Acts 15

Acts 15:1

And some converted or Christian Jews, which though they believed in Christ yet thought themselves still bound to the observation of the whole Mosaical law, told those of the Gentile proselytes, ver. 19, that were converted to the faith of Christ also, (of whom some, that is, the proselytes of the gates, were not wont to be circumcised, but only subscribed to the seven precepts of the sons of Noah,) that they must be complete proselytes of the Jews, submit to their whole law, and so be circumcised, &c., or else they could not be saved.

Acts 15:2

And Paul and Barnabas opposed these; and the matter being turned into a question, and that undecidable among themselves, neither yielding to the other, it was necessary to appeal to Jerusalem, under which, as the prime metropolis, the Jews of all Syria, and so Antioch, were; and accordingly the church governors of Antioch determined to send up Paul and

Acts 15:3

And the church bore the charges of their journey (see note [a] 1 Cor. xvi.); and as they went through Phenice and Samaria, they told them the great news that occasioned this their journey, the coming in of the Gentiles to the faith: and all the Christians were very much joyed at it. 4, 5. And when they came to Jerusalem they were kindly received by the Christians there, and particularly by James, the brother of the Lord, then bishop of Jerusalem, and thence called an apostle (see note

[b] on the title of the Epistle of James, and note [a]

Acts 15:6

Hereupon James the bishop of Jerusalem, and Peter, and John, the apostles (see note [a] 1 Cor. xv., note [g] Rev. iv., and note [e] Gal. ii.) and the bishops of Judæa, met in council to deliberate and debate about this difficulty. some uncircumcised proselytes, Cornelius and his family, Acts x, should have the gospel preached to them, and accordingly had, and received the faith, and never were circumcised.

Acts 15:8

And God, that knew the sincerity of their hearts, testified that they were believers, such as were acceptable to him (though they were not circumcised) and fit to be baptized, giving them that great witness from heaven, sending down the Holy Ghost upon them in like manner as he was before sent down upon the apostles, Acts x. 44.

Acts 15:9

And dealt with them just as with us, making no difference between us and them, but by the Christian doctrine, by them received and entertained, did the same thing on them (far more effectually) for which all the Jewish rites (particularly circumcision) were first ordained, that is, took them off from all their heathen sins.

Acts 15:10

This one evidence is sufficient to conclude this whole debate; for is not the thing already determined by that one act of God’s giving the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles? That sure makes it evident that there is no difference betwixt us Jews and them. Why then do ye press that which is so contrary to the will of God? why do ye refuse to believe that which is so testified to be his will, and so in effect require more arguments of this, as of a matter still uncertain, and thereby tempt God, (see note [c] Matt. iv.,) and think to impose upon Christians of the nations the performance of the whole Mosaical law, which belonged not to them, and which we Jews were never able to perform so as to be justified thereby?

Acts 15:11

It is by the gospel (see ch. xi. 23.) that we expect justification and salvation, through faith and obedience to Christ, and not by Mosaical performances: and so they, if they believe, have the same way to salvation as we.

Acts 15:12

After this, the next thing was, that Paul and Barnabas declared in like manner what miracles God had enabled them also to do in the converting of the Gentiles, which was another argument and testimony from heaven, that no difference was to be put between Jews and Gentiles.

Acts 15:13

And next after them James the Just, the brother of the Lord, the then bishop of Hierusalem, began to speak, saying, Men and brethren—

Acts 15:14

Peter hath sufficiently demonstrated that it was the will of God (in that case of Cornelius) that the Gentiles should without any scruple have the gospel preached to them, and be baptized, and received into the church.

[a] visit the Gentiles] Ἐπεσκέψατο, in the Septuagint, joined with an infinitive verb, not an accusative noun after it, signifies to be pleased, to delight, Jer. xxxii. 41, ἐπισκέψομαι ἀγαθῶσαι, where the Hebrew hath יששתי, and I will rejoice or delight. It is true the word signifies to visit, Luke i. 68, and that may be thought also to have at some distance an infinitive, ποιῆσαι Ἔλεος, to shew mercy, after it, ver. 72. But ἐπεσκέψατο λαβεῖν λαὸν here is another kind of phrase; ἐπεσκέψατο hath no noun after it, but only and immediately an infinitive mood, and so is parallel only to that before mentioned in the Septuagint, and so in reason must be interpreted.

Acts 15:15

And this is agreeable to what had been foretold by the old prophets; for so, Amos ix. 11. they are the words of God: After this—

16, 17. In the latter days (the age of the Messias wherein now we are) I will rebuild me a church among the Jews, those few of them who shall believe

¹ in putting. ² looked down to take out of the Gentiles, or, was pleased to take.

Acts 15:18

This, though it were not brought to pass actually till these latter days, was yet foreseen and predetermined by God long ago, and accordingly thus foretold through revelation from God by that prophet. 19, 20. Therefore my conclusion and determination is, that we should not require or force them to be circumcised who from Gentiles turn Christians, but content ourselves that they receive the precepts of the sons of Noah only, as proselytes of the gates are wont to do.

Acts 15:21

Nor need we Jews to fear that this will bring a contempt upon Moses or the law of the Jews, for the contrary appears by the Christian practice, even where these proselytes of the Gentiles are; there the books of Moses, as hath been customary from of old, are still continued among them to be read aloud in the synagogue every Saturday, (to which the council of Laodicea did after add the reading of a chapter in the New Testament,) to signify their respect to the Mosaical law, and their not offering it contempt among the proselytes, though they did not require them to be circumcised.

Acts 15:22

The business being thus decided by the acquiescing of all in this sentence of the bishop of Jerusalem, the next thing was, that James and Peter and John, and the bishops of Judæa, with the general consent and approbation of the whole church of Jerusalem, (see note [b] ch. vi.,) thought fit to choose some bishops of Judæa, that were present at the council, to go along with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch; and the persons pitched on were Judas and Silas, bishops of several churches: (see note [c])

Acts 15:23

And they put their decree into form of an epistle, in these words, The apostles &c., that is, The bishop of Jerusalem, and Peter and John the apostles,

⁴ Or, is his work: for the King’s MS. and the ancient Greek and Latin read, γνωστὸν τῷ

Κυρίῳ τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ. ⁵ Or, whatsoever they would not have done to themselves, and do not to

others: for the ancient Greek and Latin MS. and many other copies here add, καὶ ὅσα μὴ

ἀλλοῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς γενίεθαι, ἰτήραι μὴ παίξτε: and so ver. 29. ⁶ from the ancient times, ἐκ

γενεῶν ἀρχαίων. ⁷ having chosen men out of themselves to send, ἐκλεξαμίνον ἄνδρας ἐξ

αὐτῶν πίμψαι: so ver. 25. ⁸ governors, ἡγουμίεσθαι.

Acts 15:24

Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, “[b] subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

When we received advertisement that some of the Judaizing Christians which went from hence, ver. 1, endeavoured to subvert you, and to carry you away to a groundless new doctrine, of the necessity of all Christians being circumcised, they having no manner of commissions or instructions from us to do so:

[b] subverting your souls] Ἀνασκευάζειν ψυχὰς is to remove or transfer (as Gal. i. 6.) men’s minds, to carry them from one object to another: so Hesychius, ἀνασκευάζειν, μετατιθέναι, it signifies to trans-

• Plæcuit ad probandum ordinationem tuam, ut per omnes in ista provincia positos literæ fierent. Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 8.

Acts 15:25

It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

We decreed in council, and resolved to send a couple of our own bishops to accompany those two which came from you, Barnabas and Paul,

Acts 15:26

And they came back to Antioch, from whence it was that they were sent forth (ch. xiii. 3.) on this voyage, and that with solemn prayer and fasting, for the preaching of the gospel (see ver. 3, and note [d] Heb. xiii.) to these so many cities, of which they had now made an end, and so returned. and that it had pleased God that by their preaching to the Jews in the Gentile cities many of the Gentiles had received Christianity. ### CHAP. XV. AND certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

Men that have “hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Persons with which we have little reason to find any fault in what they have asserted in this matter of difference, but to give them our testimony that they have in preaching the gospel behaved themselves with all sincerity and uprightness, and run the hazard of their lives for the gospel’s sake, and for the service of Christ.

Acts 15:27

We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who [c] shall also tell you the same things by mouth.

We have sent, I say, with them Judas and Silas, on purpose that they might tell you by word of mouth more at large what here we write more briefly.

[c] shall also tell] The participle present ἀπαγγέλλοντας is here used in the sense of the future, who shall tell, “dicturos:” and so it is frequent in these writers. Acts xxi. 3, ὅπου ἦν τὸ πλοῖον ἀποφορτιζόμενον, &c. where the ship was to be unladed of its burden; and so Matt. ii. 4, ποῦ γεννάται; where is Christ to be born? and 1 Cor. xv. 35, πῶς ἐγείρονται, and ἔρχονται; how can it be that the dead shall be raised, and with what body shall they come? So John xiv. 19, Ye see me, and the world seeth me no more, θεωρείτε, in the present tense, where the sense is, ye shall, and the world shall not see me, in the future: and again, ver. 28, Ye have heard that I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you, that is, that I am to go, and shall after that again return to you. So Matt. iii. 10, Every tree that beareth not good fruit, ἐκκόπτεται, is (that is, is to be, must be, shall be) cut down, &c.

