Acts 15:19

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 expressed judgment of Peter in favour of the Gentile mission, was finally adopted by the majority of the Council, and taken as the basis of their official decree.

That we trouble not them, viz. by imposing upon these foreign converts burdensome rites and ceremonies, which would effectually separate them from the peoples among whom they live, and would render impossible the ordinary life either in the city or country.