire. There were colonies of Jews in all important cities in the East and West, and in each of these, one or more... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:22. THEN PLEASED IT THE APOSTLES AND OLDEN, WITH THE WHOLE CHURCH. Or better translated, ‘Then it seemed good to the apostles,' etc. The Greek word ἔδοξε, rendered ‘it seemed good,' is frequently used in classic Greek in the formal resolutions of any popular assembly, and hence the decrees o... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:23. AND THEY WROTE LETTERS BY THEM AFTER THIS MANNER. The word ‘letters,' printed in the English version in italics, is superfluous; it does not appear in the original Greek. There was only _ONE_ official document sent round, a faithful transcript of which St. Luke has no doubt given us. TH... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:24. FORASMUCH AS WE HAVE HEARD, THAT CERTAIN WHICH WENT OUT FROM US HAVE TROUBLED YOU WITH WORDS, SUBVERTING YOUR SOULS. These zealots for the old law and the Jewish rites came evidently from Jerusalem, the headquarters of the new faith, and had given out that they were commissioned by the l... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:25. TO SEND CHOSEN MEN UNTO YOU. The Greek words should be translated here as in Acts 15:22. In some of the older authorities here, the irregularity in the cases of the participles above noticed does not appear. OUR BELOVED BARNABAS AND PAUL. Commentators remark here on the unusual order o... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:26. MEN THAT HAVE HAZARDED THEIR LIVES FOR THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. It is well said by Wordsworth, that ‘the first Christians were not wont to praise each other in public, but that on the present occasion such a witness, especially to St. Paul, was seasonable and appropriate. It wa... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:27. WE HAVE SENT THEREFORE JUDAS AND SILAS. These two well-known men, held in high honour by the Church, were to testify to the genuineness of the letter; by this means the Antioch Christians would have oral as well as written testimony. ‘These notable envoys,' Stier says, ‘would certify tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:28. FOR IT SEEMED GOOD TO THE HOLY GHOST, AND TO US. To us inspired by the Holy Ghost, to us His ministers and organs for declaring the truth a mode of expression not uncommon in the Old Testament, where we read: ‘The people believed the Lord and His servant Moses,' Exodus 14:31; ‘The sword... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:29. THAT YE ABSTAIN FROM MEATS OFFERED TO IDOLS. The articles in the letter of the Council are identical with the points mentioned by James in his speech. They are discussed in the Excursus. FARE YE WELL The Greek word rendered ‘fare ye well' is equivalent to the Latin ‘valete.' It was the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:30. SO WHEN THEY WERE DISMISSED. These words probably imply a formal and solemn leave- taking on the part of the Jerusalem Church, accompanied with certain religious services.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:31. WHICH WHEN THEY HAD READ, THEY REJOICED FOR THE CONSOLATION. The consolation over which they rejoiced was not merely that a dispute which threatened such grave consequences was so happily terminated, but because the Church in council had ruled that the Gentiles, if they accepted Christia... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:32. JUDAS AND SILAS BEING PROPHETS. In the Church of the first days existed a certain number of men known as ‘prophets.' We hear of them, by chance it seems, but still frequently, in the varied writings of the New Testament. It seems in that age, when the foundation-stones of the mighty temp... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:33. THEY WERE LET GO IN PEACE. Better rendered, ‘They were dismissed with peace;' that is, once more, in a solemn meeting, the Antioch brethren took leave of the Jerusalem envoys with prayer and ‘with peace,' the formula customary at parting (see Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50; Luke 8:48; Acts 16:36).... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:34. NOTWITHSTANDING IT PLEASED SILAS TO ABIDE THERE STILL. This verse is wanting in the older MSS., and in many of the chief versions. It is evidently a marginal gloss, originally inserted to explain how Silas, notwithstanding the statement of Acts 15:33, was at hand (Acts 15:40) convenientl... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:35. PAUL ALSO AND BARNABAS CONTINUED IN ANTIOCH, TEACHING AND PREACHING THE WORD OF THE LORD. During this residence of Paul in the Syrian metropolis the dispute took place between Paul and Peter related in the Galatian letter, Galatians 2:11-16. This is not told here. The writer of the ‘Acts... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Separation of Barnabas and PaulThe Second Missionary Journey of St. Paul Asia Minor, Acts 15:37 to Acts 16:8._ Acts 15:37. AND BARNABAS DETERMINED TO TAKE WITH THEM JOHN, WHOSE SURNAME WAS MARK. Barnabas seems at once to have fallen in with the wishes of Paul, and to have consented to visit aga... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:38. BUT PAUL THOUGHT NOT GOOD TO TAKE HIM WITH THEM. ‘We may well believe that Paul's own mouth gave originally the character to this sentence' (Alford). WHO DEPARTED FROM THEM FROM PAMPHYLIA. See Acts 13:13, where this backsliding of Mark is briefly mentioned. Some have tried to excuse the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:39. AND THE CONTENTION WAS SO SHARP BETWEEN THEM, THAT THEY DEPARTED ASUNDER ONE FROM THE OTHER. Neither would yield; they separated for ever. This is the last mention of the generous-hearted Barnabas in the ‘Acts.' However, if the two old friends and devoted servants of God p arted in anger... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:40. AND PAUL CHOSE SILAS. Silas was one of the deputies chosen to accompany Paul and Barnabas by the Jerusalem Council. He was eminently fitted for the work to which Paul appointed him. A leader in the Jerusalem Church, and one who stood high in the opinion of the apostles and elders of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 15:41. AND HE WENT THROUGH SYRIA AND CILICIA, CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES. Nothing in detail is known of the foundation and early history of these congregations. Their existence, however, at this early period, testifies to the marvellous and rapid spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ during the fir... [ Continue Reading ]