Men that have given their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
ανθρωποις παραδεδωκοσιν τας ψυχας αυτων υπερ του ονοματος του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου
5 Church Fathers comment on this verse
And so that sending these men should not seem a rebuke of Paul and Barnabas, observe the praise given to them. If they have risked their lives, then they are worthy of trust. He shows how trustworthy they are. They are not boastful, he says, nor so foolish. Therefore he added: “men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
And so that the mission of Judas and Silas should not be taken as a sign of displeasure with Paul and Barnabas, praise of them follows: men who have risked their lives for the name of our 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.
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.
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.
"It seemed good to us, being of one accord," or, we determined. Therefore it was not by a majority of votes amid differing opinions, but by the unanimous agreement of all. At this point one must suppose that the Judaizers, who had so decisively declared their opinion, now rejected by the Council, had either to fall silent before this unanimous decision of the apostles, presbyters, and brethren, being overwhelmed by the word of truth, or else they left the assembly, not agreeing with its deliberations and decrees. The first is more probable, for in the latter case the sacred historian would likely have noted it as the first separation of heretics from the Church. Yet the first does not mean that the false teaching had completely died away. It had only been disarmed for a time.
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.
"It was necessary to send not only an epistle, lest they say that the decree had been distorted. And to show that this was not done arbitrarily, but as all had assembled and written this after proper deliberation, they say: 'having chosen men from among us.' The praise ascribed to Paul shut their mouths. Therefore not only Paul or Barnabas is sent, but also others from the Church, so that he would not be viewed with suspicion."
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 13 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS