XV. (1) AND CERTAIN MEN WHICH CAME DOWN FROM JUDÆA. — We enter on the history of the first great controversy in the records of the Christian Church. It might have seemed as if the conversion of Cornelius had been accepted as deciding the question which we now find raised again (Acts 11:18). It would... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEREFORE PAUL AND BARNABAS. — The two Apostles must obviously have agreed in feeling that the teaching of the Judaisers (it will be convenient to use that term henceforth) involved a direct condemnation of all the work in which they saw the triumph of God’s grace. They had proclaimed salvation... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY PASSED THROUGH PHENICE AND SAMARIA. — The route lay from Seleucia, at the mouth of the Orontes, along the coast of Sidon, Tyre, and, probably, Cæsarea, and then through Samaria. They might have gone to Joppa, and so have avoided the old Canaanite cities and the region of the hated Samaritans. T... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE RECEIVED OF THE CHURCH, AND OF THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS. — The words imply a general gathering of the Church, members of different synagogues coining together, with the elders who presided over them. The position of the Apostles, though in some degree analogous in their relation to the elde... [ Continue Reading ]
CERTAIN OF THE SECT OF THE PHARISEES WHICH BELIEVED. — This is the first distinct mention of the conversion of any of the Pharisaic party, but there had been a drift in that direction going on for some time, beginning during our Lord’s ministry (John 12:42), and showing itself in the moderate counse... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS CAME TOGETHER. — The meeting rightly takes its place as the first in the long series of councils, or synods, which mark the course of the Church’s history. It bore its witness that the government of the Christian society was not to rest in the autocracy of a single will,... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THERE HAD BEEN MUCH DISPUTING. — This implies a full discussion, in which the Judaising teachers, probably, though not certainly, presbyters, on the one side, and the advocates of freedom, on the other, took part. Light is thrown on the character of the debate by St. Paul’s account of the matte... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD WHICH KNOWETH THE HEARTS. — We note the recurrence of the epithet as characteristic of St. Peter. (See Note on Acts 1:24.)... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PUT NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US AND THEM. — It is obvious that this implies the most entire acceptance of the teaching which St. Paul had privately communicated to the three who were as the pillars of the Church (Galatians 2:9). In Romans 10:12 we have almost the very words of St. Peter reproduced.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY TEMPT YE GOD. — To tempt God was to make the experiment whether His will, manifested in the acceptance of the Gentiles, or man’s will, resenting and resisting it, was the stronger of the two. Nothing but defeat and condemnation could be the issue of such a trial. TO PUT A YOKE UPON THE NECK OF T... [ Continue Reading ]
WE BELIEVE THAT THROUGH THE GRACE... — This comes, in what we may well regard as a summary of St. Peter’s speech, as the closing argument. The Pharisee might regard the Law as binding, but even he, if he believed in Christ, was compelled to confess that his hope of salvation was found in the work of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GAVE AUDIENCE TO BARNABAS AND PAUL. — The leaders of the Church had clearly reserved their part in the debate to the last, and the two Apostles of the Gentiles were now called on to repeat more publicly what they had already narrated to the Apostles and elders (Acts 15:4). It was, perhaps, with... [ Continue Reading ]
JAMES ANSWERED. — The position which James the brother of the Lord (see Notes on Acts 12:17; and Matthew 12:46; Matthew 13:55) occupies in the Council is clearly that of pre-eminence, justifying the title of Bishop of Jerusalem, which later writers give him. No one speaks after him; he sum up the wh... [ Continue Reading ]
SIMEON HATH DECLARED... — The Greek form is _Symeon,_ as in 2 Peter 1:1. The use of the old Hebrew form of the Apostle’s name, instead of the more familiar Simon, was natural in the Galilean speaker, and is presumptive evidence in favour of our having a report from notes made at the time. DID VISIT... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THIS AGREE THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS. — On the mode of quoting without naming the prophet, see Note on Acts 13:40.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THIS I WILL RETURN. — It is a fact not without interest that the prophet from whom these words are taken (Amos 9:11) had been already quoted by Stephen (Acts 7:42). Those who then listened to him had, we may believe, been led to turn to the writings of Amos, and to find in them meanings which... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE RESIDUE OF MEN... — The Hebrew gives, as in our version, “That they may possess the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen which are called by my name.” The LXX. translators either paraphrased the passage, so as to give a wider and more general view of its teaching, or followed a reading in... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWN UNTO GOD ARE ALL HIS WORKS. — The better MSS. give “all His work” — _i.e.,_ the great work of the government and education of mankind. The words are an implicit answer to the charge of innovation. If the work were of God, it could not be so called, for His mercies are everlasting, and the work... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE MY SENTENCE IS. — Literally, _Wherefore I judge._ The tone is that of one who speaks with authority, but what follows is not given as a decree, but as a resolution which was submitted to the judgment of the Apostles and elders. (Comp. Acts 16:4.) THAT WE TROUBLE NOT THEM. — The verb is no... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THAT WE WRITE UNTO THEM. — The grounds on which the measure thus defined was proposed are not far to seek. (1) It was of the nature of a compromise. The Gentiles could not complain that the burden imposed on them was anything very grievous. The Pharisee section of the Church could not refuse adm... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MOSES OF OLD TIME. — Literally, _of ancient generations._ The conjunction gives the reason for writing to the Gentiles, and giving them these injunctions. The Jews, who heard the Law in their synagogues every Sabbath, did not need instruction. It might be taken for granted that they would adhere... [ Continue Reading ]
THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS, WITH THE WHOLE CHURCH. — The latter words are important, as showing the position occupied by the laity. If they concurred in the letter, it must have been submitted to their approval, and the right to approve involves the power to reject and, probably, to modify. It is proba... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY WROTE LETTERS BY THEM. — Literally, _wrote letters by their hands._ What follows, unless we assume a deliberate fraud, is clearly the transcript of a document — the first in the long list of decrees and canons and encyclical letters which mark the Church’s history. THE APOSTLES AND ELDERS... [ Continue Reading ]
CERTAIN WHICH WENT OUT FROM US. — The reference is obviously to the teachers (their names are wisely and charitably suppressed) who had appeared at Antioch, as in Acts 15:1. St. John, who was present at the Council (Galatians 2:9), and who, though he took no part in the debate, may well have had a s... [ Continue Reading ]
BEING ASSEMBLED WITH ONE ACCORD. — Literally, _being of one mind, unanimously._ TO SEND CHOSEN MEN UNTO YOU. — Literally, _to choose men and send them unto you._ The men, are, of course, Barsabas and Silas. WITH OUR BELOVED BARNABAS AND PAUL. — The order in which the names stand is, perhaps, chara... [ Continue Reading ]
MEN THAT HAVE HAZARDED THEIR LIVES. — It is clear from this that the narrative of the hairbreadth escapes at the Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:50) and Lystra (Acts 14:19) must have been laid before the Church. Prominence is given to the fact as likely to secure reverence for those whom many had hitherto... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SEEMED GOOD TO THE HOLY GHOST, AND TO US... — The measure was, the Apostles were persuaded, one of wisdom and charity, and they could not ascribe those gifts to any other source than the Spirit who gives a right judgment in all things. The words have since become almost a formula for the decrees... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM MEATS OFFERED TO IDOLS. — The specific term takes the place of the more general word which St. James had used. The change, if the two words were not used, as is possible, as altogether equivalent, may be thought of as favouring the Gentiles by narrowing the prohibition to a single point. FARE... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY WERE DISMISSED, THEY CAME TO ANTIOCH. — It is natural, in the absence of anything to the contrary, to infer that they returned, as they had come, through Samaria and Phœnicia, and gladdened the hearts of the disciples there by telling them of the triumph which had been won at Jerusalem for... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY REJOICED FOR THE CONSOLATION. — We ought not to forget that the letter was probably read out by one who was himself emphatically “the son of consolation” (Acts 4:36) in all the manifold aspects of that word, and who now proved himself worthy of the name.... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDAS AND SILAS, BEING PROPHETS ALSO THEMSELVES. — See Note on Acts 15:22. EXHORTED. — The verb is that from which the Greek for “consolation” was formed, and includes that meaning here. This was the chief end to which the gift of prophecy was directed. The two teachers thus showed that they had no... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE APOSTLES. — The better MSS. have simply, “to those that had sent them,” and omit Acts 15:34, which was probably added by a later copyist to explain the fact mentioned in Acts 15:40.... [ Continue Reading ]
PREACHING THE WORD OF THE LORD. — Here, as often elsewhere, _preaching the glad tidings of the word._ WITH MANY OTHERS. — Among these we may fairly reckon the prophets of Acts 13:1. Looking to the later history of the Church of Antioch, it is not improbable that we may think also of the martyr Ignat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SOME DAYS AFTER PAUL SAID UNTO BARNABAS. — The commonly received chronology of the Acts makes the interval between the Council of Jerusalem and St. Paul’s second missionary journey somewhat more than a year. LET US GO AGAIN. — The proposal was characteristic of one whose heart was ever full of... [ Continue Reading ]
BARNABAS DETERMINED. — The Greek verb is hardly so strong, better, _was minded._ The ties of relationship led the uncle, or cousin, to wish to make another trial of his kinsman’s fitness (Colossians 4:10). He saw extenuating circumstances which St. Paul could not recognise, and which half-excused hi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CONTENTION WAS SO SHARP BETWEEN THEM, THAT... — Literally, _there was a sharp contention,_ (or _paroxysm_)_, so that_... The warmth of previous affection, of a friendship begun probably in boyhood, and cemented by new hopes, and a great work in which both were sharers, made the breach betwee... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL CHOSE SILAS. — It is clear from this, even if we reject Acts 15:34 as an interpolation, that Silas had remained when the other delegates from the Church of Jerusalem went back. This in itself was a proof of his interest in the mission-work among the Gentiles, and no one, perhaps, could be found... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WENT THROUGH SYRIA AND CILICIA, CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES. — Cilicia, it will be remembered, had not been visited on St. Paul’s first journey with Barnabas, and the churches must accordingly have been founded at some earlier period, probably during St. Paul’s residence at Tarsus before he came to A... [ Continue Reading ]