Acts 15:19

διὸ ἐγὼ κρίνω : “wherefore my judgment is”. St. James apparently speaks as the president of the meeting, Chrysostom, Hom., xxxiii., and his words with the emphatic ἐγώ (Weiss) may express more than the opinion of a private member he sums up the debate and proposes “the draught of a practical resolution” (see however Hort, Ecclesia, 79; Hackett, in loco; and on the other hand Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood, p. 147). If a position of authority is thus given to St. James at the conference, it is very significant that this should be so in Jerusalem itself, where the Twelve would naturally carry special weight. But this presidency and Apostolic authority of St. James in Jerusalem is exactly in accordance with the remarkable order of the three names referred to by St. Paul in Galatians 2:9 (cf. Acts 12:17; Acts 21:18). At the same time Acts 15:22 shows us that neither the authority of St. James nor that of the other Apostles is conceived of as overriding the general consent of the whole Church. μὴ παρενοχλεῖν : only here in N.T.; “not to trouble,” A. and R.V.; it may be possible to press the παρά, “not to trouble further,” i.e., by anything more than he is about to mention, or in their conversion to God. The verb is found with dative and accusative in LXX; for the former cf. Judges 14:17 1Ma 10:63 SR, Acts 12:14; and for the latter Jeremiah 26 (46):27, 1Ma 10:35. Bengel takes παρά as = præter, but whilst it is very doubtful how far the preposition can be so rendered here, he adds fides quieta non obturbanda. τοῖς ἐπισ. cf. Acts 11:21, “who are turning to God”; present participle, as in acknowledgment of a work actually in progress.