Acts 15
Conflict in Antioch: The Need for the Law 1–5
The Jerusalem Council Convenes 6–12
James's Judgment and Apostolic Decree 13–21
The Apostolic Letter is Dispatched 22–35
Paul and Barnabas Separate 36–41
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Acts 15
Verse 1
Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses — These men ‘came down from Judaea’ to Antioch and made circumcision the condition of salvation. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant given to Abraham (Gen 17:10–14), and the question is whether Gentile believers must receive it. The men are not named; the apostles later say they had given them no such commandment (v.24).
Verse 2
no small dissension and disputation — Stasis is strife, a faction; syzetesis is a joint questioning, found only here, in v.7 and at Acts 28:29. The church at Antioch did not settle the matter among themselves but sent Paul, Barnabas and others ‘unto the apostles and elders’ at Jerusalem about the ‘question’ (zetema).
Verse 3
declaring the conversion of the Gentiles — Epistrophe, ‘conversion’, is a turning, and is found only here in the New Testament; its verb appears in v.19, ‘turned to God’. The route through Phenice and Samaria passed churches born of earlier scattering (Acts 11:19; 8:14), and the news ‘caused great joy unto all the brethren’.
Verse 5
the sect of the Pharisees which believed — Hairesis, ‘sect’, is also used of the Sadducees (Acts 5:17) and, by Paul, of the Pharisees as ‘the most straitest sect of our religion’ (Acts 26:5). These were believers, yet held that Gentiles must be circumcised and ‘keep the law of Moses’, which restates v.1 as a requirement.
Verse 6
the apostles and elders came together — The same two groups received Paul and Barnabas in v.4 and the letter goes out in their name (v.23); Acts 16:4 calls its contents the decrees ‘ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem’. The ‘matter’ (logos) is the one in v.1: whether circumcision is required for salvation.
Verse 7
God made choice among us — Eklegomai, to choose out, is used of the apostles’ appointment (Acts 1:2) and again of the ‘chosen men’ in v.22. Peter points to Cornelius’s house, where the Gentiles heard ‘by my mouth’ and the Holy Ghost fell on them while he was speaking (Acts 10:44). ‘Much disputing’ is syzetesis, as in v.2.
Verse 9
purifying their hearts by faith — Katharizo, to cleanse, is the verb of the voice to Peter: ‘What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common’ (Acts 10:15; 11:9). The cleansing is of the heart and comes by faith; for that reason God ‘put no difference’ (diakrino) between Jew and Gentile.
Verse 10
why tempt ye God — Peirazo, to test: ‘Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God’ (Deut 6:16), which Christ quotes (Matt 4:7). The ‘yoke’ (zygos) set against Christ’s, ‘my yoke is easy, and my burden is light’ (Matt 11:30), is later called ‘the yoke of bondage’ (Gal 5:1). ‘Our fathers’ had the law and could not bear it.
Verse 11
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they — Peter states that the Jews themselves are saved by grace in the same way as the Gentiles. Paul says the same: ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith’ (Eph 2:8). Charis is grace, favour freely given.
Verse 12
miracles and wonders — Semeia kai terata, signs and wonders. The multitude’s silence gives way to the report of Barnabas and Paul, who had told the church at Antioch ‘how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles’ (Acts 14:27). ‘Declaring’ is exegeomai, the verb used of Peter’s report in v.14.
Verse 13
James answered — This is James ‘the Lord’s brother’ (Gal 1:19), the one Peter bade the brethren inform after his release (Acts 12:17); Paul names him first among the ‘pillars’ in Jerusalem (Gal 2:9). He speaks after the silence of v.12, and his ‘sentence’ in v.19 is built on Scripture as well as on what had been seen.
Verse 14
Simeon hath declared — Symeon is the Hebrew form of Peter’s first name, used of him only here and in 2 Pet 1:1. ‘Did visit’ is episkeptomai, the verb of Luke 1:68, ‘he hath visited and redeemed his people’. From among the Gentiles God takes ‘a people for his name’, and v.17 names them as those ‘upon whom my name is called’.
Verse 16
the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down — James quotes Amos 9:11: ‘will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen.’ Skene, tent, is the word, and anoikodomeo, ‘build again’, is found nowhere else in the New Testament. In Amos 9:12 the nations are ‘called by my name’; v.17 renders this as ‘upon whom my name is called’.
