The Church conference in Jerusalem
15
📚And certain men who came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved”.15:1 These men were Jews who professed to be followers of Christ but were in error about a very basic and important matter. They thought that the Church was to be confined to the Jewish community, and that to receive Christ’s salvation other peoples had to become Jews by conversion – that is, they had to be both Christians and Jews. This meant to them circumcision and keeping the law of Moses (v 5). See note on circumcision at Gen 17:9-14.⚜
2 📚Therefore, after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they decided that Paul and Barnabas and some others among them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.
15:2 Paul and Barnabas saw a great danger in this teaching and strongly opposed it. They well knew that salvation was by God’s grace through faith in Christ, and was not based on ceremonies and law keeping. Paul dealt with this matter very thoroughly in the letters to the Romans and Galatians (see Rom 3:27—4:25; Gal 1:6-9; 2:1—6:15).⚜
3 📚And so, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, telling of the conversion of the Gentiles, and thus they produced great joy in all the brethren. 4 📚And when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church and by the apostles and elders, and they reported everything that God had done with them.
5 📚But some belonging to the sect of the Pharisees 📖 who believed got up and said this: “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses”.
15:5 Verse 1. These Pharisees professed to be Christ’s followers and were in the church.⚜
The decision of the Church
6 📚And the apostles and elders met together to consider this matter. 7 📚And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Men, brethren, you know that some time ago God made a choice among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 📚And God, who knows the heart, gave testimony to them by giving to them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us,
9 📚and made no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith 📖.
15:9 In other words, God did not say to the Gentiles, “I will not save you, and will not give you my Spirit unless you get circumcised and keep the law of Moses”.⚜
10 📚Now then, why do you test God by trying to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
15:10 Peter means that when God had revealed His will by His clear leading, resisting His will and complaining about His ways of doing things is to test Him. See also Matt 4:7; Ex 17:7. In Gal 5:1 Paul called the law a “yoke of bondage”. Both of these apostles knew that Christ’s “yoke” was enough (Matt 11:29-30), and that His yoke is the opposite of bondage.⚜
11 📚But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we will be saved, just as they”.
15:11 Peter was in full agreement with Paul in this most vital matter (Acts 11:13; 13:38-39; Rom 3:21-24; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9).⚜
12 📚Then the whole assembly kept silent, and gave their attention to Barnabas and Paul, who told what miracles and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
15:12 Their aim was to convince all these Jewish Christians that God was at work among the Gentiles just as He was among them, and quite apart from the law of Moses.⚜
13 📚And after they became silent, James responded by saying, “Men, brethren, listen to me.
15:13 See Acts 12:17; 21:18; Gal 1:19. This James was the half-brother of Jesus and a leader of the Jerusalem church.⚜
14 📚Simon 📖 has declared how God for the first time visited the Gentiles to take out from among them a people for his name 📖. 15 📚And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written,
16 📚After this I will return,
and rebuild the tabernacle of David,
which has fallen down.
And I will rebuild its ruins
and I will set it up,
17 📚So that the remainder of men
may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles,
who are called by my name,
says the Lord,
who does all these things.
18 📚“From the beginning of the world all of God’s works are known to him.
15:15-18 James said that the prophets of the Old Testament also spoke of the conversion of the Gentiles. He then refers to Amos 9:11-12 (see notes there). It does not seem that his purpose in this was to state that that Scripture was completely fulfilled in the conversion of some Gentiles in his day, but simply to show that the conversion of Gentiles was no strange thing, was not contrary to God’s Word.⚜
19 📚“Therefore, in my judgment, we should not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles,
15:19 He agreed with Peter (v 10). There was no point in loading the whole law onto Gentile believers.⚜
20 📚but that we write to them that they should abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. 21 📚For Moses for a long time has had those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day”.
