Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 15:31

"And when they had read it, they rejoiced for the consolation." — Acts 15:31 (ASV)

At Antioch of Syria the delegation on returning from Jerusalem “gathered the church together and delivered the letter,” with Judas and Silas saying “much to encourage and strengthen the brothers.” And the believers, Luke tells us, “were glad.” Having gained a decided victory in the principial matter of circumcision, Paul and the existing Gentile churches were prepared to accept the four decrees as a modus operandi for reducing friction between two groups of people drawn from two different ways of life. Such an attitude is quite in accord with what Paul himself wrote later in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23.