Acts 15:20

Write [ε π ι σ τ ε ι λ α ι]. Originally, to send to, as a message; hence, by letter. The kindred noun ejpistolh, whence our epistle, means, originally, anything sent by a messenger. Letter is a secondary meaning.

Pollutions [α λ ι σ γ η μ α τ ω ν]. A word not found in classical Greek, and only here in the New Testament. The kindred verb ajlisgein, to pollute, occurs in the Septuagint, Daniel 1:8; Malachi 1:7, and both times in the sense of defiling by food. Here the word is defined by things sacrificed to idols (ver. 29); the flesh of idol sacrifices, of which whatever was not eaten by the worshippers at the feasts in the temples, or given to the priests, was sold in the markets and eaten at home. See 1 Corinthians 10:25-28; and Exodus 34:15.

Fornication. In its literal sense. "The association of fornication with three things in themselves indifferent is to be explained from the then moral corruption of heathenism, by which fornication, regarded from of old with indulgence, and even with favor, nay, practiced without shame even by philosophers, and surrounded by poets with all the tinsel of lasciviousness, had become in public opinion a thing really indifferent" (Meyer). See Dollinger, "The Gentile and the Jew," 2, 237 sq.

Strangled. The flesh of animals killed in snares, and whose blood was not poured forth, was forbidden to the Israelites.