Acts 15:6-12

The Deliberation. The meeting is a public one (see Acts 15:12 and Acts 15:22). In Galatians 2 Paul says he laid his manner of preaching before those of reputation, in private. Peter comes forward (D says, in the Spirit) in the character of apostle of the Uncircumcision, rehearsing the facts given in chs. 10 f. But in Galatians 2, Peter accepts the character of apostle of the Circumcision, leaving the Gentiles to Paul's province. God's giving them the Spirit is narrated in Acts 11:15.

Acts 15:10. Why tempt ye God? i.e. ask for a further miracle? Peter speaks of the Law, as if he had studied under Paul (cf. Galatians 3:23; Galatians 5:2); see Acts 15:11, and cf. especially Galatians 2:16. The report of Barnabas and Paul in Acts 15:12 had been made already in Acts 15:4, and is given here in terms which it is difficult to realise. Nothing is said of the commission laid on them by the church of Antioch (Acts 13:1). [Observe that Paul and Barnabas do not discuss the principle at stake. To have done so would not have been tactful, when the Jerusalem leaders were prepared to undertake this delicate task. They recount the facts, feeling that their mission is its own best apologetic. A. S. P.]