Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 15:2

"And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and questioning with them, [the brethren] appointed that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question." — Acts 15:2 (ASV)

With the issues highlighted by the “sharp dispute and debate” that followed, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with certain others from the Antioch congregation, to go up to Jerusalem to meet with “the apostles and elders” about the matter. It was probably the entire congregation at Antioch and its leaders that appointed these men to discuss the issue (cf. 13:3). Antioch Christians were desirous for the relation between the Jerusalem church’s policy of cautious expediency and the Judaizers’ argument founded on theological principle to be clarified. The Jerusalem Christians, for their part, undoubtedly welcomed an opportunity to air their concerns—particularly the impasse created for them by Paul and Barnabas through their Gentile policy. For while there may have been general agreement on the validity of evangelizing Gentiles (cf. Galatians 2:7–10), recent events opened that agreement for reconsideration.