Acts 15:2

"Had great dissension and debate with them": Note that debating is not wrong, especially when truth is on the line (Judges 1:3; 1 Peter 1:17). God expects us to stand up for the truth and oppose what is false (Ephesians 5:11). Years ago David Edwin Harrell observed that denominations have. variety of distinguishable characteristics. "They are tolerant of other "churches' (denominations), they generally accept the moral standards of the society in which they exist, they are less dogmatic, less active, and more interested in the world around them" Acts 15:1 This was. crucial issue, for the false brethren had become. pressure group that was attempting to bring all Christians back under. Law and Covenant that could never save anyone. The truth of the matter is that no one is going to be saved when the people are taught that they need to keep the Law of Moses (Galatians 5:1). "The brethren determined": The brethren in Antioch. "That Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles": Paul will later write that he went up to Jerusalem, not because he needed help with this question, but because God told him to go (Galatians 2:2). We need to remember that Jerusalem is not. "mother church" that directs all the other congregations; rather they are going to Jerusalem because these false brethren had claimed that they were sent by the apostles and church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:24). From this verse it appears that most of the apostles still resided in Jerusalem, the time period is around 51 A.D. "And elders": The congregation in Jerusalem has its own elders and they are consulted because these false teachers went out from their congregation (Acts 15:24).