Acts 15:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

To show that this was not done arbitrarily, but “with one accord” by all, and that they wrote this with deliberation, he said, “having chosen men” from among us. If they are beloved, then the brethren will not disregard them.

“It seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord,” because all determined this and wrote it after careful deliberation. It is noteworthy that neither Peter nor James dared to establish decrees concerning circumcision without the whole Church, though they recognized this as necessary. Yet even all together they would not have relied on themselves, had they not been convinced that this was also pleasing to the Holy Spirit.

Barnabas and Paul, whom the Judaizers probably represented as corrupters of Christ’s teaching, are presented as true and zealous preachers of the Gospel, men who had given up their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The written decree of the council was expressed in the words of the Apostle James. After greeting the brethren from the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, the council first gives a strict rebuke to the Judaizing false teachers who had caused disturbance and wavering in Antioch. By contrast, it praises Barnabas and Paul, calling them beloved and men who have given up their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It also indicates the purpose for which it sends Judas and Silas together with Paul and Barnabas. After this the council states the very rules which, by its decree, Christians from the Gentiles must strictly fulfill in life, while being generally free from the yoke of the law.

While censuring the unauthorized preachers, the Council praises Barnabas and Paul, who rose up against the innovators. It calls them "our beloved," thereby testifying to the full brotherly love of the whole Jerusalem community for them. It also testifies to complete spiritual unity with them in teaching and in action. Moreover, both are praised as men who have given up their lives for the name of the Lord. They were devoted to the Lord even to the sacrifice of their own lives. Their activity in the Christian communities of Asia Minor newly established by them bears witness to this, chapters 13-14. This expresses the Council's full confidence in the sincerity of all the Christian activity of these men, in contrast to the probably selfish activity of the self-appointed disturbers of peace.

The praise of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas expressed in the conciliar epistle names them as men wholly devoted to the work of Christ and calls them beloved. This shows that, in contrast to the self-appointed false teachers, they are recommended as worthy of complete trust. So too are Judas and Silas, to whom the primary right of explaining everything orally is entrusted, as immediate representatives of the Jerusalem Church. It is also worthy of attention that their election for the embassy is said to have taken place unanimously. Consequently, in their teaching one may hear, as it were, the voice of the whole Church, which so harmoniously chose and sent them for the work of bringing peace to the Churches disturbed by false teaching.