Acts 15:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet beforehand it expresses the unchangeable obligatory force of these rules for them, saying that this seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. The decree of the Jerusalem council should have been binding for Gentile Christians already because it was an assembly. In it the voice of the Catholic Church was expressed, and moreover of the Jerusalem Church, the mother of all Christian Churches, from which the word of God went forth, 1 Cor 14:36. This Church also continued to be guided by the very apostles of Christ. Yet the decree becomes still more immutably binding because it was inspired by the Spirit of God Himself, Who gave life to the assembly.

This also accords with its destination, Antioch, and with Christians chiefly from the Gentiles, who undoubtedly spoke Greek. It is therefore probable that the sacred historian gives the very original of the letter. He does not say who wrote it. Yet the conjecture is not without probability that it was written by the local head himself, the bishop of the Jerusalem Church, the Apostle James, the brother of the Lord. He is the writer of the catholic epistle known under this apostle's name, which is similar to it in spirit and character. "The apostles, and the presbyters, and the brethren." By this final word the expression of the sacred historian above, in verse 22, "with the whole Church," is replaced here and is equivalent to it. "In Antioch," the city; "Syria," the whole province of which Antioch was the chief city; and "Cilicia," the region of Asia Minor neighboring Syria. This presupposes that the Judaizers had introduced disturbance not only into the Antiochian Church, but also into the Syrian and Cilician Churches. There is no mention of the Churches recently founded by Paul and Barnabas in other regions of Asia Minor and in Cyprus, chapters 13-14. These Judaizers had probably not yet managed to penetrate there with their false teaching. "To the brethren from the Gentiles." The letter is addressed properly to them for their consolation, since the false teaching was directed against them. Yet it undoubtedly also concerns the brethren from the Jews, since they too, in their opinions and actions, must be guided by the decrees of the council. The letter lovingly greets those converted from the Gentiles as brethren. This indicates their equality and equal rights with those converted from the Jews, without any distinction, in the Lord. "Greetings." This was the customary greeting among the Greeks in letters. Compare Acts 23:26. The Christian distinction of this greeting from the ordinary worldly or secular one is this: rejoice in the Lord, that is, in Jesus Christ. He is the joy of Christians, and He grants joy to His true followers even in sufferings, Col 1:24.

They say nothing insulting against them, but are concerned with one thing only: to correct what had happened. They did not say, 'you deceivers, destroyers,' but 'troublers.' It is impossible to speak more precisely. No one could have said it so well. They say, 'souls already shaken,' as though shifting in a building what others had already laid." The very form of the epistle, its brevity and simplicity, speaks with sufficient force for its originality and authenticity. Its belonging to Saint Luke is shown by the fact that the epistle bears the undeniable mark of Saint Luke's highly characteristic style. This may be seen from parallel comparisons, for example Acts 15:23 and 23:26, and 15:29 and 21:26. But the correspondence between Lk 1:1-2 and Acts 15:24-26 is especially striking. This formal closeness of the apostolic epistle to the language of the sacred historian permits the conclusion that, when writing the history of the Apostolic Council, he did not have before him a copy of the apostolic decree. Rather, he reproduced it from memory. The sacred historian paraphrased the epistle, undoubtedly preserving fully its principal thoughts. Its artlessness and brevity speak in favor of this.