Acts 15:28

For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, “to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

Viz., that we, the bishop of Jerusalem, to which, as the prime metropolis, all Syria and Antioch doth belong, together with Peter and John, the apostles here abiding, and the bishops of Judæa, all together in council, having prayed to God to send his holy Spirit to abide among us, and to lead us into all truth, have upon mature deliberation determined that the Gentile Christians shall not be obliged to circumcision or other Judaical observances, (ordinarily required of all that will be Jewish proselytes, or enter into the Mosaical covenant,) or to any more than those few things that have among the Jews been required of all proselytes of the gates, (that is, of all the Gentiles that were in any wise permitted to come into their temple to worship God,)

Acts 15:29

[d]That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: “from which “if

Viz., to observe the seven precepts of the sons of Adam and Noah; which sort of precepts if you ob-

[d] that ye abstain] To what hath been said of the proselytes among the Jews in many places (all referred to note [a] ch. x.) more must now be added for the explication of this canon of the council at Jerusalem. For the question being, whether the Gentiles that turned Christians should be bound to all those things which were required of the proselytes of justice, or only those things which were required of the proselytes of the gates, and the apostles’ answer being in these words, that they should be bound to no more but these necessary things, to abstain, &c. the question will be, what those particulars that are there named belong to. To which the answer must be, by setting down what was required of each of those sorts of proselytes. Of the former sort it is sufficiently known that it was required that they should submit to the whole Mosaical law, to be circumcised, &c., as appears by the ground of this quarrel or dispute here, at the beginning of the chapter. And to this purpose it is observable that the Epistle which is extant, and affirmed to be written by this Barnabas here mentioned, doth principally insist upon the no-necessity of circumcision in Christians, (see §. 7.) and §. 2. hath these words: In hoc providens est et misericors Deus, quia in simplicitate crediturus erat populus, quem comparavit dilecto suo, atque ostendit omnibus nobis, ut non incurramus tanquam proselyti ad illorum legem: “It is God’s mercy that the people which he purchased for his Son should believe in simplicity, and not as proselytes” (of the Jews, of this first kind) “run to their law.” Of the second sort of proselytes it is as much acknowledged that there was no more required than the observation of six precepts given to the sons of Adam, and the seventh superadded to the sons of Noah, all together styled the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, which were these: The first, על עבירה ורה, of strange worship, or of renouncing the idolatry of the heathens, the not worshipping other gods. The second, על ברכת השם, of the benediction (that is, the worship) of the name, that is, the true God. The third, על הדנים, of judgments, or administration of justice. The fourth, על גלוי עריות, of disclosing nakedness, that is, of abstaining from all uncleanness, and interdicted marriages, within those degrees which are set down, Lev. xviii. The fifth, על שפיכות המים, of shedding blood, or against homicide. The sixth,

Acts 15:31

And when the church had received and read the letter, they were much joyed at the approbation of their practice by the apostles: (see note [b] John xiv.)

Acts 15:32

And these two bishops of Judæa were endued with a prophetic spirit, able to expound and interpret scripture, and usually employed in confirming and building up believers in the faith, and accordingly thus they did here.

[e] prophets] The word προφήτης, a prophet, in the Old Testament, signifies, not only him that foretelleth future events, but all those who make known the will of God to those that knew it not. A peculiar importance, it seems, it hath in the church of Christ under the New Testament, differing from apostles on the one side and evangelists on the other, as may appear, 1 Cor. xii. 28. and Ephes. iv. 11. The apostles were those peculiar persons who were by Christ designed to that office, his missi or messengers, with commission immediately from him; such were the Twelve, and (extraordinarily called) St. Paul also. The evangelists were those which were sent by the apostles whither they could not go themselves, and the diocese that belonged to these was the whole world, or those special parts of it which the apostles had allotted to one another. Beside these, the prophets were those that in particular churches ruled and taught as bishops, διδάσκαλοι

a Can. 63. b Can. 66.

Acts 15:33

And when they had stayed at Antioch some time, they took their leaves to depart, with farewells and thanks, and prayers for their prosperity, ver. 40, (see Matt. x. 13.) and the like, to those of Jerusalem, James and Peter &c., which had sent them.

Acts 15:34

But upon some occasion Silas chose not to return yet, but stayed with Paul and Barnabas.

Acts 15:35

And Paul and Barnabas stayed at Antioch instructing them that had received the faith, and revealing it to them that had not, and so did also divers

others of the disciples which came thither, ch. xi. 19. and see how they advance in the knowledge of Christ, and confirm them, ver. 41.

Acts 15:38

But because this John had left them when he

went from Pamphylia, ch. xiii. 13, and had not accompanied them constantly in the preaching of the