Acts 15:28

It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us,— Though this may include the decision which the Spirit had givenby his descent upon Cornelius and his friends, yet it seems more directly to express the consciousness which this assembly had, of beingguidedbyhisinfluencesontheir minds in their present determination. When the apostles call these things necessary, they mean, by a common mode of speaking, necessary for those times and circumstances. They were undoubtedly necessary, in order to promote a free converse between the Jewish and Gentile Christians, and especially to secure communion at the table of the Lord; where we cannot imagine that Jews would have eaten and drunk with persons whom they thought in so polluted a state as those who indulged themselves in the things here prohibited. On the other hand, it seems that the Jews on these conditions gave up any further debate about other forbidden meats, as well as circumcision, &c.