Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 15:25

"it seemed good unto us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul," — Acts 15:25 (ASV)

With Judas, Silas, Paul, and Barnabas, who were going to Antioch, the Jerusalem church sent a letter, recorded here in Ac 15. The placing of “brothers” in apposition to “the apostles and elders” in the salutation is unusual. But it should probably be understood as reflecting a form of expression used within the Jerusalem congregation, similar to “Men, brothers” (cf. 1:16; 2:29, 37; 15:7, 13; et al.). Likewise, the address “to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia” is surprising, for though Paul refers to spending some time in Syria and Cilicia, Luke has not spoken of any mission outside Antioch in these areas. Yet vv.36, 41 assume that churches were established in these areas with Paul’s assistance. And 16:4 shows that the content of the letter from the council was meant not only for congregations in the areas listed in 15:23 but that it applied to Gentile believers generally (cf. 15:19; 21:25). The body of the letter encapsulates the problem confronted by the churches because of the Judaizers’ claims and the Jerusalem Council’s reaction to them, commending to the churches Barnabas and Paul (cf. comments on 14:14 and 15:12 for this order of their names) and the Jerusalem emissaries Judas and Silas. On the fundamental matter of the theological necessity of circumcision and a Jewish lifestyle for Gentile Christians, the letter rebukes the Judaizers for going beyond their authority and assures the churches that there are no such requirements for salvation. On the practical issues of fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers in the churches and of preventing needless offense to Jews throughout the empire, the letter asks Gentile Christians to abstain from the four prohibitions mentioned in v.20. The letter closed in a way typical of many contemporary nonliterary papyri.