15:20-21 The things James mentions were very common practices among the Greeks and Romans, but forbidden in the Old Testament. There were synagogues here and there in the lands of the Gentiles where the gospel had gone (Acts 13:14; 14:1). James and all Jews would know of the prohibitions of the Old Testament. His meaning seems to be that Gentile Christians should not needlessly offend Jews by doing things they hated. This is a principle for all times for all Christians to follow in relation to the various kinds of people among whom they live. Compare 1 Cor 9:19-23; 10:32; 2 Cor 6:3. The prohibition against eating flesh with blood in it goes back before the law of Moses (Gen 9:4). Sexual immorality is condemned everywhere in the Bible, and certainly should never have any place in any believer’s life (Ex 20:14; Matt 5:27-28; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:3). On foods offered to idols see 1 Cor 8:1, 4, 10; 10:19, 28; Rev 2:14, 20.⚜
22 📚Then it pleased the apostles and elders, along with the whole church, to send men chosen from among themselves to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas, called Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.
23 📚And they wrote these things by them:
15:23 Antioch was the chief city of the provinces of Syria and Cilicia, and the place where this dispute about the law began.⚜
“The apostles and elders and brethren send greetings to the Gentile brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.
The letter sent to Gentile believers
24 📚Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with their words, disturbing your souls, saying, ‘Be circumcised and keep the Law’ (we gave no such instruction to them),
15:24 They assured the Gentile believers that the apostles had not been behind the false teaching they had heard.⚜
25 📚it seemed good to us meeting together with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our dear brothers Barnabas and Paul, 26 📚men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 📚Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will also tell you the same things by mouth. 28 📚For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things:
15:28 They were sure that the Holy Spirit had led them in their united decision.⚜
29 📚That you abstain from foods offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves away from these things. Farewell”.
15:29 Observe that there is nothing here about the Gentile churches keeping the Sabbath. Even these Jewish believers did not consider this was important for Gentile believers.⚜
30 📚So when they were sent away, they came to Antioch. And when they had gathered the large number of believers together, they handed over the letter. 31 📚When they read it, they rejoiced for the encouragement in it.
15:31 It was encouraging that the teaching that had troubled them (vs 1,5) was not true.⚜
32 📚And Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with many words.
15:32 Note on prophets at Gen 20:7.⚜
33 📚And after they had stayed there a while, they were sent back by the brethren in peace to the apostles. 34 However, it pleased Silas to remain there. 35 📚Paul and Barnabas also stayed on in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
15:35 For the moment at least, in that place false teaching had been defeated. But the same teaching infected the churches in Galatia and something similar has troubled some Christians from time to time ever since then.⚜
Paul and Barnabas separate
36 📚And some days afterwards Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing”.
15:36 It was not enough for Paul to preach the gospel, win men to Christ and then leave them forever. He had a shepherd’s heart (2 Cor 11:28-29), and is an example to every servant of Christ.⚜
37 📚And Barnabas was determined to take John, who was called Mark, with them. 38 📚But Paul did not think it was good to take him with them, the one who left them at Pamphylia, and did not go with them to the work.
15:37-38 See Acts 13:13. Mark was a relative of Barnabas (Col 4:10). This may have influenced him in his insistence that they take him along with them. Sometimes even among the people of God family relationships are given too much importance, and those who have failed in the work are kept on, often to the detriment of the work. Paul stood on the principle that an unreliable person should not be taken for so important a task. For all we know Paul’s decision here was one of the factors that caused Mark to determine to be more faithful in God’s work, and made him a very useful servant of God later in his life (Phile 24; 2 Tim 4:11). Surely rejection by a man of God like Paul would have had a strong impact on Mark and may have stirred him up to search his own heart and ways.⚜
39 📚And the dispute was so sharp between them, that they parted from one another. So Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus,
15:39 Even godly men may have sharp disagreements. This is not to say that such disagreements are good. A man like Paul once he saw the right course to take was not to be turned from it. This is the last mention of Barnabas in Acts.⚜
40 📚and Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.
15:40 It seems from this that the church in Antioch agreed with Paul in the dispute with Barnabas. They commended Paul and Silas, but there is nothing here about commending Barnabas and Mark, and surely this omission is significant. Also we should keep in mind that God set forth Paul, not Barnabas, as an example of what a Christian worker should be – Phil 3:17; 1 Cor 4:16; 11:1; 2 Thess 3:8-9.⚜
41 📚And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
15:41 Plain and relevant teaching of the Word of God strengthens churches as nothing else can.⚜