Verse 19
my sentence is — Krino, to judge or determine; the decrees of Acts 16:4 are ‘ordained’ with the same verb. Parenochleo, ‘trouble… further’, occurs only here in the New Testament. Gentiles ‘turned to God’ (epistrepho) are not to be burdened with circumcision; the following verse names what is to be asked of them.
Verse 20
pollutions of idols… fornication… things strangled… blood — Alisgema, ‘pollution’, is found only here; v.29 reads ‘meats offered to idols’. Pniktos, ‘strangled’, is used only here, in v.29 and in Acts 21:25. The prohibition of blood goes back to Gen 9:4 and Lev 17:10–11, where ‘the life of the flesh is in the blood’.
Verse 21
Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him — Moses is ‘read in the synagogues every sabbath day’; Paul heard ‘the reading of the law and the prophets’ at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:15, 27). The verse is commonly taken as the reason for the four requirements: Jewish believers and hearers in every city knew the law and the practices it forbade.
Verse 22
Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas — They are ‘chosen men’ (eklegomai, the verb of v.7) and ‘chief men’ (hegeomai, leaders). Barsabas is a different man from ‘Joseph called Barsabas’ (Acts 1:23). Silas is generally identified with the Silvanus of 2 Cor 1:19 and 1 Pet 5:12. They go to Antioch so that the decision is carried in person (v.27).
Verse 24
subverting your souls — Anaskeuazo is found only here in the New Testament; its root sense is to pack up baggage, hence to upset. The men who ‘went out from us’ had ‘troubled’ (tarasso) the believers, as Paul writes that ‘some… trouble you, and would pervert the gospel’ (Gal 1:7). The apostles state: ‘to whom we gave no such commandment.’
Verse 28
seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us — The Spirit is named first. Baros, burden, is a weight, as in Rev 2:24, ‘I will put upon you none other burden’; epanankes, ‘necessary’, is found only here in the New Testament. Peter had called the law a ‘yoke’ (v.10); the four ‘necessary things’ are the whole of what is laid on the Gentiles.
Verse 29
meats offered to idols — Eidolothuton, an idol sacrifice; Paul takes up the question in 1 Cor 8:1–10 and 10:19–28. The list repeats v.20 with the order changed, and again in Acts 21:25. ‘Fare ye well’ is errhosthe, ‘be strong’, the closing wish of the letter; the only other use is Acts 23:30.
Verse 31
they rejoiced for the consolation — Paraklesis, consolation or exhortation, is the noun of Barnabas’s name, ‘the son of consolation’ (Acts 4:36), and of the ‘word of exhortation’ asked of Paul in the synagogue (Acts 13:15). The letter was read before the assembled church (v.30), and the answer to the question was received with joy.
Verse 32
being prophets also themselves — Judas and Silas were prophets, and ‘exhorted’ (parakaleo, the verb behind ‘consolation’ in v.31) the brethren ‘with many words’. Episterizo, ‘confirmed’, to strengthen further, is used only four times: here, v.41, Acts 14:22 and Acts 18:23, of strengthening disciples or churches.
Verse 36
Let us go again and visit our brethren — Episkeptomai, to visit and look after, is the verb of v.14, where God ‘did visit the Gentiles’. The cities are those of Paul’s first journey with Barnabas (Acts 13–14), where they had ‘preached the word of the Lord’. The proposal is to see ‘how they do’ in the faith.
Verse 38
who departed from them from Pamphylia — Mark, called John, had left them at Perga in Pamphylia and gone back to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). ‘The work’ is the one to which the Holy Ghost had called Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:2). Axioo, ‘thought not good’, is to judge worthy; Paul judged Mark not fit to take.
Verse 39
the contention was so sharp — Paroxysmos, from which English takes ‘paroxysm’, is found only here and Heb 10:24, ‘provoke unto love’. They separated; Barnabas, a man ‘of the country of Cyprus’ (Acts 4:36), took Mark there. Paul later asks for him: ‘Take Mark… he is profitable to me for the ministry’ (2 Tim 4:11).
Verse 40
recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God — This is the phrase of Acts 14:26, used when Paul and Barnabas were first sent out from Antioch. Epilegomai, ‘chose’, is found only here and, as ‘called’, in John 5:2. Silas, who had stayed at Antioch (v.34), becomes Paul’s companion; the two go ‘through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches’ (v.41).