Acts 15:1

CHAPTER XV.

Certain teachers from Judea insist on the necessity of the

converted Gentiles being circumcised, 1.

Paul and Barnabas are sent to Jerusalem to consult the apostles

on this subject, 2.

They come to Jerusalem, and inform the apostles of the

conversion of the Gentiles; and of the trouble which certain

Pharisees had occasioned concerning circumcision, 3-5.

The apostles having assembled to consider the question, Peter

delivers his opinion, 6-11.

Barnabas and Paul relate their success among the Gentiles, 12.

James delivers his judgment, 13-21.

The apostles and elders agree to what he proposes, and send

Judas and Silas with Paul and Barnabas to the converted

Gentiles, 22;

and send an epistle containing their decree to the Churches of

Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, 23-29.

Paul and his company return, and read the epistle to the

brethren at Antioch, which produces great joy; and Judas and

Silas preach to them, 30-32.

Judas returns to Jerusalem, but Silas continues with Paul and

Barnabas, teaching and preaching, 33-35.

Paul proposes to Barnabas to visit the Churches where they had

preached; and, on the latter determining to take John Mark

with them, Paul refuses, 36-38.

They disagree; and Barnabas, taking John Mark, sails to Cyprus,

39.

And Paul, taking Silas, goes through Syria and Cilicia,

confirming the Churches, 40, 41.

NOTES ON CHAP. XV.

Verse Acts 15:1. Except ye be circumcised, c.] The persons who taught this doctrine appear to have been converts to Christianity but, supposing that the Christian religion was intended to perfect the Mosaic, and not to supersede it, they insisted on the necessity of circumcision, because, by that, a man was made debtor to the whole law, to observe all its rites and ceremonies. This question produced great disturbance in the apostolic Church; and, notwithstanding the decree mentioned in this chapter, the apostles were frequently obliged to interpose their authority in order to settle it; and we find a whole Church, that at Galatia, drawn aside from the simplicity of the Christian faith by the subtilty of Judaizing teachers among themselves, who insisted on the necessity of the converted Gentiles being circumcised.

Ye cannot be saved.] Ye can neither enjoy God's blessing in time, nor his glory in eternity. Such an assertion as this, from any reputable authority, must necessarily shake the confidence of young converts.